law; but assessors and collectors of town, county, and State taxes shall be elected by the qualified electors of the district, county, or town in which the property taxed for State, county, or town purposes is situated.

SEC. 14. All property, both real and personal, of the wife, owned or claimed by marriage, and that acquired afterwards by gift, devise, or descent, shall be her separate property; and laws shall be passed more clearly defining the rights of the wife, in relation as well to her separate property, as to that held in common with her husband. Laws shall also be passed providing for the registration of the wife's separate property. SEC. 15. The legislature shall protect by law from forced sale a certain portion of the homestead and other property of all heads of families.

SEC. 16. No perpetuities shall be allowed, except for eleemosynary purposes. SEC. 17. Every person shall be disqualified from holding any office of profit in this State who shall have been convicted of having given or offered a bribe to procure his election or appointment.

SEC. 18. Laws shall be made to exclude from office, serving on juries, and from the right of suffrage, those who shall hereafter be convicted of bribery, perjury, forgery, or other high crimes. The privilege of free suffrage shall be supported by laws regulating elections, and prohibiting, under adequate penalties, all undue influence thereon from power, bribery, tumult, or other improper practice.

SEC. 19. Absence from the State on business of the State or of the United States shall not affect the question of residence of any person.

SEC. 20. A plurality of the votes given at an election shall constitute a choice, where not otherwise directed in this constitution.

SEC. 21. All laws, decrees, regulations, and provisions, which from their nature require publication, shall be published in English and Spanish.

ARTICLE XII.

BOUNDARY.

The boundary of the State of California shall be as follows:

Commencing at the point of intersection of forty-second degree of north latitude with the one hundred and twentieth degree of longitude west from Greenwich, and running south on the line of said one hundred and twentieth degree of west longitude until it intersects the thirty-ninth degree of north latitude; thence running in a straight line in a southeasterly direction to the river Colorado, at a point where it intersects the thirty-fifth degree of north latitude; thence down the middle of the channel of said river to the boundary-line between the United States and Mexico, as established by the treaty of May 30, 1848; thence running west and along said boundary-line to the Pacific Ocean, and extending therein three English miles; thence running in a northwesterly direction, and following the direction of the Pacific coast, to the fortysecond degree of north latitude; thence on the line of said forty-second degree of north latitude to the place of beginning. Also all the islands, harbors, and bays along and adjacent to the Pacific coast.

SCHEDULE.

SECTION 1. All rights, prosecutions, claims, and contracts, as well of individuals as of bodies-corporate, and all laws in force at the time of the adoption of this constitution, and not inconsistent therewith, until altered or repealed by the legislature, shall continue as if the same had not been adopted.

SEC. 2. The legislature shall provide for the removal of all causes which may be pending when this constitution goes into effect to courts created by the same.

SEC. 3. In order that no inconvenience may result to the public service from the taking effect of this constitution, no office shall be superseded thereby, nor the laws relative to the duties of the several officers be changed, until the entering into office of the new officers to be appointed under this constitution.

SEC. 4. The provisions of this constitution concerning the term of residence neces

sary to enable persons to hold certain offices therein mentioned shall not be held to apply to officers chosen by the people at the first election, or by the legislature at its first session.

SEC. 5. Every citizen of California declared a legal voter by this constitution, and every citizen of the United States a resident of this State on the day of election, shall be entitled to vote at the first general election under this constitution and on the question of the adoption thereof.

