Text in force April 6, 1915, with notes Similarly, the debates of the 1846 Convention are found in two publications. One was edited by William G. Bishop and William H. Attree, and printed in one volume at the office of the Evening Atlas, Albany, 1846. This edition is sometimes called the Bishop and Attree edition, and sometimes the Atlas edition. The other publication was edited by S. Crosswell and R. Sutton, and printed in one volume at the office of the Albany Argus in 1846. This edition is sometimes called the Crosswell and Sutton edition, and sometimes the Argus edition. There seems to be no general agreement as to which edition is the better, but as the time limitation on the preparation of the present publication forbade reference to both editions, and as the Atlas edition seems to contain slightly more matter than the Argus edition, the former edition is the one to which reference is made in the notes; but for the reasons already stated in explaining the two publications of the 1821 debates, the page references to the Atlas edition are followed in parentheses by the Convention dates. As the debates of the 1867-68 Convention were published only in one edition (in five volumes in 1868), there is no occasion for any parallel reference. The debates of the 1894 Convention are found in two publications, each called the Record. The original Record was published from day to day during the course of the Convention, and was subsequently bound in six large but thin quarto volumes. The Record of this Convention was revised by the Hon. William H. Steele, vice-president of the Convention, pursuant to chapter 21 of the Laws of 1898, and published in 1900 in five volumes under the direction of the Hon. Charles E. Fitch, secretary of the Convention, pursuant to chapter 419 of the Laws of 1900. The debates of the 1894 Convention are obviously of more importance to the Constitutional Convention of 1915 than the debates of the earlier conventions, and for the purpose of making them as available as possible to the delegates to the latter Convention, reference is made in the notes to Part I of the present publication both to the original edition and to the Revised Record. The references first given are to the volume and page of the Revised Record; the references in parentheses are to the original Record. In addition to the Constitutional Conventions above referred to, there have been in this State two very important constitu Text in force April 6, 1915, with notes tional commissions established for the purpose of recommending constitutional amendments to the Legislature. The first was created by chapter 884 of the Laws of 1872 and is customarily referred to as the Constitutional Commission of 1872. As its functions were extended by chapter 6 of the Laws of 1873, it had power to suggest amendments to any part of the Constitution. The second was created by chapter 189 of the Laws of 1890, and as its powers were limited to proposing amendments to Article VI of the Constitution, it is generally known as the Judiciary Commission of 1890. While both these bodies published journals of their proceedings, unfortunately their debates were never printed. Consequently the references to these commissions in the notes to Part I of the present work are necessarily confined to the parts of Mr. Lincoln's work dealing with them. Volume 1 of Mr. Lincoln's work gives the full text of the Constitutions of 1777, 1821, 1846, 1867 (of which only the Judiciary Article was adopted by the people) and 1894, and also the amendments to all these constitutions adopted by the people down to 1904, and Part II of the present work gives (among other things) all the amendments to the 1894 Constitution adopted by the people down to date. All the constitutional provisions referred to in the source notes to the sections of the present Constitution, as given in Part I of the present work, can therefore be found in full either in Mr. Lincoln's work or in Part II of the present work. The amendments to the Constitution proposed in the Constitutional Convention of 1894 were subsequently bound in three volumes entitled on the outside on the outside "Proposed Constitutional Amendments."2 These proposed amendments are designated in the Revised Record of this Convention as overtures, and are referred to by introductory and print numbers, following the legislative practice as to bills. The notes to Part I of the present work give references to those overtures which proposed changes in provisions now in the present Constitution either in whole or in part, and also indicate where in Part II of the present work 2 There are no title pages to these volumes and no complete index. Any particular proposed amendment can be located only by means of its introductory or print number. The daily calendars of the 1894 Convention will be found in the latter part of the third volume. Text in force April 6, 1915, with notes can be found the amendments to the 1894 Constitution proposed in the Legislature from 1895 to 1914, inclusive. In examining Mr. Lincoln's work and the debates of Constitutional Conventions, it is of course obvious that references were found to many matters not dealt with at all in the Constitution as it exists to-day, or dealt with only indirectly, and also to many matters which, although having some relation, more or less close, to existing provisions, could not be assigned to any particular section of the present Constitution. The limitations of time for the preparation of this work prevented the full treatment of these matters, but the more important of them will be found referred to on pages 129-149 of Part I of the present work under the designation Supplemental Notes. In examining the Supplemental Notes, it must always be borne in mind that from their very nature they are seldom, if ever, exhaustive. They simply gather together fragmentary references which could not be properly, or at least conveniently, assigned to any place in the text preceding them. They are often, however, supplemented by other references found in the notes to the sections of the Constitution. Where there is more than one volume in any of the publications mentioned in the notes in Part I of the present work, the particular volume referred to is indicated by Roman notation and the pages by Arabic notation. Thus, I:240-246, is a reference to volume 1 at pages 240-246. F. D. C. |