ARTICLE IV Continued.

Courts of Special Sessions.

SEC. 26. Courts of Special Sessions shall have such jurisdiction of offenses of the grade of misdemeanors as may be prescribed by law.

See People v. Austin, 49 Hur, 397; Devine v. People, 20 id. 98. These courts may receive exclusive jurisdiction in petit larceny. People v. Dutcher, 83 N. Y. 240.

Surrogates' Courts.

SEC. 27. For the relief of Surrogates' Courts, the Legislature may confer upon courts of record, in any county having a population exceeding four hundred thousand, the powers and jurisdiction of Surrogates, with authority to try issues of fact by jury in probate causes.

Causes to be heard by Commission of Appeals.

*SEC. 28. The Court of Appeals may order any of the causes, not exceeding five hundred in number, pending in that court at the time of the adoption of this provision, to be heard and determined by the Commissioners of Appeals, and the Legislature may extend the term of service of the Commissioners of Appeals, not exceeding two years.*

General Terms of the Supreme Court.

SEC. 28. The Legislature, at the first sesssion thereof after the adoption of this amendment, shall provide for organizing in the Supreme Court not more than five General Terms thereof; and for the election at the general election next after the adoption of this amendment, by the electors of the judicial districts mentioned in this section, respectively, of not more than two Justices of the Supreme Court in addition to the Justices of that court now in

*Section 28 added by vote of the people, November 5, 1872.

Term of service of Commissioners of Appeals extended to July 1, 1875, by chapter 3, Laws of 1873.

+So in the original. As amended by vote of the people, November 7, 1882

ARTICLE VI- Continued.

office in the first, fifth, seventh and eighth, and not more than one Justice of that court in the second, third, fourth and sixth judicial districts.* The Justices so elected shall be invested with their offices on the first Monday of June next after their election.

ARTICLE VII- Continued.

the entire principal of the canal debt; and after that period then the sum of one million and five hundred thousand dollars in each fiscal year, as a sinking fund, to pay the interest and redeem the principal of that part of the State debt called the general fund debt, including the debt for loans of the State credit to railroad companies which have failed to pay the interest thereon, and also the contingent debt on State stocks loaned to incorporated companies which have hitherto paid the interest thereon, whenever and as far as any part thereof may become a charge on the Treasury or general fund, until the same shall be wholly paid; and the principal and income of the said last-mentioned sinking fund shall be sacredly applied to the purpose aforesaid, and if the payment of any part of the moneys to the said sinking fund shall at any time be deferred, by reason of the priority recognized in the first section of this article, the sum so deferred with quarterly interest thereon at the then current rate shall be paid to the last-mentioned sinking fund, as soon as it can be done consistently with the just rights of the creditors holding said canal debt

Maintenance of canals.

*SEC. 3. The first and second sections of this article having been fully complied with, no tolls shall hereafter be imposed on persons or property transported on the canals, but all boats navigating the canals, and the owners and masters thereof, shall be subject to such laws and regulations as have been or may hereafter be enacted concerning the navigation of the canals. The Legislature shall, annually, by equitable taxes, make provision for the expenses of the superintendence and repairs of the canals. The canal debt contracted under the section hereby amended, which on the first day of October, eighteen hundred and

* Section 3, as amended by vote of the people, November 7, 1882.

ARTICLE VII - Continued.

eighty, amounted to eight million nine hundred and eightytwo thousand two hundred dollars, shall continue to be known as the "canal debt, under article seven, section three of the Constitution;" and the sinking fund applicable to the payment thereof, together with the contributions to be made thereto, shall continue to be known as the “canal debt sinking fund," and the principal and interest of said debt shall be met as provided in the fifth section of this article. All contracts for work or materials on any canal shall be made with the person who shall offer to do or provide the same at the lowest price with adequate security for their performance. No extra compensation shall be made to any contractor; but if, from any unforeseen cause, the terms of any contract shall prove to be unjust and oppressive, the Canal Board may, upon the application of the contractor, cancel such contract.

The act of July 10, 1851, which provides for the borrowing of money upon canal revenue certificates payable out of the future surplus revenues after the completion of the canals, and for the application of the whole sum to the completion of the canals within three years, is repugnant to this section. Newell v. People, 3 N. Y. 83.

The act of 1851, imposing tolls on freight on railroads, payable to the Canal Commissioners, is constitutional; such tolls are not part of the canal revenues. People v. N. Y. C. R. R. Co., 24 N. Y. 485.

The requirement that the contracts are to be let to the lowest bidder is not to be construed literally; the Commissioners have a discretion. People, ex rel. Frost, v. Fay, 3 Lans 398.

The act authorizing the Canal Board to take proof of the cost of work under contract, and in case it exceeds the contract-price to specify the price to be paid, and directing payment accordingly, is unconstitutional. People, ex rel. Sherrill, v. Canal Board, 4 Lans. 272.

But the Legislature may, during or after the work, increase the prices or allow extra compensation. People, ex rel. Williams, v. Dayton, 55 N. Y. 367.

Loans to incorporated companies.

SEC. 4 The claims of the State against any incorporated company to pay the interest and redeem the principal of the stock of the State loaned or advanced to such company, shall be fairly enforced, and not released or compromised; and the moneys arising from such claim shall be set apart

ARTICLE VII-Continued.

and applied as part of the sinking fund provided in the second section of this article. But the time limited for the fulfillment of any condition of any release or compromise heretofore made or provided for may be extended by law.

Canal debt.

*SEC. 5. There shall annually be imposed and levied a tax, which shall be sufficient to pay the interest and extinguish the principal of the canal debt mentioned in the third section of this article, as the same shall become due and payable, and the proceeds of such tax shall in each fiscal year be appropriated and set apart for the sinking fund constituted for the payment of the principal and the interest of the aforesaid debt. But the Legislature may, in its discretion, impose for the fiscal year beginning on the first day of October, eighteen hundreed and eighty-three, a State tax on each dollar of the valuation of the property in the State which may by law then be subject to taxation, sufficient with the accumulations of the sinking fund applicable thereto, to pay in full both the principal and interest of the canal debt before mentioned, and the proceeds of such tax shall be appropriated and set apart for the sinking fund constituted for the payment of the principal and interest of said debt. In the event of such action by the Legislature, then the Legislature shall, under the law directing the assessment and levy of such tax, make such provision for the retirement of the canal debt as it shall deem equitable and just to the creditors of the State.

Certain canals not to be leased or sold.

*SEC. 6. The Legislature shall not sell, lease or otherwise dispose of the Erie canal, the Oswego canal, the Champlain canal, the Cayuga and Seneca canal, or the Black

*As amended by vote of the people, November 7, 1882.