Qualifica tions of electors. Disqualifications. Residence. Rights on duly and legally published for three months next preceding the time of such choice. Amend Article II. to read as follows: ARTICLE TWO.-RIGHTS OF SUFFRAGE AND ELECTIONS. SECTION 1. Every male citizen, twenty-one years of age, possessing the following qualifications, shall be entitled to vote at all elections: One-He shall have been a citizen of the United States at least one month. Two-He shall have resided in the State six months immediately preceding the election. Three-He shall have resided in the election precinct. where he shall offer to vote one month immediately preceding the election. SEC. 2. No idiot or insane person, or person convicted of any infamous crime, shall be entitled to the privileges of an elector. SEC. 3. 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 at any seminary of learning, nor while kept at any almshouse or other asylum at public expense, nor while confined in any public prison; nor shall any person in the military, naval, or marine service of the United States, by reason of being stationed in any military or naval station within the State, be considered a resident of this State. SEC. 4. No elector shall be obliged to perform militia duty election day on the day of election, except in time of war or public danger. Same, General elections. Elections by ballot, etc. Plurality. Bribery. SEC. 5. 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. SEC. 6. The general election shall be held on the Tuesday next following the first Monday in November, A. D. one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven, and every two years thereafter, unless the Legislature by statute fix a different time. SEC. 7. All elections by the people shall be by ballot. All elections by persons in a representative capacity shall be viva voce. SEC. 8. A plurality of the votes given at any election shall constitute a choice, where not otherwise directed in this Constitution. SEC. 9. Any person who shall give, or promise, or offer to give to any elector any money, reward, or other valuable consideration for his vote at an election, or for withholding the same, or who shall give or promise to give such consideration to any other person or party for such elector's vote, or for the withholding thereof, and any elector who shall receive or agree to receive, for himself or for another, any money, reward, or other valuable consideration for his vote at an election, or for withholding the same, shall therebyforfeit the right to vote at such election; and any elector Challenges. whose right to vote shall be challenged for such cause before the election officers, shall be required to swear or affirm that the matter of the challenge is untrue, before his vote shall be received. bribery. SEC. 10. Any person who shall, while a candidate for Penalties for office, be guilty of bribery, fraud, or willful violation of any election law, shall be forever disqualified from holding an office of trust or profit in this State; and any person convicted of willful violation of the election laws shall, in addition to any penalty provided by law, be deprived of the right of suffrage absolutely for a term of four years. in cases of SEC. 11. In trials of contested elections, and proceedings Testimony for the investigations of elections, no person shall be permit- contested ted to withhold his testimony upon any ground; but such elections. testimony shall not afterwards be used against him in any judicial proceeding, except for perjury in giving such testi mony. Amend Article VI. of said Constitution to read as follows: ARTICLE SIX.-JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. vested. SECTION 1. The judicial power of this State shall be vested Judicial in a Supreme Court, District Courts, Courts of Justices of the powers, how Peace, and in such Municipal Courts as shall be established by statute for cities, or consolidated cities and counties. Court. SEC. 2. The Supreme Court shall consist of a Chief Jus- Supreme tice and six Associate Justices. The presence of four Justices shall be necessary for the transaction of business in Court, and the concurrence of four Justices shall be necessary to pronounce a judgment. Justices. SEC. 3. The Justices of the Supreme Court shall be elected Election of by the qualified electors of the State at the general election Supreme next after the adoption of these amendments, and each shall take his seat on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January next after his election. The full term of a Justice of the Supreme Court is fourteen years. At the meeting of such Justices on the said Tuesday next after the first Monday of January, they shall so classify themselves by lot that the term of one Justice shall expire every two years, and his successor shall be elected at the general election next preceding the expiration of such term. SEC. 4. At the election for Justices of the Supreme Court Same. next after the adoption of these amendments, no elector shall vote for more than four persons for Justices of the Supreme Court. SEC. 5. If a vacancy occur in the office of Justice of the Vacancies, Supreme Court from other causes than the expiration of a full how filled. term, the Governor shall fill such vacancy by appointment, Chief Justice. Jurisdiction of Supreme Court. Each county Vacancies in District Additional Presiding Separate and the appointee shall hold until the election and qualification of his successor. At the next general election after such vacancy, it shall be filled by election, and the person so elected shall hold office from the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January next ensuing until the expiration of the unexpired term. SEC. 6. No Justice appointed or elected to fill an unexpired term shall be Chief Justice. The Justice not so appointed or elected, having the shortest term to serve, shall be Chief Justice. SEC. 7. The jurisdiction of the Supreme Court is of two kinds: One-Original; and, SEC. 8. The original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court extends to the issuance of writs of mandate, review, prohibition, and habeas corpus. SEC. 9. The appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court extends: One-To all civil cases and special proceedings arising in the District Courts; Two-To all criminal actions amounting to felony; Three-To the issuance of all writs necessary to the exercise of its appellate jurisdiction; and, Four-To such other cases and proceedings as the Legislature may by general statute prescribe. SEC. 10. Each county is a judicial district. District Judges shall be elected by the qualified electors of their respected districts, at the general election next after the adoption of these amendments, and shall hold their respective offices for the term of six years, and until their successors shall be elected and qualified. SEC. 11. If a vacancy occur in the office of District Judge from causes other than the expiration of a full term, the Governor shall fill such vacancy by appointment, and