ARTICLE XI- - Continued.

shall be removed from office, unless by the Senate on the recommendation of the Governor, stating the grounds on which such removal is recommended, or by the decision of a court-martial, pursuant to law. The present officers of the militia shall hold their commissions subject to removal, as before provided.

An act providing for consolidating companies and regiments does not infringe sections 2 and 5, by depriving officers of office. People, ex rel. Weeks v. Ewen, 17 How. 375.

Election of militia officers may be abolished.

SEC. 6. In case the mode of election and appointment of militia officers hereby directed shall not be found conducive to the improvement of the militia, the Legislature may abolish the same, and provide by law for their appointment and removal, if two-thirds of the members present in each house shall concur therein.

Oath of office.

* ARTICLE XII.

SECTION 1. Members of the Legislature (and all officers, executive and judicial, except such inferior officers as shall be by law exempted) shall, before they enter on the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of New York, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of

according to the best of my ability;" and all such officers who shall have been chosen at any election shall, before they enter on the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe the oath or affirmation above prescribed, together with the following addition thereto, as part thereof:

As amended by vote of the people, November 3, 1874.

ARTICLE XII-Continued.

"And I do further solemnly swear (or affirm) that I have not directly or indirectly paid, offered or promised to pay, contributed, or offered or promised to contribute any money or other valuable thing as a consideration or reward for the giving or withholding a vote at the election at which I was elected to said office, and have not made any promise to influence the giving or withholding any such vote," and no other oath, declaration or test shall be required as a qualification for any office of public trust.

Amendments.

ARTICLE XIII.

SECTION 1. Any amendment or amendments to this Constitution may be proposed in the Senate and Assembly; and if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each of the two houses, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered on their journals, with the ayes and nays taken thereon, and referred to the Legislature to be chosen at the next general election of Senators, and shall be published for three months previous to the time of making such choice; and if in the Legislature so next chosen, as aforesaid, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to each house, then it shall be the duty of the Legislature to submit such proposed amendment or amendments to the people, in such manner and at such time as the Legislature shall prescribe; and if the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amend. ments, by a majority of the electors qualified to vote for members of the Legislature, voting thereon, such amendmeut or amendments shall become part of the Constitution.

Constitutional Convention.

SEC. 2. At the general election to be held in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-six, and in each twentieth year

ARTICLE XIII- Continued.

thereafter, and also at such time as the Legislature may by law provide, the question, “Shall there be a convention to revise the Constitution, and amend the same?"* shall be decided by the electors qualified to vote for members of the Legislature; and in case a majority of the electors so qualified, voting at such election, shall decide in favor of a convention for such purpose, the Legislature at its next session shall provide by law for the election of delegates to such convention. †

ARTICLE XIV.

Election - Terms of office.

SECTION 1. The first election of Senators and Members of the Assembly, pursuant to the provisions of this Constitution, shall be held on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven. The Senators and Members of Assembly who may be in office on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, shall hold their offices until and including the thirty-first day of December following, and no longer.

Governor and Lieutenant-Governor.

SEC. 2. The first election of Governor and LieutenantGovernor under this Constitution shall be held on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight; and the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor in office when this Constitution shall take effect shall hold their respective offices until and including the thirty first day of December of that year.

* A Convention, held in 1867, pursuant hereto, proposed a new Constitution, which was voted upon in parts, in November, 1869, and rejected, except article six (sections 1 to 27, inclusive).

+Submitted to vote of people, November 2, 1886, and decided in favor of a convention.

State officers.

ARTICLE XIV - Continued.

SEC. 3. The Secretary of State, Comptroller, Treasurer, Attorney-General, District Attorneys, Surveyor-General, Canal Commissioners and Inspectors of State Prisons, in office when this Constitution shall take effect, shall hold their respective offices until and including the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and fortyseven, and no longer.

Judicial officers.

SEC. 4. The first election of Judges and Clerk of the Court of Appeals, Justices of the Supreme Court, and County Judges, shall take place at such time between the first Tuesday of April and the second Tuesday of June, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, as may be prescribed by law. The said courts shall respectively enter upon their duties on the first Monday of July, next thereafter; but the term of office of said Judges, Clerk and Justices, as declared by this Constitution, shall be deemed to commence on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.

Pending suits.

SEC. 5. On the first Monday of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, jurisdiction of all suits and proceedings then pending in the present Supreme Court and Court of Chancery, and all suits and proceedings originally commenced and then pending in any Court of Common Pleas (except in the city and county of New York), shall become vested in the Supreme Court hereby established. Proceedings pending in Courts of Common Pleas, and in suits originally commenced in Justices' Courts, shall be transferred to the County Courts provided for in this Constitution, in such manner and form and under such regulations as shall be provided by law. The Courts of Oyer and

ARTICLE XIV - Continued.

Terminer hereby established shall in their respective counties have jurisdiction on and after the day last mentioned of all indictments and proceedings then pending in the present Courts of Oyer and Terminer, and also of all indictments and proceedings then pending in the present Courts of General Sessions of the Peace, except in the city of New York, and except in cases of which the Courts of Sessions hereby established may lawfully take coguizance; and of such indictments and proceedings the Courts of Sessions hereby established shall have jurisdiction on and after the day last mentioned.

Chancellor and Supreme Court. — Masters in Chancery.

SEC. 6. The Chancellor and the present Supreme Court shall, respectively, have power to hear and determine any of such suits and proceedings ready on the first Monday of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, for hearing or decision, and shall, for their services therein, be entitled to their present rates of compensation until the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and fortyeight, or until all such suits and proceedings shall be sooner heard and determined. Masters in Chancery may continue to exercise the functions of their office in the Court of Chancery, so long as the Chancellor shall continue to exercise the functions of his office under the provisions of this Constitution. And the Supreme Court hereby estab. lished shall also have power to hear and determine such of said suits and proceedings as may be prescribed by law.

Vacancy in office of Chancellor, etc.

SEC. 7. In case any vacancy shall occur in the office of Chancellor or Justice of the present Supreme Court, previously to the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, the Governor may nominate and, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint a