Page images
PDF
EPUB

i

months in each year. Any school district neglecting to maintain such school, shall be deprived for the ensuing year of its proportion of the income of the primary school fund, and of all funds arising from taxes for the support of schools.

Sec. 6. There shall be elected in each judicial circuit, at the time of the election of the judge of such circuit, a regent of the university, whose term of office shall be the same as that of such judge. The regents thus elected shall constitute the board of regents of the University of Michigan.

Sec. 7. The regents of the university, and their successors in office, shall continue to constitute the body corporate, known by the name and title of "The Regents of the University of Michigan."

Sec. 8. The regents of the university shall, at their first annual meeting, or as soon thereafter as may be, elect a president of the university, who shall be ex-officio a member of their board, with the privilege of speaking, but not of voting. He shall preside at the meetings of the regents, and be the principal executive officer of the university. The board of regents shall have the general supervision of the university, and the direction and control of all expenditures from the university interest fund.

Sec. 9. There shall be elected at the general election in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, three members of a State board of education, one for two years, one for four years, and one for six years; and at each succeeding biennial election there shall be elected one member of such board, who shall hold his office for six years. The superintendent of public instruction shall be ex-officio a member and secretary of such board. The board shall have the general supervision of the State normal school, and their duties shall be prescribed by law.

Sec. 10. Institutions for the benefit of those inhabitants who are deaf, dumb, blind, or insane, shall always be fostered and supported.

Sec. 11. The legislature shall encourage the promotion of intellectual, scientific and agricultural improvement; and shall, as soon as practicable, provide for the establishment of an agricultural school. The legislature may appropriate the twenty-two sections of salt spring lands now unappropriated, or the money arising from the sale of the same, where such lands have been already sold, and any land which may hereafter be granted or appropriated for such purpose, for the support and maintenance of such school, and may make the same a branch of the university, for instruction in agriculture and the natural sciences connected therewith, and place the same under the supervision of the regents of the university.

Sec. 12. The legislature shall provide for the establishment of at least one library in each township; and all fines assessed and collected in the several counties and townships for any breach of the penal laws, shall be exclusively applied to the support of such libraries.

ARTICLE XIV.

FINANCE AND TAXATION.

Section 1. All specific State taxes, except those received from the mining companies of the upper peninsular, shall be applied in paying the interest upon the primary school, university, and other educational funds, and the interest and principal of the State debt in the order herein recited, until the extinguishment of the State debt, other than the amounts due to educational funds, when such specific taxes shall be added to, and constitute a part of the primary school interest fund. The legislature shall provide för an annual tax, sufficient, with other resources, to pay the estimated expenses

of the State government, the interest of the State debt, and such deficiency as may occur in the resources.

Sec. 2. The legislature shall provide by law a sinking fund of at least twenty thousand dollars a year, to commence in eighteen hundred and fifty-two, with compound interest at the rate of six per cent. per annum, and an annual increase of at least five per cent., to be applied solely to the payment and extinguishment of the principal of the State debt, other than the amounts due to educational funds, and shall be continued until the extinguishment thereof. The unfunded debt shall not be funded or redeemed at a value exceeding that established by law in one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.

Sec. 3. The State may contract debts to meet deficits in revenue. Such debts shall not in the aggregate at any one time exceed fifty thousand dollars. The moneys so raised shall be applied to the purposes for which they were obtained, or to the payment of the debts so contracted.

Sec. 4. The State may contract debts to repel invasion, suppress suppress insurrection, or defend the State in time of war. The money arising from the contracting of such debts shall be applied to the purposes for which it was raised, or to repay such debts.

Sec. 5. No money shall be paid out of the treasury, except in pursuance of appropriations made by law.

Sec. 6. The credit of the State shall not be granted to, or in aid of, any person, association or corporation.

Sec. 7. No scrip, certificate, or other evidence of State indebtedness shall be issued, except for the redemption of stock previously issued, or for such debts as are expressly authorized in this constitution.

Sec. 8. The State shall not subscribe to, or be interested in, the stock of any company, association, or corporation.

Sec. 9. The State shall not be a party to, or interested in, any work of internal improvement, or engaged in carrying on any such work, except in the expenditure of grants to the State of land or other property.

