ARTICLE IX. SECTION 1. The capital of the Common School Fund; the capital of the Literature Fund, and the capital of the United States Deposite Fund, shall be respectively preserved inviolate. The revenue of the said Common School Fund shall be applied to the support of common schools; the revenues of the said Literature Fund shall be applied to the support of academies, and the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars of the revenues of the United States Deposite Fund shall each year be appropriated to and made a part of the capital of the said Common School Fund. ARTICLE X. SECTION 1. Sheriffs, clerks of counties, including the register and clerk of the city and county of New-York, coroners and district attorneys, shall be chosen by the electors of the respective counties, once in every three years and as often as vacancies shall happen. Sheriffs shall hold no other office, and be ineligible for the next three years after the termination of their offices. They may be required by law, to renew their security, from time to time; and in default of giving such new security, their offices shall be deemed va cant. But the county shall never be made responsible for the acts of the sheriff. The Governor may remove any officer, in this section mentioned, within the term for which he shall have been elected; giving to such officer a copy of the charges against him, and an opportunity of being heard in his defence. Section 2. All county officers whose election or appointment is not provided for, by this Constitution, shall be elected by the electors of the respective counties, or appointed by the boards of supervisors, or other county authorities, as the Legislature shall direct. All city, town and village officers, whose election or appointment is not provided for by this Constitution, shall be elected by the electors of such cities, towns and villages, or of some division thereof, or appointed by such authorities thereof, as the Legislature shall designate for that purpose. All other officers whose election or appointment is not provided for by this Constitution, and all officers whose offices may hereafter be created by law, shall be elected by the people, or appointed, as the Legislature may direct. Section 3. When the duration of any office, is not provided by this Consti tution, it may be declared by law, and if not so declared, such office shall be held, during the pleasure of the authority making the appointment. Section 4. The time of electing all officers named in this article shall be prescribed by law. Section 5. The Législature shall provide for filling vacancies in office, and in case of elective officers, no person appointed to fill a vacancy shall hold his office by virtue of such appointment longer than the commencement of the political year next succeeding the first annual election after the happen. ing of the vacancy. Section 6. The political year and legislative term, shall begin on the first day of January; and the Legislature shall every year assemble on the first Tuesday in January unless a different day shall be appointed by law. Section 7. Provisions shall be made by law for the removal for misconduct or malversation in office, of all officers (except judicial) whose powers and duties are not local or legislative, and who shall be elected at general elections, and also for supplying vacancies created by such removal. Section 8. The Legislature may declare the cases in which any office shall be deemed vacant, where no provision is made for that purpose in this Constitution. ARTICLE XI. SECTION 1. The militia of this State, shall at all times hereafter, be armed and disciplined, and in readiness for service; but all such inhabitants of this State of any religious denomination whatever as from scruples of conscience may be averse to bearing arms, shall be excused therefrom, upon such conditions as shall be prescribed by law. Section 2. Militia officers shall be chosen, or appointed, as follows:-captains, subalterns and non-commissioned officers shall be chosen by the written votes of the members of their respective companies. Field officers of regiments and separate battalions, by the written votes of the commissioned offi cers of the respective regiments and separate battalions; brigadier-generals and brigade inspectors by the field officers of their respective brigades; major generals, brigadier generals and commanding officers of regiments or separate battalions, shall appoint the staff officers to their respective divisions, brigades, regiments or separate battalions. Section 3. The Governor shall nominate, and with the consent of the Senate, appoint all major generals, and the commissary general. The adju tant general and other chiefs of staff departments, and the aids-de-camp of the commander-in-chief shall be appointed by the Governor, and their commissions shall expire with the time for which the Governor shall have been elected. The commissary general shall hold his office for two years. He shall give security for the faithful execution of the duties of his office, in such manner and amount as shall be prescribed by law. Section 4. The Legislature shall, by law, direct the time and manner of electing militia officers, and of certifying their elections to the Governor. Section 5. The commissioned officers of the militia shall be commissioned by the Governor; and no commissioned officer 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. Section 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. ARTICLE XII. SECTION 1. Members of the Legislature and all officers, executive and judicial, except such inferior officers as may be by law exempted, shall, be fore they enter on the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be) 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." for And no other oath, declaration, or test shall be required as a qualification any office or public trust. 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 pro posed amendment or amendments shall be entered on their journals with the yeas 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 amend ment 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 amendments, by a majority of the electors qualified to vote for members of the Legislature, voting thereon, such amendment or amendments shall become part of the Constitution. Section 2. At the general election to be held in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-six, and in each twentieth year 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. SECTION 1. The first election of Senators and members of Assembly, pur. suant 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. Section 2. The first election of Governor and Lieutenant-Governor 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. Section 3. The Secretary of State, Comptroller, Treasurer, Attorney. General, District-Attorney, 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 forty-seven, and no longer. Section 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. Section 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 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 regulation as shall be provided by law. The courts of oyer and 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 cognisance; and of such indictments and proceedings the courts of sessions hereby established shall have jurisdiction on and after the day last mentioned. Section 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 fortyseven, for hearing or decision, and shall, for their services therein, be enti tled to their present rates of compensation until the first day of July, one thousand eight bundred and forty eight, or until 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 established shall also have power to hear and determine such of said suits and proceedings as may be prescribed by law. Section 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 proper person to fill such vacancy. Any judge of the Court of Appeals or justice of the Supreme Court, elected under this Constitution, may receive and hold such appointment. Section 8. The office of Chancellor, justice of the existing Supreme Court, circuit judge, vice-chancellor, assistant vice-chancellor, judge of the existing county courts of each county, Supreme Court commissioner, master in chancery, examiner in chancery and surrogate, (except as herein otherwise provided,) are abolished from and after the first Monday of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, (1847.) Section 9. The Chancellor, the justices of the present Supreme Court, and the circuit judges, are hereby declared to be severally eligible to any office at the first election under this Constitution. Section 10. Sheriffs, clerks of counties, (including the register and clerk of the city and county of New-York) and justices of the peace, and coroners, in office, when this Constitution shall take effect, shall hold their respective offices until the expiration of the term for which they were respectively elected. Section 11. Judicial officers in office when this Constitution shall take effect, may continue to receive such fees and perquisites of office as are now authorized by law, until the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, notwithstanding the provisions of the twentieth section of the sixth Article of this Constitution. Section 12. All local courts established in any city or village, including the superior court, common pleas, sessions and surrogate's courts of the city and county of New-York, shall remain, until otherwise directed by the Legislature, with their present powers and jurisdictions; and the judges of such courts and any clerks thereof in office on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, shall continue in office until the expiration of their terms of office, or until the Legislature shall otherwise direct. Section 13. This Constitution shall be in force from and including the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, except as is herein otherwise provided. DONE, IN Convention, at the Capitol, in the city of Albany, the ninth day of In witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names. JAMES F. STARBUCK, H. W. STRONG, FR. SEGER, STATE OF NEW-YORK, And Delegate from the County of Chenango. Secretaries. } I have compared the preceding with the original engrossed Constitution deposited in this office on the ninth day of October, 1846, and Do Certify, that the same is a correct transcript therefrom, and of the whole of said original. Given under my hand and seal of office, at the city of Albany, the L. S. tenth day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and forty-six. N. S. BENTON, |