sheriff, coroner, and surveyor. The clerk, auditor, and recorder shall continue in office four years; and no person shall be eligible to the office of clerk, recorder, or auditor more than eight years in any period of twelve years. The treasurer, sheriff, coroner, and surveyor shall continue in office two years; and no person shall be eligible to the office of treasurer or sheriff more than four years in any period of six years. SEC. 3. Such other county and township officers as may be necessary shall be elected or appointed in such manner as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 4. No person shall be elected or appointed as a county officer who shall not be an elector of the county; nor any one who shall not have been an inhabitant thereof during one year next preceding his appointment, if the county shall have been so long organized; but if the county shall not have been so long organized, then within the limits of the county or counties out of which the same shall have been taken.

SEC. 5. The governor, and the secretary, auditor, and treasurer of state, shall severally reside, and keep the public records, books, and papers in any manner relating to their respective offices, at the seat of government.

SEC. 6. All county, township, and town officers shall reside within their respective counties, townships, and towns, and shall keep their respective offices at such places therein, and perform such duties as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 7. All State officers shall, for crime, incapacity, or negligence, be liable to be removed from office, either by impeachment by the house of representatives, to be tried by the senate, or by a joint resolution of the general assembly, two-thirds of the members elected to each branch voting in either case therefor.

SEC. 8. All state, county, township, and town officers may be impeached or removed from office in such manner as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 9. Vacancies in county, township, and town offices shall be filled in such manner as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 10. The general assembly may confer upon the boards doing county business in the several counties powers of a local administrative character.

ARTICLE VII.

JUDICIAL.

SECTION 1. The judical power of the State shall be vested in a supreme court, in circuit courts, and in such inferior courts as the general assembly may establish.

SEC. 2. The supreme court shall consist of not less than three nor more than five judges, a majority of whom shall form a quorum. They shall hold their offices for six years, if they so long behave well.

SEC. 3. The State shall be divided into as many districts as there are judges of the supreme court; and such districts shall be formed of contiguous territory, as nearly equal in population as, without dividing a county, the same can be made. One of said judges shall be elected from each district, and reside therein; but said judges shall be elected by the electors of the State at large.

SEC. 4. The supreme court shall have jurisdiction coextensive with the limits of the State, in appeals and writs of error, under such regulations and restrictions as may be prescribed by law. It shall also have such original jurisdiction as the general assembly may confer.

SEC. 5. The supreme court shall, upon the decision of every case, give a statement in writing of each question arising in the record of such case, and the decision of the court thereon.

SEC. 6. The general assembly shall provide by law for the speedy publication of the decisions of the supreme court made under this constitution; but no judge shall be allowed to report such decisions.

SEC. 7. There shall be elected by the voters of the State a clerk of the supreme court, who shall hold his office four years, and whose duties shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. 8. The circuit courts shall each consist of one judge, and shall have such civil and criminal jurisdiction as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 9. The State shall, from time to time, be divided into judicial circuits; and a judge for each circuit shall be elected by the voters thereof. He shall reside within the circuit, and shall hold his office for the term of six years, if he so long behave well.

SEC. 10. The general assembly may provide by law that the judge of one circuit may hold the courts of another circuit, in cases of necessity or convenience; and in case of temporary inability of any judge, from sickness or other cause, to hold the courts in his circuit, provision may be made by law for holding such courts.

SEC. 11. There shall be elected in each judicial circuit, by the voters thereof, a prosecuting attorney, who shall hold his office for two years.

SEC. 12. Any judge or prosecuting attorney who shall have been convicted of corruption or other high crime, may, on information in the name of the State, be removed from office by the supreme court, or in such other manner as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 13. The judges of the supreme court and circuit courts shall, at stated times, receive a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.

SEC. 14. A competent number of justices of the peace shall be elected by the voters in each township in the several counties. They shall continue in office four years, and their powers and duties shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. 15. All judicial officers shall be conservators of the peace in their respective jurisdictions.

SEC. 16. No person elected to any judicial office shall, during the term for which he shall have been elected, be eligible to any office of trust or profit under the State, other than a judicial office.

SEC. 17. The general assembly may modify or abolish the grand-jury system. SEC. 18. All criminal prosecutions shall be carried on in the name and by the authority of the State; and the style of all process shall be: "The State of Indiana.” SEC. 19. Tribunals of conciliation may be established, with such powers and duties as shall be prescribed by law; or the powers and duties of the same may be conferred upon other courts of justice; but such tribunals or other courts, when sitting as such, shall have no power to render judgment to be obligatory on the parties, unless they voluntarily submit their matters of difference, and agree to abide the judgment of such tribunal or court.