Sec. 10. The State may continue to collect all specific taxes accruing to the Treasury under existing laws. The legislature may provide for the collection of specific taxes from banking, railroad, plank road, and other corporations hereafter created.

Sec. 11. The legislature shall provide an uniform rule of taxation, except on property paying specifie taxes; and taxes shall be levied on such property as shall be prescribed by law.

Sec. 12. All assessments hereafter authorized shall be on property at its cash value.

Sec. 13. The legislature shall provide for an equalization by a State board in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, and every fifth year thereafter, of assessments on all taxable property, except that paying specific taxes.'

Sec. 14. Every law which imposes, continues, or revives a tax, shall distinctly state the tax, and the object to which it is to be applied; and it shall not be sufficient to refer to any other law to fix such tax or object.

ARTICLE XV.

CORPORATIONS.

Section 1. Corporations may be formed under general laws, but shall not be created by special act, except for municipal purposes. All laws passed pursuant to this section may be altered, amended, or repealed.

Sec. 2. No banking law, or law for banking purposes, or amendments thereof, shall have effect until the same shall, after its passage, be submitted to a vote of the electors of the State, at a general election, and be approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon at such election.

Sec. 3. The officers and stockholders of every corporation or association. for banking purposes, issuing bank notes or paper credits to circulate as money, shall be individually liable for all debts contracted during the time of their being officers or stockholders of such corporation or association.

Sec. 4. The legislature shall provide by law for the registry of all bills or notes issued or put in circulation as money, and shall require security to the full amount of notes and bills so registered, in State or United States stocks bearing interest, which shall be deposited with the State treasurer for the redemption of such bills or notes in specie.

Sec. 5. In case of the insolvency of any bank or banking association, the bill-holders thereof shall be entitled to preference in 'payment, over all other creditors of such bank or association.

Sec. 6. The legislature shall pass no law authorizing or sanctioning the suspension of specie payments by any person, association, or corporation. Sec. 7. The stockholders of all corporations and joint stock associations shall be individually liable for all labor performed for such corporation or association.

Sec. 8. The legislature shall pass no law altering or amending any act of incorporation heretofore granted, without the assent of two-thirds of the members elected to each house; nor shall any such act be renewed or extended. This restriction shall not apply to municipal corporations.

Sec. 9. The property of no person shall be taken by any corporation for public use without compensation being first made or secured in such manner as may be prescribed by law.

Sec. 10. No corporation, except for municipal purposes, or for the construction of railroads, plank roads, and canals, shall be created for a longer time than thirty years.

Sec. 11. The term "corporation," as used in the preceding sections of this article, shall be construed to include all associations and joint stock companies having any of the powers or privileges of corporations not possessed by individuals or partnerships. All corporations shall have the right to sue and be subject to be sued in all courts in like cases as natural per

sons.

Sec. 12. No corporation shall hold any real estate hereafter acquired for a longer period than ten years, except such real estate as shall be actually occupied by such corporation in the exercise of its franchises.

Sec. 13. The legislature shall provide for the incorporation and organization of cities and villages, and shall restrict their powers of taxation, borrowing money, contracting debts, and loaning their credit.

Sec. 14. Judicial officers of cities and villages shall be elected, and all other officers shall be elected or appointed at such time and in such manner as the legislature may direct.

Sec. 15. Private property shall not be taken for public improvements in cities and villages without the consent of the owner, unless the compensation therefor shall first be determined by a jury of freeholders, and actually paid or secured in the manner provided by law.

Sec. 16. Previous notice of any application for an alteration of the charter of any corporation shall be given in such manner as may be prescribed by law.

ARTICLE XVI.

EXEMPTIONS.

Section 1. The personal property of every resident of this State, to consist of such property only as shall be designated by law, shall be exempted to the amount of not less than five hundred dollars, from sale on execution or other final process of any court, issued for the collection of any debt contracted after the adoption of this constitution.

