amendment or amendments shall be entered on their journals with the yeas and nays taken thereon, and referred to the legislature to be chosen at the next general election of senators, and shall be published for three months previous to the time of making such choice, and if, in the legislature so next chosen as aforesaid, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to each house, then it shall be the duty of the legislature to submit such proposed amendment or amendments to the people, in such manner and at such time as the legislature shall prescribe; and if the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments, by a majority of the electors qualified to vote for members of the legislature voting thereon, such amendment or amendments shall become part of the constitution.

SEC. 2. At the general election to be held in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-six, and in each twentieth year thereafter, and also at such time as the legislature may by law provide, the question, “Shall there be a convention to revise the constitution and amend the same?" shall be decided by the electors qualified to vote for members of the legislature; and in case a majority of the electors so qualified, voting at such election, shall decide in favor of a convention for such purpose, the legislature at its next session shall provide by law for the election of delegates to such convention.

ARTICLE XIV.

SECTION 1. The first election of senators and members of the assembly, pursuant to the provisions of this constitution, shall be held on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven. The senators and members of assembly who may be in office on the first day of January, one thousand

eight hundred and forty-seven, shall hold their offices until and including the first day of December following and no longer.

SEC. 2. The first election of governor and lieutenant-governor under this constitution shall be held on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight; and the governor and lieutenant-governor in office when this constitution shall take effect shall hold their respective offices until and including the thirty-first day of December of that year.

SEC. 3. The secretary of state, comptroller, treasurer, attorney-general, district attorney, surveyor-general, canal commissioners and inspectors of state prisons, in office when this constitution shall take effect, shall hold their respective offices until and including the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, and no longer.

SEC. 4. The first election of judges and clerk of the court of appeals, justices of the supreme court, and county judges, shall take place at such time between the first Tuesday of April and the second Tuesday of June, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, as may be prescribed by law. The said courts shall respectively enter upon their duties on the first Monday of July next thereafter; but the term of office of said judges, clerks and justices, as declared by this constitution, shall be deemed to commence on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.

SEC. 5. On the first Monday of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, jurisdiction of all suits and proceedings then pending in the present supreme court and court of chancery, and ail suits and proceedings originally commenced and then pending in any court of common pleas (except in the city and county of New York), shall become vested in the supreme court hereby established. Proceedings pending in courts of common pleas, and in suits originally commenced in justices' courts, shall be transferred to the county courts provided for in this constitution

in such manner and form and under such regulations as shall be provided for by law. The courts of oyer and terminer hereby established shall, in their respective counties, have jurisdiction, on and after the day last mentioned, of all indictments and proceedings then pending in the present courts of oyer and terminer, and also of all indictments and proceedings then pending in the present courts of general sessions of the peace, except in the city of New York, and except in cases of which the courts of sessions hereby established may lawfully take cognizance; and of such indictments and proceedings the courts of sessions hereby established shall have jurisdiction on and after the day last mentioned.

SEC. 6. The chancellor and the present supreme court shall, respectively, have power to hear and determine any of such suits and proceedings ready on the first Monday of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, for hearing or decision, and shall, for their services therein, be entitled to their present rates of compensation, until the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, or until all such suits and proceedings shall be sooner heard and determined. Masters in chancery may continue to exercise the functions of their offices in the court of chancery, so long as the chancellor shall continue to exercise the functions of his office under the provisions of this constitution. And the supreme court hereby established shall also have power to hear and determine such of said suits and proceedings as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 7. In case any vacancy shall occur in the office of chancellor or justice of the present supreme court, previous to the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, the governor may nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the senate appoint, a proper person to fill such vacancy. Any judge of the court of appeals or justice of the supreme court, elected under this constitution, may receive and hold such appointment.

SEC. 8. The offices of chancellor, justice of the existing supreme court, circuit judge, vice-chancellor, assistant vice-chancellor, judge of the existing county courts of each county, supreme court commissioner, master in chancery, examiner in chancery, and surrogate (except as herein otherwise provided), are abolished from and after the first Monday of July, one thousand eight hundred and fortyseven (1847).

SEC. 9. The chancellor, the justices of the present supreme court, and the circuit judges, are hereby declared to be severally eligible to any office at the first election under this constitution.

SEC. 10. Sheriffs, clerks of counties (including the register and clerk of the city and county of New York), and justices of the peace, and coroners, in office when this constitution shall take effect, shall hold their respective offices until the expiration of the term for which they were respectively elected.

SEC. 11. Judicial officers in office when this constitution shall take effect may continue to receive such fees and perquisites of office as are now authorized by law, until the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty. seven, notwithstanding the provisions of the twentieth section of the sixth article of this constitution.

SEC. 12. All local courts established in any city or village, including the superior court, common pleas, sessions and surrogates' courts of the city and county of New York, shall remain, until otherwise directed by the legis lature, with their present powers and jurisdictions; and the judges of such courts, and any clerks thereof, in office on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, shall continue in office until the expiration of their terms of office, or until the legislature shall otherwise direct.

SEC. 13. This constitution shall be in force from and in

cluding the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, except as herein otherwise provided.

Done in convention, at the capitol in the city of Albany, the ninth day of October, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the seventy-first. In witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our

names.

JAMES F. STARBUCK,

H. W. STRONG,

FR. SEGER,

JOHN TRACY, President,

and Delegate from the County of Chenango.]

Secretaries.

[The following section stood in the original constitution as section three of article seven. Section three, as it now stands on page 75, was substituted by an amendment proposed by the legislature in 1853, referred to the legislature of 1854, agreed to by two-thirds of the members elected to each house of that legislature, submitted to the people, and approved and ratified at an election held on the 14th day of February, 1854.]

SECTION 3. After paying the said expenses of superintendence and repairs of the canals, and the sums appropriated by the first and second sections of this article, there shall be paid out of the surplus revenues of the canals, to the treasury of the state, on or before the thirtieth day of September, in each year, for the use and benefit of the general fund, such sum not exceeding two hundred thousand dollars, as may be required to defray the necessary expenses of the state; and the remainder of the revenues of the said canals shall, in each fiscal year, be applied in such manner as the legislature shall direct, to the completion of the Erie canal enlargement, and the Genesee and Black River canals, until the said canals shall be completed.

If, at any time after the period of eight years from the adoption of this constitution, the revenues of the state, unappropriated by this article, shall not be sufficient to defray the necessary expenses of the government, without continuing or laying a direct tax, the legislature may, at its discretion, supply the deficiency, in whole or in part, from the surplus revenues of