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Quartering of soldiers.

SEC. 13. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner; nor in time of war, except in the manner to be prescribed by law.

Representation.

SEC. 14. Representation shall be apportioned according to population.

Imprisonment for debt.

SEC. 15. No person shall be imprisoned for debt in any civil action, on mesne or final process, unless in cases of fraud;" and no person shall be imprisoned for a militia fine in time of peace.

Laws prohibited.

SEC. 16. No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, shall ever be passed.'

Rights of foreigners.

SEC. 17. Foreigners who are or who may hereafter become bona fide residents of this State, shall enjoy the same rights in respect to the possession, enjoyment, and inheritance of property, as native-born citizens."

a. In a suit to recover money received by a person as agent, he cannot be arrested without showing some fraudulent conduct on his part. (Ex parte Holdforth, 1 Cal. 438.)

A party cannot be imprisoned under a judgment in a civil action for assault and battery. (Ex parte Prader, 6 Cal. 239.)

b. The Act of April 15, 1851, re-incorporating the City of San Francisco, did not extinguish the debts of the city incurred under the former charter, nor did its property escheat to the State. An Act passed with such intention would be unconstitutional. (Smith vs. Morse, 2 Cal. 524.) The suspension by statute of remedies or any part thereof existing when the contract was made is more or less impairing the obligation of the contract. (Thorne vs. Hays, 4 Cal. 127.) The forty-first section of the Act concerning conveyances, requiring conveyances made before the passage of the Act to be recorded, does not impair the obligation of a contract. (Stafford vs. Lick, 7 Cal. 479.)

The provisions of the "Consolidation Act" of San Francisco, requiring the Sinking Fund created by Act of 1851 to be first exhausted by redemption of certificates of stock, before the Treasurer should make payment annually of fifty thousand dollars, set apart by Act of 1851 for payment of interest, etc., are unconstitutional as violating a contract. (Tallant vs. Woods, 7 Cal. 579.)

This provision in regard to contracts relates to contracts between individuals, and not to contracts between individuals and the State. (Myers vs. English, 9 Cal. 341.)

The right to practice law is not a "contract," and therefore the "Test Act" does not violate the obligation of a contract. (Cohen vs. Wright, 22 Cal. 293.)

c. A British seaman on board a British vessel, of which a British subject is master, may, when discharged in a port of this State, without any fault on his part, sue for and recover his wages in a State Court. (Pugh vs. Gillam, 1 Cal. 485.)

An alien may purchase and hold land, and make leases, and sustain actions till "office found," and proof of his alienage cannot be made available in a collateral proceeding. (Ramires vs. Kent, 2 Cal. 558.)

An alien may hold real estate against every one, and even against the government, until "office found." (Attorney-General vs. Folsom, 5 Cal. 373.)

Held that a non-resident alien cannot inherit land in this State. (Siemsen vs. Bofer, 6 Cal. 250; Norris vs. Hoyt, 18 Cal. 217.)

This section leaves the right of non-resident foreigners in respect to real property as it exists at common law. (Farrell vs. Enright, 12 Cal. 450.)

The Act of April 19, 1856, permitting non-resident aliens to inherit, is constitutional; and the

Slavery prohibited.

SEC. 18. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crime, shall ever be tolerated in this State.

Search warrants.

SEC. 19. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable seizures and searches, shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue but for probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons and things to be seized.

Treason defined, and how punished.

SEC. 20. Treason against the State shall consist only in levying war against it, adhering to its enemies, or giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the evidence of two witnesses to the same overt act, or confession in open Court.

Popular rights retained by the people.

SEC. 21. This enumeration of rights shall not be construed to impair or deny others retained by the people.

SEC. 22. The Legislature shall have no power to make an appropriation, for any purpose whatever, for a longer period than two years." (Amendment, proposed 1866; ratified 6th September, 1871.)

ARTICLE II.

RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE.

Who are or may be electors.

SECTION 1. Every white male citizen of the United States, and every white male citizen of Mexico who shall have elected to become a citizen of the United States, under the treaty of peace exchanged. and ratified at Queretaro, on the thirteenth day of May, eighteen hundred and forty-eight, of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been a resident of the State six months next preceding the election, and the county or district in which he claims his vote thirty

right of bona fine resident aliens may be enlarged but cannot be abridged by the Legislature (People vs. Rogers, 13 Cal. 159.)