Sec. 2. Every homestead of not exceeding forty acres of land, and the dwelling house thereon, and the appurtenances, to be selected by the owner thereof, and not included in any town plat, city, or village; or instead thereof, at the option of the owner, any lot in any city, village, or recorded town plat, or such parts of lots as shall be equal thereto, and the dwelling house thereon, and its appurtenances, owned and occupied by any resident of the State, not exceeding in value fifteen hundred dollars, shall be exempt from forced sale on execution, or any other final process from a court, for any debt contracted after the adoption of this constitution. Such exemption shall not extend to any mortgage thereon lawfully obtained; but such mortgage or other alienation of such land by the owner thereof, if a married man, shall not be valid without the signature of the wife to the same. Sec. 3. The homestead of a family, after the death of the owner thereof, shall be exempt from the payment of his debts, contracted after the adoption of this constitution, in all cases during the minority of his children.

Sec. 4. If the owner of a homestead die, leaving a widow, but no children, the same shall be exempt, and the rents and profits thereof shall accrue to her benefit during the time of her widowhood, unless she be the owner of a homestead in her own right.

Sec. 5. The real and personal estate of every female, acquired before marriage, and all property to which she may afterwards become entitled by gift, grant, inheritance, or devise, shall be and remain the estate and property of such female, and shall not be liable for the debts, obligations, or engagements of her husband, and may be devised or bequeathed by her as if she were unmarried.

ARTICLE XVII.

MILITIA.

Section 1. The militia shall be composed of all able bodied white male. citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, except such as are exempted by the laws of the United States or of this State; but all such citizens, of any religious denomination whatever, who, from scruples of conscience, may be adverse to bearing arms, shall be excused therefrom, upon such conditions as shall be prescribed by law.

Sec. 2. The legislature shall provide by law for organizing, equipping, and disciplining the militia, in such manner as they shall deem expedient, not incompatible with the laws of the United States.

Sec. 3. Officers of the militia shall be elected or appointed, and be commissioned in such manner as may be provided by law.

ARTICLE XVIII.

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.

Section 1. Members of the legislature, and all officers, executive and judicial, except such officers as may by law be exempted, shall, before they enter on the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe the follow

ing oath or affirmation: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm,) that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of this State, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of according to the best of my ability." And no other oath, declaration, or test, shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust.

Sec. 2. When private property is taken for the use or benefit of the public, the necessity for using such property, and the just compensation to be made therefor, except when to be made by the State, shall be ascertained by a jury of twelve freeholders, residing in the vicinity of such property, or by not less than three commissioners, appointed by a court of record, as shall be prescribed by law.

Sec. 3. No mechanical trade shall hereafter be taught to convicts in the State prison of this State, except the manufacture of those articles of which the chief supply for home consumption is imported from other States or countries.

Sec. 4. No navigable stream in this State shall be either bridged or dammed without authority from the board of supervisors of the proper county, under the provisions of law. No such law shall prejudice the right of individuals to the free navigation of such streams, or preclude the State from the further improvement of the navigation of such streams.

Sec. 5. An accurate statement of the receipts and expenditures of the public moneys shall be attached to and published with the laws, at every regular session of the legislature.

Sec. 6. The laws, public records, and the written judicial and legislative proceedings of the State shall be conducted, promulgated, and preserved in the English language.

Sec. 7. Every person has a right to bear arms for the defence of himself and the State.

Sec. 8. The military shall, in all cases, and at all times, be in strict subordination to the civil power.

Sec. 9. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner or occupant, nor in time of war, except in a manner prescribed by law.

Sec. 10. The people have the right peaceably to assemble together, to consult for the common good, to instruct their representatives, and to petition the legislature for redress of grievances.

Sec. 11. Neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crime, shall ever be tolerated in this State.

Sec. 12. No lease or grant hereafter of agricultural land for a longer period than twelve years, reserving any rent or service of any kind, shall be valid.

Sec. 13. Aliens 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.

Sec. 14. The property of no person shall be taken for public use without just compensation therefor. Private roads may be opened in the manner to be prescribed by law; but in every case the necessities of the road and the amount of all damage to be sustained by the opening thereof, shall be first determined by a jury of freeholders; and such amount, together with the expenses of proceedings, shall be paid by the person or persons to be benefited.

Sec. 15. No general revision of the laws shall hereafter be made. When a reprint thereof becomes necessary, the legislature in joint convention shall appoint a suitable person to collect together such acts and parts of acts as

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »