Art. 10, sec. 2.

Art. 10, sec.

3.

Art. 10, sec.

4.

Art. 10, sec.

5.

Art. 10, sec.

6.

SEC. 4. No organized county shall ever be reduced, by the organization of new counties, to less than sixteen townships as surveyed by the United States, unless, in pursuance of law, a majority of electors residing in each county to be affected thereby shall so decide. The legislature may organize any city into a separate county when it has attained a populat on of twenty thousand inhabitants, without reference to geographical extent, when a majority of the electors of a county in which such city may be situated, voting thereon, shall be in favor of a separate organization. Nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prevent the legislature from organizing any county composed wholly of islands within the territory of the State, or discontinuing any such county and attaching the same to the nearest county or counties on the main land.*

SEC. 5. In each organized county there shall be a sheriff, a county clerk, a county treasurer, a register of deeds, and a prosecuting attorney, chosen by the electors thereof once in two years, [and as often as vacancies shall happen] † whose duties and powers shall be prescribed by law; but the legislature may provide for the appointment, by the governor, of prosecuting attorneys, by and with the advice and con sent of the senate. The board of supervisors in any county may unite the offices of county clerk and register of deeds in one office, or disconnect the same.

SEC. 6. The sheriff, county clerk, county treasurer, judge of probate and register of deeds, shall hold their offices at the county seat.

SEC. 7. The sheriff shall hold no other office. No person shall be eligible to the office of sheriff for more than four in a period of six years. The county shall never be responsible for his acts.

SEC. 8. A board of supervisors, consisting of one from each organized township, shall be established in each county, with

*This section is unchanged, except by the addition of the last sentence, which is added to give the section flexibility in the class of cases to which it refers.

The clause in brackets is omitted, for the reason that provision is made for filling vacancies in county offices by appointment, in most, if not in all cases.

This simply gives the legislature power to provide for the appointment of prosecuting attorneys.

The following clause of the present section is omitted: 'He may be required by law to renew his security from time to time, and in default of giving such security his office shall be deemed vacant." The legislature has all necessary power in the premises.

such powers as shall be prescribed by law. Cities and villages Art. 10, sec. shall have such representation in the board of supervisors of" the counties in which they are situated as the legislature may direct.

8.

SEC. 9. No county seat, once established, shall be removed, Art. 10, sec. until the place to which it is proposed to be removed shall be designated by two-thirds of the board of supervisors of the county, and a majority of the electors voting thereon shall have voted in favor of the proposed location, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. 10. The board of county auditors in such counties as Art, 10, sec. may be authorized by law to elect county auditors, and in 10. every other county the board of supervisors, shall, except as otherwise provided by law, have power to prescribe the compensation for all services rendered for, and adjust all claims against their respective counties, and such determination and adjustment shall be subject to no appeal. Supervisors and county auditors shall receive for their services such compensation as shall be prescribed by law.*

11.

SEC. 11. The board of supervisors of each organized county Art. 10, sec. may provide for laying out highways, constructing bridges, and organizing townships, under such restrictions and limitations as shall be prescribed by law.

Townships.t

SEC. 12. Each organized township shall be a body corporate, Art. 11, sec. with such powers and immunities as shall be prescribed by 2 law. All suits and proceedings by or against a township shall be in the name thereof.

SEC. 13. There shall be elected in each organized township, Art. 11, sec. annually, on the first Monday of April, or at such other time1. as the legislature may provide, one supervisor, one township clerk, who shall be ex officio school inspector, one commissioner

* There is some verbal change in the first part of this section, but the italicised clauses are the only new features. Supervisors and auditors have in some cases claimed the right to fix their own compensation. The section as amended would be conclusive against such claim.

The sections of this subdivision are transposed from the order in which they stand in article XI of the present constitution. The italicised clauses are new. The first gives the legislature power to fix some other time than the first Monday of April for the annual township election. The propriety of fixing it in March instead of April, by constitutional provision, was quite strongly urged before the commission, but it was thought best to leave the subject to the legislature. The second clause is intended to remove an ambiguity in the present constitution relative to highway commissioners, and to provide specifically for three commissioners in each township.

of highways, who shall hold his office for three years, one township treasurer, one school inspector, not exceeding four constables, and one overseer of highways of each highway district, and such other officers as may be provided by law, whose powers and duties shall be prescribed by law.

Cities and Villages.*

SEC. 14. Cities and villages shall hereafter be incorporated only under general laws, in which their powers of taxation, borrowing money, and contracting debts, shall be restricted.

SEC. 15. No city or village shall incur indebtedness, including that incurred by or on behalf of any school district within its corporate limits, so that its aggregate debt at any time shall exceed ten per cent on the valuation of its taxable property, as shown by the assessment roll.

SEC. 16. The [judicial] executive and legislative 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. 17. Existing charters of cities and villages may be altered and amended.

ARTICLE XI.+

CORPORATIONS OTHER THAN MUNICIPAL.