the appointee shall hold until the election and qualification of his successor. At the next general election after such vacancy, it shall be filled by election, and the person so elected shall hold office from the Tuesday after the first Monday in January next ensuing, for the term of six years. SEC. 12. Every county containing less than twenty thou sand inhabitants shall elect one District Judge; counties containing more than twenty thousand inhabitants may elect such further number of District Judges as shall be prescribed by statute, not exceeding one for every twenty thousand inhabitants, and one for such fraction as shall exceed ten thousand. SEC. 13. In districts where there shall be more than one District Judge, a presiding Judge shall be elected by lot, who shall distribute the labor to be performed by each. SEC. 14. Each District Court shall be held by one District Judge; and when two or more Judges are selected for one county, Courts shall be held separate, but the judgments and orders of each shall be entered and enforced as of the District Court of such county. SEC. 15. The jurisdiction of District Courts is of two Jurisdiction kinds: One-Appellate; and, Two-Original. SEC. 16. The appellate jurisdiction of the District Courts extend: One-To all cases arising in Justices' Courts. Two-To such cases and proceedings arising in Municipal Courts as the Legislature may prescribe. SEC. 17. The original jurisdiction of District Courts ex tend: One-To all civil actions for relief formerly given in Courts of equity. Two-To all civil actions in which the subject of litigation is not capable of pecuniary estimation. Three-To all civil actions in which the subject of litigation is capable of pecuniary estimation, which involves the title or possession of real estate, or the legality of any tax, impost, assessment, toll, or municipal fine, or in which the demand, exclusive of interest, or the value of the property in controversy, amounts to three hundred dollars. Four-To actions to prevent or abate a nuisance. Seven-To probate cases and proceedings. Nine-To inquiring, by the intervention of a Grand Jury, of all public offenses committed or triable within the district. Ten-To the trial of all indictments. Eleven-To such other cases and proceedings as the Legislature may prescribe. of District Courts. the Peace. SEC. 18. The Legislature shall determine the number of Justices of Justices of the Peace to be elected in each city and township of the State, and fix, by law, their powers, duties, and responsibilities; but such powers shall not, in any case, trench upon the jurisdiction of the several Courts of record. The courts of Supreme Court and District Courts, and such other Courts record. as the Legislature shall prescribe, shall be Courts of record. Courts, juris SEC. 19. The jurisdiction of Municipal Courts, established Municipal by statute for cities and consolidated cities and counties, diction of. shall extend only to the trial of misdemeanors and to the trial of cases arising under ordinances of such cities, or cities and counties. Court, counties, SEC. 20. The Legislature shall provide for the election of Clerks of a Clerk of the Supreme Court, of County Clerks, District reme Attorneys, Sheriffs, and other necessary officers, and shall Clerks of fix by law their duties and compensations. County Clerks and Comshall be ex officio Clerks of the Courts of record in and for missioners. their respective counties. The Legislature may also provide for the appointment, by the several Courts of record, of one or more Commissioners, with authority to perform chamber business, and also to take depositions, and to perform such other business connected with the administration of justice as may be prescribed by statute. 934 Terms of Court. Fees or perquisites. Supreme reports. Salaries. Supreme and District Judges to hold no other office. Charges to juries. Style of process. Continuance Same. Vacancies by election to new Court. STATUTES OF CALIFORNIA, TWENTY-FIRST SESSION. SEC. 21. The time and place of holding the terms of the Supreme Court shall be provided for by statute. The District Courts shall always be open for the transaction of business. SEC. 22. No judicial officer, except Justices of the Peace and Commissioners, shall receive to his own use any fees or perquisites of office. SEC. 23. The Legislature shall provide for the speedy publication of such opinions of the Supreme Court as it may seem expedient, and all opinions shall be free for publication by any person. SEC. 24. The Justices of the Supreme Court and District. Judges shall severally, at stated times during their continuance in office, receive for their services, out of the State treasury, a compensation which shall not be increased or diminished after their election, or during the term for which they shall have been elected. SEC. 25. The Justices of the Supreme Court and the District Judges shall be ineligible to any other office than a judicial office, during the term for which they shall have been elected, and shall, before entering upon their offices, in addition to the oath of office, take and subscribe an oath that they will not, during such term, accept any Federal office. SEC. 26. Judges shall not charge juries with respect to matters of fact, but they may state the testimony and declare the law. SEC. 27. The style of all process shall be "The People of the State of California," and all prosecutions shall be conducted in their name and by their authority. SEC. 28. The Supreme Court now in existence is continued until the first Monday in January, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, but, after the first Monday in January, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, its powers shall only extend to the determination of such cases, or proceedings pending therein, as may have been submitted for decision prior to that time. SEC. 29. The Justices of said Court in commission at the time these amendments take effect may hold their offices as Justices thereof until the first Monday in January, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine. SEC. 30. If any Justice of said Court is elected a Justice of the Supreme Court created by this Act, his office, as a Justice of the Supreme Court now in existence, shall become vacant on the first Monday in January, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, and the Governor shall, by appointment, fill the vacancy. NOTE. Chapter 483, Amendments to the Codes (approved April 1, 1876), repeals an Act entitled "An Act to amend an Act to regulate proceedings in civil cases in the Courts of justice of this State, passed April 29, 1851,” and approved April 1, 1872. Chapter 545, Amendments to the Codes (approved April 3, 1876), repeals an Act entitled "An Act to provide for the fitting up and use of the Governor's Mansion as a State Printing Office and State Armory," approved March 30, 1874, and also an Act entitled "An Act to establish a State Printing Office and to create the office of Superintendent of State Printing," approved March 26, 1872. |