Monday of November, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty-two; but they shall not enter on the duties of their office before the first day of January then next following. The commissions of all persons holding eivil offices on the last day of December, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-two, shall expire on that day; but the officers then in commission, may respectively continue to hold their said offices, until new appointments or elections shall take place under this constitution. SEC. 2. The existing laws relative to the manner of notifying, holding and conducting elections, making returns, and canvassing votes, shall be in force, and observed in respect to the elections hereby directed to commence on the first Monday of November, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty-two, so far as the same are applicable. And the present legislature shall pass such other and further laws as may be requisite for the execu tion of the provisions of this constitution in respect to elections. Done in convention, at the capitol, in the city of Albany, the tenth day of November, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty-one, and of the independ ence of the United States of America, the forty sixth. In witness thereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names. DANIEL D. TOMPKINS, President. JOHN F. BACON, } Secretaries. [The foregoing constitution was ratified by the people at an election held in the several towns and wards of this state, on the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth days of January, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-two.] AMENDMENTS. [The following amendments to the constitution were proposed by the legislature in 1825, were referred to the legislature of 1826, agreed to by two thirds of the mem bers.elected to each house of that legislature, submitted to the people, and approved and ratified at an election held on the 6th, 7th and 8th days of November, 1826.] FIRST AMENDMENT. That the people of this state, in their several towns, shall, at their annual election, and in such manner as the legislature shall direct, elect by ballot their justices of the peace; and the justices so elected in any town, shall immediately thereafter meet together, and in presence of the supervisor and town clerk of the said town, be divided by lot into four classes, of one in each class, and be numbered, one, two, three and four; and the office of number one shall expire at the end of the first year, of number two at the end of the second year, of number three at the end of the third year, and of number four at the end of the fourth year, in order that one justice may thereafter be annually elected: and that so much of the seventh seetion of the fourth article of the constitution of this state as is inconsistent with this amendment, be abrogated. SECOND AMENDMENT. That so much of the first section of the second article of the constitution as prescribes the qualifications of voters, other than persons of color, be, and the same is, hereby abolished, and that the following be substituted in the place thereof: Every male citizen of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been an inhabitant of this state one year next preceding any election, and for the last six months a resident of the county where he may offer his vote, shall be entitled to vote in the town or ward where he actually resides, and not elsewhere, for all officers that now are, or hereafter may be, elective by the people. THIRD AMENDMENT. [The following amendments, having been previously proposed by the legislature, were ratified by the people at the annual election in November, 1833.] That the duties on the manufacture of salt, as established by the act of the fifteenth of April, one thousand eight hundred and seventeen, and by the tenth section of the seventh article of the constitution of this state, may at any time hereafter be reduced by an act of the legislature of this state, but shall not, while the same is appropriated and pledged by the said section, be reduced below the sum of six cents upon each and every bushel, and the said duties shall remain inviolably appropriated and applied as is provided by the said tenth section; and that so much of the said tenth section of the seventh article of the constitution of this state as is inconsistent with this amendment, be abrogated. FOURTH AMENDMENT. At the end of the tenth section of the fourth article of the said constitution, add the following words: "Except in the city of New York, in which the mayor shall be chosen annually by the electors thereof qualified to vote for the other charter officers of the said city, and at the time of the election of such officers." RIGHTS OF LANDLORD AND TENANT. Every contract for leasing for a longer period than one. year, or for the sale of any lands, or any interest in lands, is void, unless the contract, or some memorandum thereof, expressing the consideration, be in writing, and be subscribed by the party by whom the lease or sale is to be made, or by an agent lawfully authorized. Leases for a term exceeding three years, in order to be valid, must be recorded in the same manner as conveyances of real estate, except in the counties of Albany, Ulster, Sullivan, Herkimer, Dutchess, Columbia, Delaware and Schenectady. Every conveyance of any estate or interest in lands, or the rents and profits of lands, and every charge upon lands, or upon the rents and profits thereof, made or created, with intent to defraud prior or subsequent purchasers for a valuable consideration, shall be void, as against such pur-chasers. Whenever there is a tenancy at will or by sufferance created, by the tenant's holding over his term, or other wise, the same may be terminated by the landlord's giving one month's notice in writing to the tenant, requiring him to remove therefrom. Such notice shall be served by delivering the same to such tenant, or to some person of proper age residing on the premises; or if the tenant cannot be found, and there be no such person residing on the premises, such notice may be served by affixing the same on a conspicuous part of the premises, where it may be conveniently read. At the expiration of one month from the service of such notice, the landlord may re-enter, or maintain ejectment, or proceed in the manner prescribed by law, without any further or other notice to quit. If a tenant shall give notice of his intention to quit the premises, and shall not accordingly deliver up the possession thereof, at the time specified in the notice, such tenant, his executors or administrators, shall thenceforward pay to the landlord, his heirs or assigns, double rent, which shall be continued to be paid during the time the tenant shall continue in possession. If a tenant for life or years shall wilfully hold over any lands or tenements after the termination of such terms, and after demand made, and one month's notice duly given, he shall be liable to pay to the person kept out of possession, or his representatives, at the rate of double the yearly value of the lands or tenements so detained, for the time he shall so hold over; and he shall also pay all special damages to which the person kept out of possession shall be subjected by reason of such holding over. When any certain services or certain rent reserved out of any lands or tenements, shall not be paid when due, the person entitled thereto, may distrain for the same. But no distress may be made for any rent for which a judgment has been recovered in a personal action. A landlord may secure rent due, when any goods or chattels liable to distress for rent are seized under execution, by giving notice, at any time before the sale of the goods by virtue of the execution, either to the party in whose favor the execution shall be issued, or to the officer holding the same, of the amount claimed by the landlord to be due, and the time during which it accrued; and by accompanying such notice with his own affidavit, or that of his agent, of the truth thereof. Upon receiving the notice and affidavit, the officer holding the execution, shall levy the amount of rent claimed to be due, in addition to the sum directed to be raised on the execution, and shall pay the same to the landlord; but the amount of rent to be levied shall not exceed one year's If there be a deficiency of goods and chattels to satisfy both the execution and rent, the amount levied shall be first applied to the satisfaction of the rent; and the remainder shall be applied upon the execution. rent. If a tenant against whom an execution is issued, shall deny that rent is due to his landlord, as claimed, he may prevent the levying thereof, by virtue of such execution, by delivering to the officer holding it, a bond, with two sufficient sureties, executed to the landlord, in a penalty |