By virtue of its police power the State possesses jurisdiction to arrest and restrain fugitive slaves and to remove them from its borders, but not so as to obstruct the owner in reclaiming his slave. (Ex parte Perkins, 2 Cal. 424.)

The doctrine of "comity," as to the right of transit through and delay with slaves in the State, discussed. (Ex parte Archy, 9 Cal. 147.)

a. The amendment constituted a new and additional section.

days, shall be entitled to vote at all elections which are now or hereafter may be authorized by law; provided, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the Legislature, by a two-thirds concurrent vote, from admitting to the right of suffrage Indians, or the descendants of Indians, in such special cases as such a proportion of the legislative body may deem just and proper."

Privileges of electors.

SEC. 2. Electors shall, in all cases except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest on the days of election, during their attendance at such election, going to and returning therefrom.

Militia duty.

SEC. 3. No elector shall be obliged to perform militia duty on the day of election, except in time of war or public danger.

Residence.

SEC. 4. For the purpose of voting, no person shall be deemed to have gained or lost a residence by reason of his presence or absence while employed in the service of the United States, nor while engaged in the navigation of the waters of this State, or of the United States, or of the high seas; nor while a student of any seminary of learning; nor while kept at any alms-house, or other asylum, at public expense; nor while confined in any public prison.

Idiot, insane, and infamous persons.

SEC. 5. No idiot or insane person, or person convicted of any infamous crime, shall be entitled to the privileges of an elector.

Ballot.

SEC. 6. All elections by the people shall be by ballot.

ARTICLE III.

DISTRIBUTION OF POWERS.

Separate departments.

The powers of the government of the State of California shall be divided into three separate departments: the legislative, the execu

a. The Act of April 25, 1863, providing for taking the votes of California volunteers outside of the counties of their legal residence, was unconstitutional. (Bourland vs. Hildreth, 26 Cal. 161; Day vs. Jones, 31 Cal. 261.)

b. The mere fact that a man is a soldier in the United States Army does not disqualify him from voting in this State; nor does a mere residence or sojourn in the country as a soldier make a man a citizen or prove him such. The fact of such sojourn or residence neither creates nor destroys citizenship. (Orman vs. Riley, 15 Cal. 48.)

tive, and judicial; and no person charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these departments shall exercise any functions appertaining to either of the others, except in the cases hereinafter expressly directed or permitted."

ARTICLE IV.

LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.'

Senate and Assembly-Enacting clause of laws.

SECTION 1. The legislative power of this State shall be vested in a Senate and Assembly, which shall be designated the Legislature of the State of California; and the enacting clause of every law shall be as follows: "The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows."

a. The Legislature has no power to confer other than judicial functions upon the Court of Sessions. (Burgoyne vs. San Francisco, 5 Cal. 9; Phelan vs. San Francisco, 6 Cal. 531.) The Legislature cannot confer upon a County Judge power of designating place and manner of holding an election, as it is a ministerial and not a judicial act, and an election thus held will be void. (Dickey vs. Hurlburt, 5 Cal. 343.)

Where any of the duties or powers of one of the departments are not disposed of or distributed to particular officers of that department, such powers or duties are left to the disposal of the Legislature. (Ross vs. Whitman, 6 Cal. 361.)

From the necessity of the case, Supervisors exercise judicial, legislative, and executive powers in matters relating to the police and fiscal regulations of counties. (People vs. El Dorado County, 8 Cal. 58.)

The assessment of taxes is not a judicial act, and cannot be exercised by the Court of Sessions. (10 Cal. 402.)

The Constitution does not place either department above the law, nor make either independent of the other. The Legislature can pass such laws as it may deem expedient, subject only to the prohibitions of the Constitution. If it oversteps those limits, and attempts to impair the obligation of contracts, or to pass ex post facto laws, or grant special acts of incorporation for other than municipal purposes, the judiciary will set aside its legislation and protect the rights it has assailed. (McCauley vs. Brooks, 16 Cal. 11.)

Nothing in the Constitution prohibits the Legislature from declaring the Mayor of a city to be ex officio a Justice of the Peace. (Uridias vs. Morrill, 22 Cal. 473.)

