powers and duties of the said office, resignation, or absence from the state, the powers and duties of the office shall devolve upon the lieutenant governor for the residue of the term, or until the disability shall cease. But when the governor shall, with the consent of the legislature, be out of the state in time of war, at the head of any military force therof, he shall continue commander-in-chief of the military force of the state.

SEC. 18. A secretary of state, a comptroller, a treasurer, an attorney general, and surveyor general, shall be chosen in the manner provided in this constitution; and the term of office, and eligibility of each, shall be the same as are prescribed for the governor and lieutenant governor.

SEC. 19. The secretary of state shall be appointed by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate. He shall keep a fair record of the official acts of the legislative and executive departments of the government, and shall, when required, lay the same, and all matters relative thereto, before either branch of the legislature; and shall perform such other duties as shall be assigned him by law.

SEC. 20. The comptroller, treasurer, attorney general, and surveyor general, shall be chosen by joint vote of the two houses of the legislature, at their first session under this constitution, and thereafter shall be elected at the same time and places, and in the same manner as the governor and lieutenant governor.

SEC. 21. The governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, comptroller, treasurer, attorney-general, and surveyor general, shall each, at stated times during their continuance in office, receive for their services a compensation, which shall not be increased or diminished during the term for which they shall have been elected; but neither of these officers shall receive for his own use any fees for the performance of his official duties.

ARTICLE VI.

JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT.

SEC. 1. The judicial power of this state shall be vested in a supreme court, in district courts, in county courts, and in justices of the peace. The legislature may also establish such municipal and other inferior courts as may be deemed

necessary.

SEC. 2. The supreme court shall consist of a chief justice

and two associate justices, any two of whom shall constitute a quorum.

SEC. 3. The justices of the supreme court shall be elected at the general election, by the qualified electors of the state, and shall hold their office for the term of six years from the first day of January next after their election; provided that the legislature shall, at its first meeting, elect a chief justice and two associate justices of the supreme court, by joint vote of both houses, and so classify them that one shall go out of office every two years. After the first election, the senior justice in commission shall be the chief justice.

SEC. 4. The supreme court shall have appellate jurisdiction in all cases when the matter in dispute exceeds two hundred dollars, when the legality of any tax, toll, or impost or municipal fine is in question, and in all criminal cases amounting to felony or questions of law alone. And the said court, and each of the justices thereof, as well as all district and county judges, shall have power to issue writs of habeas corpus at the instance of any person held in actual custody. They shall also have power to issue all other writs and process necessary to the exercise of their appellate jurisdiction, and shall be conservators of the peace throughout the state.

SEC. 5. The state shall be divided by the first legislature into a convenient number of districts, subject to such alteration from time to time as the public good may require, for each of which a district judge shall be appointed by the joint vote of the legislature, at its first meeting, who shall hold his office for two years from the first day of January next after his election; after which, said judges shall be elected by the qualified electors of their respective districts, at the general election, and shall hold their office for the term of six years.

SEC. 6. The district courts shall have original jurisdiction, in law and equity, in all civil cases where the amount in dispute exceeds two hundred dollars, exclusive of interest. In all criminal cases not otherwise provided for, and in all issues of fact joined in the probate courts, their jurisdiction shall be unlimited.

SEC. 7. The legislature shall provide for the election, by the people, of a clerk of the supreme court, and county clerks, district attorneys, sheriffs, coroners, and other necessary officers; and shall fix by law their duties and compensation. County clerks shall be, ex officio, clerks of the district courts in and for their respective counties.

SEC. 8. There shall be elected in each of the organized counties of this state, one county judge, who shall hold his office for four years. He shall hold the county court, and

perform the duties of surrogate, or probate judge. The county judge, with two justices of the peace, to be designated according to law, shall hold courts of sessions with such criminal jurisdiction as the legislature shall prescribe, and he shall perform such other duties as shall be required by law.

SEC. 9. The county courts shall have such jurisdiction, in cases arising in justice's courts, and in special cases, as the legislature may prescribe, but shall have no original civil jurisdiction, except in such special cases.

SEC 10. The times and places of holding the terms of the supreme court, and the general and special terms of the district courts within the several districts, shall be provided for by law.

SEC. 11. No judicial officer, except a justice of the peace, shall receive, to his own use, any fees or perquisites of office. SEC. 12. The legislature shall provide for the speedy publication of all statute laws, and of such judicial decisions as it may deem expedient; and all laws and judicial decisions shall be free for publication by any person.

