thereto, any alternative article or proposition may be presented for the choice of the voters, and may be voted on separately without prejudice to others.--(Amendment adopted November 8, 1892.)

Sec. 9. The compensation of any county, city, town, or municipal officer shall not be increased after his election or during his term of office; nor shall the term of any such officer be extended beyond the period for which he is elected or appointed.

Sec. 10. No county, city, town, or other public or municipal corporation, nor the inhabitants thereof, nor the property therein, shall be released or discharged from its or their proportionate share of taxes to be levied for State purposes, nor shall commutation for such taxes be authorized in any form what

soever.

Sec. 11. Any county, city, town, or township may make and enforce within its limits all such local, police, sanitary, and other regulations as are not in conflict with general laws.

Sec. 12. The Legislature shall have no power to impose taxes upon counties, cities, towns, or other public or municipal corporations, or upon the inhabitants or property thereof, for county, city, town, or other municipal purposes, but may, by general laws, vest in the corporate authorities thereof, the power to assess and collect taxes for such purposes.

Sec. 13. The Legislature shall not delegate to any special commission, private corporation, company, association, or individual, any power to make, control, appropriate, supervise, or in any way interfere with any county, city, town, or municipal improvement, money, property, or effects, whether held in trust or otherwise, or to levy taxes or assessments, or perforin uy municipal functions whatever.

Sec. 14. No State office shall be continued or created in any county, city, town, or other municipality, for the inspection, measurement, or graduation of any merchandise, manufacture, or commodity; but such county, city, town, or municipality may, when authorized by general law, appoint such officers.

Sec. 15. Private property shall not be taken or sold for the payment of the corporate debt of any political or municipal corporation.

Sec. 16. All moneys, assessments, and taxes belonging to or collected for the use of any county, city, town, or other public

or municipal corporation, coming into the hauds of any officer thereof, shall immediately be deposited with the Treasurer, or other legal depositary, to the credit of such city, town, or other corporation, respectively, for the benefit of the funds to which they respectively belong..

Sec. 17. The making of profit out of county, city, town, or other public money, or using the same for any purpose not authorized by law, by any officer having the possession or control thereof, shall be a felony, and shall be prosecuted and punished as prescribed by law.

Sec. 18. No county, city, town, township, Board of Education, or school district shall incur any indebtedness or liability in any manner, or for any purpose, exceeding in any year the income and revenue provided for it for such year, without the assent of two-thirds of the qualified electors thereof, voting at an election to be held for that purpose, nor unless, before or at the time of incurring such indebtedness, provision shall be made for the collection of an annual tax sufficient to pay the interest on such indebtedness as it falls due, and also provision to constitute a sinking fund for the payment of the principal thereof on or before maturity, which shall not exceed forty years from the time of contracting the same. Any indebtedness or liability incurred contrary to this provision shall be void.-(Amendment adopted November 8, 1892.)

Sec. 19. In any city where there are no public works owned and controlled by the municipality for supplying the same with water or artificial light, any individual, or any company duly incorporated for such purpose under and by authority of the laws of this State, shall, under the direction of the Superintendent of Streets, or other officer in control thereof, and ander such general regulations as the municipality may prescribe for damages and indemnity for damages, have the privilege of using the public streets and thoroughfares thereof, and of laying down pipes and conduits therein, and connections therewith, so far as may be necessary for introducing into and supplying such city and its inhabitants either with gaslight or other illuminating light, or with fresh water for domestic and all other purposes, upon the condition that the municipal government shall have the right to regulate the charges thereof. (Amendment adopted November 4, 1884.)

ARTICLE XII.

Corporations.

Section 1. Corporations may be formed under general laws, but shall not be created by special act. All laws now in force in this State concerning corporations, and all laws that may be hereafter passed pursuant to this section, may be altered from time to time or repealed.

Sec. 2. Dues from corporations shall be secured by such individual liability of the corporators and other means as may be prescribed by law.

Sec. 3. Each stockholder of a corporation or joint-stock association shall be individually and personally liable for such proportion of all its debts and liabilities contracted or incurred dur ing the time he was a stockholder, as the amount of stock or shares owned by him bears to the whole of the subscribed capital stock or shares of the corporation or association. The direc tors or trustees of corporations and joint-stock associations shall be jointly and severally liable to the creditors and stockholders for all moneys embezzled or misappropriated by the officers of such corporation or joint-stock association during the term of office of such director or trustee.