SEC. 6. This constitution shall be submitted to the people, for their ratification or rejection, at the general election to be held on Tuesday, the 13th day of November next. The executive of the existing government of California is hereby requested to issue a proclamation to the people directing the prefects of the several districts, or, in case of vacancy, the sub-prefects, or senior judge of first instance, to cause such election to be held, the day aforesaid, in the respective districts. The election shall be conducted in the manner which was prescribed for the election of delegates to this convention, except that the prefect, sub-prefect, or senior judge of first instance ordering such election in each district shall have power to designate any additional number of places for opening the polls, and that in every place of holding the election a regular poll list shall be kept by the judges and inspectors of election. It shall also be the duty of these judges and inspectors of election, on the day aforesaid, to receive the votes of the electors qualified to vote at such election. Each voter shall express his opinion by depositing in the ballot-box a ticket, whereon shall be written or printed "For the constitution" or "Against the constitution," or some such words as will distinctly convey the intention of the voter. These judges and inspectors shall also receive the votes for the several officers to be voted for at the said election as herein provided. At the close of the election the judges and inspectors shall carefully count each ballot, and forthwith make duplicate returns thereof to the prefect, sub-prefect, or senior judge of first instance, as the case may be, of their respective districts; and said prefect, sub-prefect, or senior judge of first instance shall transmit one of the same, by the most safe and rapid conveyance, to the secretary of state. Upon the receipt of said returns, or on the 10th day of December next, if the returns be not sooner received, it shall be the duty of a board of canvassers, to consist of the secretary of state, one of the judges of the superior court, the prefect, judge of first instance, and an alcalde of the district of Monterey, or any three of the aforementioned officers, in the presence of all who shall choose to attend, to compare the votes given at said election, and to immediately publish an abstract of the same in one or more of the newspapers of California. And the executive will also, immediately after ascertaining that the constitution has been ratified by the people, make proclamation of the fact; and thenceforth this constitution shall be ordained and established as the constitution of California.

SEC. 7. If this constitution shall be ratified by the people of California, the executive of the existing government is hereby requested immediately after the same shall be ascertained, in the manner herein directed, to cause a fair copy thereof to be forwarded to the President of the United States, in order that he may lay it before the Congress of the United States.

SEC. 8. At the general election aforesaid, viz, the 13th day of November next, there shall be elected a governor, lieutenant-governor, members of the legislature, and also two members of Congress.

SEC. 9. If this constitution shall be ratified by the people of California, the legislature shall assemble at the seat of government on the 15th day of December next; and in order to complete the organization of that body, the senate shall elect a president pro tempore until the lieutenant-governor shall be installed into office.

SEC. 10. On the organization of the legislature, it shall be the duty of the secretary of state to lay before each house a copy of the abstract made by the board of canvassers, and, if called for, the original returns of election, in order that each house may judge of the correctness of the report of said board of canvassers.

SEC. 11. The legislature, at its first session, shall elect such officers as may be ordered by this constitution to be elected by that body, and within four days after its organization proceed to elect two Senators to the Congress of the United States.

But no law passed by this legislature shall take effect until signed by the governor after his installation into office.

SEC. 12. The Senators and Representatives to the Congress of the United States, elected by the legislature and people of California as herein directed, shall be furnished with certified copies of this constitution when ratified, which they shall lay before the Congress of the United States, requesting, in the name of the people of California, the admission of the State of California into the American Union.

SEC. 13. All officers of this State, other than members of the legislature, shall be installed into office on the 15th day of December next, or as soon thereafter as praeticable.

SEC. 14. Until the legislature shall divide the State into counties, and senatorial and assembly districts, as directed in this constitution, the following shall be the apportionment of the two houses of the legislature, viz: the districts of San Diego and Los Angeles shall jointly elect two senators; the districts of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo shall jointly elect one senator; the district of Monteery, one senator; the district of San Jose, one senator; the district of San Francisco, two senators; the district of Sonoma, one senator; the district of Sacramento, four senators; and the district of San Joaquin, four senators. And the district of San Diego shall elect one member of assembly; the district of Los Angeles, two members of assembly; the district of Santa Barbara, two members of assembly; the district of San Luis Obispo, one member of assembly; the district of Monterey, two members of assembly; the district of San Jose, three members of assembly; the district of San Francisco, five members of assembly; the district of Sonoma, two members of assembly; the district of Sacramento, nine members of assembly; and the district of San Joaquin, nine members of assembly.