SEC. 13. Tribunals for conciliation may be established, with such powers and duties as may be prescribed by law; but such tribunals shall have no power to render judgment to be obligatory on the parties, except they voluntarily submit their matters in difference, and agree to abide the judg ment, or assent thereto in the presence of such tribunal, in such cases as shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. 14. The legislature shall determine the number of justices of the peace, to be elected in each county, city, town, and incorporated village of the state, and fix by law their powers, duties, and responsibilities. It shall also determine in what cases appeals may be made from justices' courts to the county court.

SEC. 15. The justices of the supreme court and judges of the district court, shall severally, at stated times during their continuance in office, receive for their services a compensation to be paid out of the treasury, which shall not be increased or diminished during the term for which they shall have been elected. The county judges shall also severally, at stated times, receive for their services, a compensation to be paid out of the county treasury of their respective counties, which shall not be increased or diminished during the term for which they shall have been elected.

SEC. 16. The justices of the supreme court and district judges shall be ineligible to any other office during the term for which they have been elected.

SEC. 17. Judges shall not charge juries with respect to matters of fact, but may state the testimony and declare the law.

SEC. 18. The style of all process shall be "The People of the State of California;" all the prosecutions shall be conducted in the name and by the authority of the same.

ARTICLE VII.

MILITIA.

SEC. 1. The legislature shall provide by law for organizing and disciplining the militia, in such manner as they shall deem expedient, not incompatible with the constitution and laws of the United States.

SEC. 2. Officers of the militia shall be elected or appointed, in such a manner as the legislature shall from time to time direct, and shall be commissioned by the governor.

SEC. 3. The governor shall have power to call forth the militia, to execute the laws of the state, to suppress insurrections, and repel invasions.

ARTICLE VIII.

STATE DEBTS.

The legislature shall not in any manner create any debt or debts, liability or liabilities, which shall singly, or in the aggregate, with any previous debts or liabilities, exceed the sum of three hundred thousand dollars, except in case of war, to repel invasion, or suppress insurrection, unless the same shall be authorized by some law for some single object or work, to be distinctly specified therein, which law shall provide ways and means, exclusive of loans, for the payment of the interest of such debt or liability, as it falls due, and also pay and discharge the principal of such debt or liability within twenty years from the time of the contracting thereof, and shall be irrepealable until the principal and interest thereon shall be paid and discharged; but no such law shall take effect until, at a general election, it shall have been submitted to the people, and have received a majority of all the votes cast for and against at such election; and all money raised by authority of such law, shall be applied only to the specified object therein stated, or to the payment of the debt thereby created; and such law shall be published in at least one newspaper in each judicial district, if one be published therein, throughout the state, for three months next preceding the election at which it is submitted to the people.

ARTICLE IX.

EDUCATION.

SEC. 1. The legislature shall provide for the election, by the people, of a superintendent of public instruction, who shall hold his office for three years, and whose duties shall be prescribed by law, and who shall receive such compensation as the legislature may direct.

SEC. 2. The legislature shall encourage, by all suitable means, the promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral, and agricultural improvement. The proceeds of all land that may be granted by the United States to this state for the support of schools, which may be sold or disposed of, and the five hundred thousand acres of land granted to the new states, under an act of congress distributing the proceeds of the public lands among the several states of the union, approved A.D., 1841; and all estates of deceased persons who may have died without leaving a will, or heir, and also such per cent. as may be granted by congress on the sale of lands in this state, shall be and remain a perpetual fund, the interest of which, together with all the rents of the unsold lands, and such other means as the legislature may provide, shall be inviolably appropriated to the support of common schools throughout the state.

SEC. 3. The legislature shall provide for a system of common schools, by which a school shall be kept up and supported in each district at least three months in every year, and any school neglecting to keep and support such a school may be deprived of its proportion of the interest of the public fund during such neglect.

SEC. 4. The legislature shall take measures for the protection, improvement, or other disposition of such lands as have been, or may hereafter be reserved or granted by the United States, or any person or persons, to the state for the use of a university; and the funds accruing from the rents or sale of such lands, or from any other source for the purpose aforesaid, shall be and remain a permanent fund, the interest of which shall be applied to the support of said university, with such branches as the public convenience may demand, for the promotion of literature, the arts and sciences, as may be authorized by the terms of such grant. And it shall be the duty of the legislature, as soon as may be, to provide effectual means for the improvement and permanent security of the funds of said university.