This article refers to the distribution of the powers of the State Government and not to those of local governments created by the Legislature; so that there is nothing in it to prevent the Police Judge of the City and County of San Francisco from performing the duties of the office of Police Commissioner as an ex officio office. (People vs. Provines, 34 Cal. 520.)

b. The Constitution is not to be regarded as a grant of power but rather as a restriction upon the powers of the Legislature; and it is competent for the Legislature to exercise all powers not forbidden by the Constitution, or delegated to the General Government, or prohibited by the United States Constitution. (People vs. Coleman, 4 Cal. 46; People vs. Bigler, 5 Cal. 23.) The motives of the Legislature in passing a law will not be inquired into. (People vs. Bigler, 5 Cal. 23.)

An Act may be void in part for its unconstitutionality, and good so far as it is constitutional. (People vs. Burbank, 12 Cal. 378.)

The Legislature cannot require the Supreme Court to give the reasons of its decisions in writing. The constitutional duty of the Court is discharged by the renditions of its decisions. (Houston vs. Williams, 13 Cal. 24.)

The Constitution is not a grant but a restriction upon the power of the Legislature, and hence an express enumeration of legislative powers and privileges therein cannot be considered as the exclusion of others not named, unless accompanied by negative terms. (Ex parte McCarthy, 29 Cal. 395.)

The Legislature has no power to legalize defective pleadings in pending actions. (People vs. Mariposa Company, 31 Cal. 196.)

It is not within the constitutional power of the State Legislature to confer jurisdiction upon

Sessions of Legislature.

SEC. 2. The sessions of the Legislature shall be biennial, and shall commence on the first Monday of December next ensuing the election of its members, unless the Governor of the State shall, in the interim, convene the Legislature by proclamation. No session shall continue longer than one hundred and twenty days. (Amendment, proposed 1861; ratified 3d September, 1862.)

Election and terms of Assemblymen.

SEC. 3. The members of the Assembly shall be chosen biennially, by the qualified electors of their respective districts, on the first Wednesday in September, unless otherwise ordered by the Legislature, and their term of office shall be two years. (Amendment, proposed 1861; ratified 3d September, 1862.)

Qualifications of legislators.

SEC. 4. Senators and members of Assembly shall be duly qualified electors in the respective counties and districts which they represent.

Election and terms of Senators.

SEC. 5. Senators shall be chosen for the term of four years, at the same time and places as members of Assembly; and no person shall be a member of the Senate or Assembly who has not been a citizen and inhabitant of the State, and of the county or district for which he shall be chosen, one year next before his election. (Amendment, proposed 1861; ratified 3d September, 1862.)

Number and classes of Senators.

SEC. 6. The number of Senators shall not be less than one-third,

Federal Courts or prescribe the means or mode of its exercise. (Greely vs. Townsend, 25 Cal. 604.)

An Act of the Legislature granting a new trial or re-opening a judgment in favor of the people, in a civil action in which the people are a party, is a mere consent on the part of the people, one of the parties, that a new trial be granted or the judgment re-opened and is not unconstitutional. (People vs. Frisbie, 26 Cal. 135.)

Where a new county is erected out of territory taken in part from another county, the Legislature has the power to create a Board of Commissioners to ascertain, settle, and report the amount due from one to the other, and to compel the Supervisors of the county indebted to levy a tax to pay the amount so reported due. (People vs. Alameda County, 26 Cal. 641.)

The Legislature can delegate to a Board of Supervisors power to make an order to prevent the carrying on of an offensive trade, prejudicial to public health, within the limits of a city. (Ex parte Shrader, 33 Cal. 279.)

The Legislature cannot delegate the power to make laws, conferred upon it by the Constitution, to the people of the State or to any portion of the people. (Ex parte Wall, 48 Cal. 279.) The Legislature has no power to refer a statute to the people to decide by a popular vote whether it shall go into effect. (Ex parte Wall, 48 Cal. 279.)

A law which submits to a popular vote of the electors of a county the question whether certain territory of an adjoining county shall be annexed to it and that if such vote should be in the affirmative the adjoining county should be disorganized and the territory annexed, is not unconstitutional. (People vs. Nally, 49 Cal. 478.)

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