several counties to the speaker of the senate, or, in case of his death, to the speaker of the house of representatives, who shall keep the same until a speaker of the senate shall be appointed, to whom they shall be immediately delivered after his appointment, who shall open and publish the same in the presence of the members of both houses of the legislature. Duplicates of the said returns shall also be immediately lodged with the prothonotary of each county. The person having the highest number of votes shall be governor: but, if two or more shall be equal in the highest number of votes, the members of the two houses shall, by joint ballot, choose one of them to be governor; and if upon such ballot, two or more of them shall still be equal and highest in votes, the speaker of the senate shall have an additional casting vote.

Contested elections of a governor shall be determined by a joint committee, consisting of one-third of all the members of each branch of the legislature; to be selected by ballot of the houses respectively: every person of the committee shall take an oath or affirmation, that, in determining the said election, he will faithfully discharge the trust reposed in him; and the committee shall always sit with open doors.

§3. The governor shall hold his office during three years from the third Tuesday of January next ensuing his election; and shall not be capable of holding it longer than three in any term of six years.

§ 4. He shall be at least thirty-six years of age, and have been a citizen and inhabitant of the United States twelve years next before the first meeting of the legislature after his election, and the last six of that term an inhabitant of this state, unless he shall have been absent on the public business of the United States, or of this state.

§ 5. No member of congress, nor person holding any office under the United States or this state, shall exercise the office of governor.

6. The governor shall, at stated times, receive for his services an adequate salary, to be fixed by law, which shall be neither increased nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected.

7. He shall be commander in chief of the army and navy of this state, and of the militia; except when they shall be called into the service of the United States.

§ 8. He shall appoint all officers whose offices are established by this constitution, or shall be established by law, and whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for; but no person shall be appointed to an office within a county who shall not have a right to vote for representatives, and have been an inhabitant therein one year next before his appointment, nor hold the office longer than he continues to reside in the county. No member of congress, nor any person holding

or exercising any office under the United States, shall, at the same time, hold or exercise the office of judge, treasurer, attorney general, secretary, clerk of the supreme court, prothonotary, register for the probate of wills and granting letters of administration, recorder, sheriff, or any office under this state, with a salary by law annexed to it, or any other office which the legislature shall declare incompatible with offices or appointments under the United States. No person shall hold more than one of the following offices at the same time, to wit: treasurer, attorney general, clerk of the supreme court, prothonotary, register, or sheriff. All commissions shall be in the name of the state, shall be sealed with the great seal, and be signed and tested by the governor.

9. He shall have power to remit fines and forfeitures; and to grant reprieves and pardons, except in cases of impeach

ment.

§ 10. He may require information, in writing, from the officers in the executive department, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices.

§ 11. He shall, from time to time, give to the general assembly information of affairs concerning the state; and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge expedient.

12. He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the general assembly; and, in case of disagreement between the two houses, with respect to the time of adjournment, adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper, not exceeding three months.

§ 13. He shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed. § 14. On the death or resignation of the governor, or his removal from office on impeachment, or for inability, the speaker of the senate, at that time, shall exercise the office of governor until a new governor shall be duly qualified; and on the death or resignation of the speaker of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives at that time, shall exercise the office, until it be regularly vested in a new governor. If the trial of a contested election shall continue longer than the third Tuesday of January next ensuing the election of a governor, the governor of the last year, or the speaker of the senate or of the house of representatives, who may then be in the exercise of the executive authority, shall continue therein until a determination of such contested election. The governor shall not be removed from his office for inability, but with the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members of each branch of the legislature.

§ 15. A secretary shall be appointed and commissioned during the governor's continuance in office, if he shall so long behave himself well. He shall keep a fair register of all the official acts and proceedings of the governor; and shall, when

required by either branch of the legislature, lay the same, and all papers, minutes, and vouchers relative thereto, before them; and shall perform such other duties as shall be enjoined him by law. He shall have a compensation for his services, to be fixed by law.

ARTICLE 4.

§ 1. All elections of governor, senators, and representatives, shall be by ballot; and, in such elections, every white freeman, of the age of twenty-one years, having resided in the state two years next before the election, and within that time paid a state or county tax, which shall have been assessed at least six months before the election, shall enjoy the right of an elector; and the sons of persons so qualified shall, between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-two years, be entitled to vote, although they shall not have paid taxes.

§ 2. Electors shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at elections, and in going to and returning from them.

ARTICLE 5.

§ 1. The house of representatives shall have the sole power of impeaching; but two-thirds of all the members must concur in an impeachment. All impeachments shall be tried by the senate; and, when sitting for that purpose, the senators shall be upon oath or affirmation to do justice according to the evidence. No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the senators.

§ 2. The governor, and all other civil officers under this state, shall be liable to impeachment for treason, bribery, or any high crime or misdemeanor in office. Judgment in such cases shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold any office of honour, trust, or profit under this state; but the party convicted shall, nevertheless, be subject to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment, according to law.