SEC. 15. Until the legislature shall otherwise direct, in accordance with the provisions of this constitution, the salary of the governor shall be ten thousand dollars per annum; and the salary of the lieutenant-governor shall be double the pay of a State senator; and the pay of members of the legislature shall be sixteen dollars per diem while in attendance, and sixteen dollars for every twenty miles travel by the usual route from their residences to the place of holding the session of the legislature, and in returning therefrom. And the legislature shall fix the salaries of all officers, other than those elected by the people at the first election.

SEC. 16. The limitation of the powers of the legislature, contained in article eighth of this constitution, shall not extend to the first legislature elected under the same, which is hereby authorized to negotiate for such amount as may be necessary to pay the expenses of the State government. R. SEMPLE, President.

WM. G. MARCY, Secretary.

ACT FOR THE ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA-1850.* Whereas the people of California have presented a constitution and asked admission into the Union, which constitution was submitted to Congress by the President of the United States, by message dated February thirteenth, eighteen hundred and fifty, and which, on due examination, is found to be republican in its form of gov

ernment:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the State of California shall be one, and is here

*Congress having failed to pass a bill establishing a territorial government in California, which was presented in 1849, and two bills establishing a State government there, which were presented in 1849 and in 1850, passed this act for the admission of California as one of the United States, which was approved September 9, 1850. A subsequent act of Congress, approved September 28, 1856, provided, "That all the laws of the United States which are not locally inapplicable shall have the same force and effect within the said State of California as elsewhere within the United States."

by declared to be one, of the United States of America, and admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That, until the Representatives in Congress shall be apportioned according to an actual enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States, the State of California shall be entitled to two Representatives in Congress.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the said State of California is admitted into the Union upon the express condition that the people of said State, through their legislature or otherwise, shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the public lands within its limits, and shall pass no law and do no act whereby the title of the United States to, and right to dispose of, the same shall be impaired or questioned; and that they shall never lay any tax or assessment of any description whatsoever upon the public domain of the United States, and in no case shall non-resident proprietors, who are citizens of the United States, be taxed higher than residents; and that all the navigable waters within the said State shall be common highways, and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of said State as to the citizens of the United States, without any tax, impost, or duty therefor: Provided, That nothing herein. contained shall be construed as recognizing or rejecting the propositions tendered by the people of California as articles of compact in the ordinance adopted by the convention which formed the constitution of that State.

Approved, September 9, 1850.

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION OF 1849.*

RATIFIED SEPTEMBER 3, 1862.

Strike out the following-named sections and in lieu thereof insert:

ART. IV. SEC. 2. The sessions of the legislature shall be biennial, and shall commence on the first Monday of January next ensuing the election of its members, unless the governor of the State shall in the interim convene the legislature by proclamation. No session shall continue longer than ninety days, unless the time be extended by a joint resolution, to be passed by a majority of each house.

SEC. 3. The members of the assembly shall be chosen biennially, by the qualified electors of their respective districts, on the first Wednesday in September, unless otherwise ordered by the legislature, and their term of office shall be two years.

SEC. 5. Senators shall be chosen for the term of four years, at the same time and places as members of assembly; and no person shall be a member of the senate, or assembly, who has not been a citizen and inhabitant of the State, and of the county or district for which he shall be chosen, one year next before his election.

SEC. 6. The number of senators shall not be less than one third, nor more than one-half, of the members of assembly; and at the first session of the legislature after this section takes effect, the senators shall be divided by lot, as equally as may be, into two classes. The seats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year, so that one-half shall be chosen biennially.

SEC. 30. When a congressional, senatorial, or assembly district shall be composed of two or more counties, it shall not be separated by any county belonging to another district. No county shall be divided, in forming a congressional, senatorial, or assembly district, so as to attach one portion of a county to another county; but the legislature may divide each county into as many congressional, senatorial, or assembly districts as such county may by apportionment be entitled to.