SECTION 1. Corporations (other than municipal, and those for charitable, educational, penal and reformatory purposes under the control of public authority), shall be hereafter created only by general laws. The charter of no existing corpora

*There has been a general law for the incorporation of villages for a number of years, but more or less special charters have been granted at every session of the legislature. At the last session, general laws were enacted both for cities and villages. But yet the present constitution (section one, article XV), seems to contemplate special charters for this class of corporations. Section 14, above, is specific in prohibiting special charters. This will relieve the legislature from much labor that would otherwise be demanded of it. Section 15, limiting the amount of indebtedness of cities and villages, was deemed necessary in view of the proneness of this class of corporations to pledge their credit, one or two of the municipalities showing an indebtedness of over 25 per cent on their present assessed valuation. The remaining sections call for no

comment.

+ This article is the same, with some changes, as article XV of the present constitution, entitled, corporations." It is made to stand as article XI of the amended constitution, and is entitled, "corporations other than municipal," so as to bring it into a just relationship with the preceding article which treats of " municipal corporations." Article XIX-A, of railroads, adopted as an amendment in 1870, is also embodied in this article as sections 10 and 11.

tion not embraced in the above exceptions, shall be extended, altered or amended. All general acts of incorporation, and general laws affecting corporations, may be altered, amended or repealed.

SEC. 2. No general banking law shall have effect until the Art. 15, sec. same shall, after its passage, be submitted to a vote of the 2. 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 Art. 15, sec. or association for banking purposes, issuing bank notes or 3. 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, equally and ratably to the extent of their respective shares of stock in any such corporation or association.

4.

SEC. 4. The legislature shall provide for the registry of all Art. 15, sec. bills or notes issued or put in circulation as money by any bank organized under the laws of this State, and shall require security to the full amount of notes and bills so registered, in interest-bearing stocks of this State, or of the United States, which shall be deposited with the state treasurer, for the redemption of such bills or notes in lawful money of the United States.

5.

SEC. 5. In case of the insolvency of any bank or banking Art. 15, sec. association, the billholders 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 Art. 15, sec. sanctioning the suspension of [specie] payments by any [per- 6. son, association or] corporation.

7.

SEC. 7. The stockholders in all corporations [and joint Art. 15, sec. stock associations] shall be individually liable for all labor [performed for] done in behalf of such corporation [or association,] during the time of their being such stockholders, equally and ratably to the extent of their respective shares in the stock of such corporation.

SEC. 8. No corporation shall hold any real estate [here- Art. 15, sec.

*This section covers the general ground of the section to which it refers, but is changed in phraseology. The following clause of section one of article XV as it now stands, is, however, omitted : "But the legislature may, by a vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house, create a single bank, with branches.' This was adopted as an amendment in 1862. It authorizes the establishment, by special charter, and without submission to the people, of a single bank, with branches permeating the State. The force of the provision could hardly have been understood at the time of its adoption.

12.

Art. 19-A. sec. 1.

Art. 19-1. sec. 2.

after acquired] for a longer period than ten years from the time of acquiring the same, except such real estate as shall be actually occupied by it in the exercise of its franchises.

SEC. 9. Foreign corporations may be permitted to do business in this State under such limitations and restrictions as may be prescribed by law, but shall be subject to the same restrictions and liabilities that are imposed, and shall have no greater rights than are conferred upon, domestic corporations of like character, and the stockholders of such foreign corporations shall be subject to like personal liabilities as stockholders in similar domestic corporations. No foreign corporation shall acquire or hold any lands in this State, except such as may be taken in good faith in payment of debts, or such as may be needed for such offices, depots and warehouses as may be required for its legitimate business, and all lands hereafter acquired or held in violation of this provision shall escheat to the State. Provision shall be made for debarring all foreign corporations which shall violate any law of this State from thereafter being allowed to do business in the State.*

Art. 15, sec.

11.

SEC. 10. The legislature may, from time to time, pass laws establishing reasonable maximum rates of charges for the transportation of passengers and freight, and regulating the speed of trains, on different railroads in this State, and shall prohibit running contracts between such railroad companies whereby discrimination is made in favor of either of such companies as against other companies owning connecting or intersecting lines of railroads.

SEC. 11. No railroad corporation shall consolidate its stock, property or franchises with any other railroad corporation owning a parallel or competing line; and in no case shall any consolidation take place except upon public notice given of at least sixty days to all stockholders, in such manner as shall be provided by law.

SEC. 12. No corporation, except for municipal or mining purposes, for life insurance, or for the construction of railroads [plank roads] or canals, shall be created for a longer time than thirty years.

SEC. 13. The term corporation, as used in this article, shall be construed to include all associations and joint stock com

*This section is entirely new. It has two leading objects: First, to keep foreign corporations under the control of the legislature; and second, to guard against the absorption in large quantities, by foreign corporations, of land in the State, to the detriment of its interests, or of the interests of the people. See sec. 8 of this article, and sec. 12, art. XV of present constitution, as to restrictions upon all corporations in the matter of holding real estate.