§ 3. Treason against this state shall consist only in levying war against it, or in adhering to the enemies of the govern ment, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.

ARTICLE 6.

§ 1. The judicial power of this state shall be vested in a court of chancery, a supreme court, and courts of oyer and terminer and general gaol delivery, in a court of common pleas, and in an orphans' court, register's court, and a court of quarter sessions of the peace for each county, in justices of the peace, and in such other courts as the legislature, two-thirds

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of all the members of each branch concurring, may, from time to time, establish.

§2. The chancellor and the judges of the supreme court, and of the court of common pleas, shall hold their offices during good behaviour: but, for any reasonable cause which shall not be a sufficient ground for an impeachment, the governor may, in his discretion, remove any of them, on the address of two-thirds of all the members of each branch of the legislature. They shall, at stated times, receive for their services adequate salaries, to be fixed by law, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office, and shall be payable quarterly to their respective orders upon the treasurer, out of any moneys in the treasury; but they shall hold no other office of profit, nor receive any fees or perquisites, except such fees as shall be fixed by law for business to be done out of court.

§ 3. The judges of the supreme court shall be not fewer than three, nor more than four, one of whom shall be the chief justice. There shall be a judge residing in each county. The jurisdiction of this court shall extend over the state. The judges shall, by virtue of their offices, be justices of oyer and terminer, and general gaol delivery, in the several counties. Any two of the judges may act as if all were present.

§ 4. The judges of the court of common pleas shall be not fewer than three, nor more than four, one of whom shall be chief justice. There shall be a judge residing in each county. The jurisdiction of this court shall extend over the state. Any two of the judges may act as if all were present.

§ 5. The chancellor, or any judge of the supreme court, or of the court of common pleas, shall issue the writ of habeas corpus, in vacation time, and out of term, when duly applied for, which shall be immediately obeyed.

§ 6. Any judge of the supreme court, or of the court of common pleas, may, unless the legislature shall otherwise provide by law, out of court, take the acknowledgment of deeds; and the same being thereon certified, under his hand, such deed shall be recorded, and have the same effect as if acknowledged in open court.

§ 7. In civil causés, when pending, the supreme court and court of common pleas shall have the power, before judgment, of directing, upon such terms as they shall deem reasonable, amendments in pleadings and legal proceedings, so that by error in any of them, the determination of causes, according to their real merits, shall not be hindered; and also of directing the examination of witnesses that are aged, very infirm, or going out of the state, upon interrogatories de bene esse, to be read in evidence in case of the death or departure of the witnesses before the trial, or inability by reason of age, sickness,

bodily infirmity, or imprisonment, then to attend ; and also the power of obtaining evidence from places not within the state. § 8. Suits may originate in the supreme court, or court of common pleas.

§ 9. One judge of the supreme court or of the court of common pleas may, if the other judges come not, open and adjourn the court, and may also make the necessary rules preparatory respectively to the trial or argument of causes.

§ 10. At any time pending an action for debt or damages, the defendant may bring into court a sum of money for discharging the same and the costs then accrued, and the plaintiff' not accepting thereof, it shall be delivered for his use to the clerk or prothonotary of the court; and if, upon the final decision of the cause, the plaintiff shall not recover a greater sum than that paid into court for him, he shall not recover any costs accruing after such payment, except where the plaintiff is an executor or administrator.

§ 11. By the death of any party, no suit in chancery or at law, where the cause of action survives, shall abate; but, until the legislature shall otherwise provide, suggestion of such death being entered of record, the executor or administrator of a deceased petitioner, or plaintiff, may prosecute the said suit; and if a respondent or defendant dies, the executor or administrator, being duly served with a scire facias, thirty days before the return thereof, shall be considered as a party to the suit, in the same manner as if he had voluntarily made himself a party; and in any of those cases the court shall pass a decree, or render judgment for or against executors or administrators as to right appertains. But where an executor or administrator of a deceased respondent or defendant becomes a party, the court, upon motion, shall grant such a continuance of the cause as to the judges shall appear proper.

§ 12. Whenever a person, not being an executor or administrator, appeals from a decree of the chancellor, or applies for a writ of error, such appeal or writ shall be no stay of proceeding in the chancery, or the court to which the writ issues, unless the appellant or plaintiff in error shall give sufficient security, to be approved respectively by the chancellor, or by a judge of the court from which the writ issues, that the appellant or plaintiff in error shall prosecute respectively his appeal or writ to effect, and pay the condemnation money and all costs, or otherwise abide the decree in appeal or the judgment in error, if he fail to make his plea good.

§ 13. No writ of error shall be brought upon any judgment heretofore confessed, entered, or rendered, but within five years from this time; nor upon any judgment hereafter to be confessed, entered, or rendered, but within five years after the confessing, entering, or rendering thereof, unless the person entitled to such writ be an infant, feme covert, non compos