SEC. 39. In order that no inconvenience may result to the public service from the taking effect of the amendments proposed to article four by the legislature of eighteen hundred and sixty-one, no officer shall be suspended or superseded thereby until the election and qualification of the several officers provided for in said amendments. ART. V. SEC. 2. The governor shall be elected by the qualified electors at the time

These amendments, prepared by the legislature in 1861, approved by the legislature of 1862, and ratified by the people.

and places for voting for members of the assembly, and shall hold his office four years from and after the first Monday in December subsequent to his election, and until his successor is elected and qualified.

SEC. 18. A secretary of state, a comptroller, a treasurer, an attorney-general, and a surveyor-general shall be elected at the same time and places, and in the same manner, as the governor and lieutenant-governor, and whose term of office shall be the same as the governor.

SEC. 19. The secretary of state shall keep a fair record of the official acts of the legislative and executive departments of the government, and shall, when required, lay the same, and all matters relative thereto, before either branch of the legislature, and shall perform such other duties as may be assigned him by law; and in order that no inconvenience may result to the public service, from the taking effect of the amendments proposed to said article five by the legislature of 1861, no officer shall be superseded or suspended thereby, until the election and qualification of the several officers provided for in said amendments.

ART. VI. SECTION 1. The judicial power of this State shall be vested in a supreme court, in district courts, in county courts, in probate courts, and in justices of the peace, and in such recorders and other inferior courts as the legislature may establish in any incorporated city or town.

SEC. 2. The supreme court shall consist of a chief justice and four associate justices. The presence of three justices shall be necessary for the transaction of business, excepting such business as may be done at chambers, and the concurrence of three justices shall be necessary to pronounce a judgment.

SEC. 3. The justices of the supreme court shall be elected by the qualified electors of the State at special elections to be provided by law, at which elections no officer other than judicial shall be elected, except a superintendent of public instruction. The first election for justices of the supreme court shall be held in the year 1863. The justices shall hold their offices for the term of ten years from the 1st day of January next after their election, except those elected at the first election, who, at their first meeting, shall so classify themselves by lot that one justice shall go out of office every two years. The justice having the shortest term to serve shall be the chief justice.

SEC. 4. The supreme court shall have appellate jurisdiction in all cases in equity; also, in all cases at law which involve the title or possession of real estate, or the legality of any tax, impost, assessment, toll, or municipal fine, or in which the demand, exclusive of interest, or the value of the property in controversy, amounts to three hundred dollars; also, in all cases arising in the probate courts; and also, in all criminal cases amounting to felony, on questions of law alone. The court shall also have power to issue writs of mandamus, certiorari, prohibition, and habeas corpus, and also all writs pecessary or proper to the complete exercise of its appellate jurisdiction. Each of the justices shall have power to issue writs of habeas corpus to any part of the State, upon petition on behalf of any person held in actual custody, and may make such writs returnable before himself, or the supreme court, or before any district court, or any county court in the State, or before any judge of said courts. SEC. 5. The State shall be divided by the legislature of 1863 into fourteen judicial districts, subject to such alteration from time to time, by a two-thirds vote of all the members elected to both houses, as the public good may require; in each of which there shall be a district court, and for each of which a district judge shall be elected by the qualified electors of the district, at the special judicial elections to be held as provided for the election of justices of the supreme court, by section three of this article. The district judges shall hold their offices for the term of six years from the 1st day of January next after their election. The legislature shall have no power to grant leave of absence to a judicial officer, and any such officer who shall absent himself from the State for upwards of thirty consecutive days shall be deemed to have forfeited his office.

SEC. 6. The district courts shall have original jurisdiction in all cases in equity; also, in all cases at law which involve the title or possession of real property, or the legality of any tax, impost, assessment, toll, or municipal fine, and in all other cases