Sec. 4. The term corporations, as used in 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, and all corporations shall have the right to sue and be subject to be sued, in all courts, in like cases as natural persons.

Sec. 5. The Legislature shall have no power to pass any act granting any charter for banking purposes, but corporations or associations may be formed for such purposes under general laws. No corporation, association, or individual shall issue or put in circulation, as money, anything but the lawful money of the United States.

Sec. 6. All existing charters, grants, franchises, special or exclusive privileges under which an actual and bona fide organization shall not have taken place, and business been commenced in good faith, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall thereafter have no validity.

Sec. 7. The Legislature shall not extend any franchise or charter, nor remit the forfeiture of any franchise or shatter, of any corporation now existing, or which shall hereafter exist, under the laws of this State.

Sec. 8. The exercise of the right of eminent domain shall never be so abridged or construed as to prevent the Legislature from taking the property and franchises of incorporated companies and subjecting them to public use the same as the prop erty of individuals; and the exercise of the police power of the State shall never be so abridged or construed as to permit corporations to conduct their business in such manner as to infringe the rights of individuals or the general well-being of the State. Sec. 9. No corporation shall engage in any business other than that expressly authorized in its charter or the law under which it may have been or may hereafter be organized; nor shall it hold for a longer period than five years any real estate, except such as may be necessary for carrying on its business.

Sec. 10. The Legislature shall not pass any laws permitting the leasing or alienation of any franchise, so as to relieve the franchise or property held thereunder from the liabilities of the lessor or grantor, lessee or grantee, contracted or incurred in the operation, use or enjoyment of such franchise, or any of its privileges.

Sec. 11. No corporation shall issue stock or bonds, except for money paid, labor done or property actually received and all fictitious increase of stock or indebtedness shall be void. The stock and bonded indebtedness of corporations, shall not be increased, except in pursuance of general law, nor without the consent of the persons holding the larger amount in value of the stock, at a meeting called for that purpose, giving sixty days' public notice, as may be provided by law.

Sec. 12. In all elections for directors or managers of corporations every stockholder shall have the right to vote, in person or by proxy, the number of shares of stock owned by him, for as many persons as there are directors or managers to be elected, or to cumulate said shares and give one candidate as many votes as the number of directors multiplied by the number of his shares of stock shall equal, or to distribute them, on the same principle, among as many candidates as he shall think fit; and such directors or managers shall not be elected in any other manner,

except that members of co-operative societies formed for agricultural, mercantile and manufacturing purposes may vote on all questions affecting such societies in manner prescribed by law.

Sec. 13. The State shall not, in any manner, loan its credit, nor shall it subscribe to or be interested in the stock of any company, association or corporation.

Sec. 14. Every corporation, other than religious, educational or benevolent, organized or doing business in this State, shall have and maintain an office or place in this State for the transaction of its business, where transfers of stock shall be made, and in which shall be kept, for inspection by every person having an interest therein, and legislative committees, books in which shall be recorded the amount of capital stock subscribed, and by whom; the names of the owners of its stock, and the amounts owned by them, respectively; the amount of stock paid in, and by whom; the transfers of stock; the amount of its assets and liabilities, and the names and places of residence of its officers.

Sec. 15. No corporation organized outside the limits of this State shall be allowed to transact business within this State on more favorable conditions than are prescribed by law to similar corporations organized under the laws of this State.

Sec. 16. A corporation or association may be sued in the county where the contract is made or is to be performed, or where the obligation or liability arises or the breach occurs; or in the county where the principal place of busines of such cor poration is situated, subject to the power of the court to change the place of trial, as in other cases.

Sec. 17. All railroad, canal and other transportation companies are declared to be common carriers, and subject to legislative control. Any association or corporation, organized for the purpose under the laws of this State, shall have the right to connect at the State line with railroads of other States. Every railroad company shall have the right with its road to intersect, connect with, or cross any other railroad, and shall receive and transport each the other's passengers, tonnage and cars, without delay or discrimination.

Sec. 18. No president, director, officer, agent or employe of any railroad or canal company shall be interested, directly or indirectly, in the furnishing of material or supplies to such