SUPPLIED TO THE DELEGATES TO THE New York State Constitutional Convention 1915 BY THE New York State Commission (Established by Laws of 1914, Chapter 261, to collect, compile tutional Convention of 1915) MEMBERS OF COMMISSION MORGAN J. O'BRIEN, Chairman 2 Rector Street, New York City PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE ROBERT F. WAGNER, 1913-14 SPEAKER OF THE ASSEMBLY THADDEUS C. SWEET, 1914-15 SAMSON LACHMAN 35 Nassau Street, New York City JOHN H. FINLEY State Education Building, Albany, N. Y. Secretary to the Commission FREDERICK D. COLSON New York State Library, Albany, N. Y. PREFACE The Legislative Drafting Research Fund has for some time planned the preparation of an index digest of state constitutions to meet the need, which it constantly experiences in its own work, of readily accessible information as to the exact provisions of the fundamental law of the states. Prior to undertaking the preparation of this index digest for the New York Constitutional Convention of 1915 the Fund had begun the work of collecting and bringing down to date the text of the various state constitutions, but the actual digesting and classification of their provisions had not been begun and it was expected that the satisfactory completion of the work would require much more time than was available if the material was to be ready for the use of the Convention. We were persuaded, however, to undertake the task by the anticipation of a pressing demand in the Convention for information as to the content of other state constitutions, and by the hope that the use of such a digest by the Convention would develop valuable criticisms and suggestions for its future perfection. The preparation of this volume was not begun until December, 1914. The mass of the material to be digested and the necessity of originating a classification, as well as the painstaking and timeconsuming work of comparing citations and proof-reading, made it necessary that the digesting and editing of provisions relating to some important subjects be done by persons not members of our permanent staff. As a result there was not opportunity for that constant consultation among all the members of, the editorial staff which is so essential to the production of an accurate and wellbalanced work of this kind. No effort has been spared to make the digest paragraphs and citations accurate. The classification and arrangement of the material present the chief opportunity for improvement of the index digest in its present form. It is our hope that its publication in this form will provoke discussion among a number of persons interested in the solution of the problems with which we have struggled. It is our intention to prepare |