SEC. 20. The general assembly, at its first session after the adoption of this constitution, shall provide for the appointment of three commissioners, whose duty it shall be to revise, simplify, and abridge the rules, practice, pleadings, and forms of the courts of justice. And they shall provide for abolishing the distinct forms of action at law now in use, and that justice shall be administered in a uniform mode of pleading, without distinction between law and equity. And the general assembly may also make it the duty of said commissioners to reduce into a systematic code the general statute law of the State; and said commissioners shall report the result of their labors to the general assembly, with such recommendations and suggestions as to abridgment and amendment as to said commissioners may seem necessary or proper. Provision shall be made by law for filling vacancies, regulating the tenure of office, and the compensation of said commissioners.

SEC. 21. Every person of good moral character, being a voter, shall be entitled to admission to practice law in all courts of justice.

ARTICLE VIII.

EDUCATION.

SECTION 1. Knowledge and learning generally diffused throughout a community being essential to the preservation of a free government, it shall be the duty of the general assembly to encourage, by all suitable means, moral, intellectual, scientific, and agricultural improvement, and to provide by law for a general and uniform system of common schools, wherein tuition shall be without charge, and equally to all.

SEC. 2. The common-school fund shall consist of the congressional-township fund, and the lands belonging thereto;

The surplus-revenue fund;

The saline fund, and the lands belonging thereto;

The bank-tax fund, and the fund arising from the one hundred and fourteenth section of the charter of the State Bank of Indiana;

The fund to be derived from the sale of county seminaries, and the moneys and property heretofore held for such seminaries; from the fines assessed for breaches of the penal laws of the State; and from all forfeitures which may accrue;

All lands and other estate which shall escheat to the State for want of heirs or kindred entitled to the inheritance;

All lands that have been, or may hereafter be, granted to the State, where no special purpose is expressed in the grant, and the proceeds of the sales thereof, including the proceeds of the sales of the swamp-lands granted to the State of Indiana by the act of Congress of 28th of September, 1850, after deducting the expense of selecting and draining the same;

Taxes on the property of corporations that may be assessed by the general assembly for common-school purposes.

SEC. 3. The principal of the common-school fund shall remain a perpetual fund, which may be increased, but shall never be diminished; and the income thereof shall be inviolably appropriated to the support of common schools, and to no other purpose whatever.

SEC. 4. The general assembly shall invest, in some safe and profitable manner, all such portions of the common-school fund as have not heretofore been intrusted to the several counties; and shall make provision by law for the distribution among the several counties of the interest thereof.

SEC. 5. If any county shall fail to demand its proportion of such interest for common-school purposes, the same shall be reinvested for the benefit of such county.

SEC. 6. The several counties shall be held liable for the preservation of so much of the said fund as may be intrusted to them, and for the payment of the annual interest thereon.

SEC. 7. All trust-funds held by the State shall remain inviolate, and be faithfully and exclusively applied to the purposes for which the trust was created.

SEC. 8. The general assembly shall provide for the election, by the voters of the State, of a State superintendent of public instruction, who shall hold his office for two years, and whose duties and compensation shall be prescribed by law.

ARTICLE IX.

STATE INSTITUTIONS.

SECTION 1. It shall be the duty of the general assembly to provide by law for the support of institutions for the education of the deaf and dumb, and of the blind, and also for the treatment of the insane.

SEC. 2. The general assembly shall provide houses of refuge for the correction and reformation of juvenile offenders.

SEC. 3. The county boards shall have power to provide farms, as an asylum for those persons who, by reason of age, infirmity, or other misfortune, may have claims upon the sympathies and aid of society.

ARTICLE X.

FINANCE.

SECTION 1. The general assembly shall provide by law for a uniform and equal rate of assessment and taxation, and shall prescribe such regulations as shall secure a just valuation for taxation of all property, both real and personal, excepting such only for municipal, educational, literary, scientific, religious, or charitable purposes, as may be specially exempted by law.

SEC. 2. All the revenues derived from the sale of any of the public works belonging to the State, and from the net annual income thereof, and any surplus that may at any time remain in the treasury derived from taxation for general State purposes, after the payment of the ordinary expenses of the government, and of the interest on bonds of the State, other than bank-bonds, shall be annually applied, under the direction of the general assembly, to the payment of the principal of the public debt. SEC. 3. No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in pursuance of appropriations made by law.

SEC. 4. An accurate statement of the receipts and expenditures of the public money shall be published with the laws of each regular session of the general assembly.

SEC. 5. No law shall authorize any debt to be contracted on behalf of the State, except in the following cases: To meet casual deficits in the revenue, to pay the interest on the State debt, to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or, if hostilities be threatened, provide for the public defence.

SEC. 6. No county shall subscribe for stock in any incorporated company, unless the same be paid for at the time of such subscription; nor shall any county loan its credit to any incorporated company, nor borrow money for the purpose of taking stock in any such company; nor shall the general assembly ever, on behalf of the State, assume the debts of any county, city, town, or township, nor of any corporation whatever.

ARTICLE XI.

CORPORATIONS.

SECTION 1. The general assembly shall not have power to establish or incorporate any bank or banking company, or moneyed institution, for the purpose of issuing bills of credit, or bills payable to order or bearer, except under the conditions prescribed in this constitution.

SEC. 2. No banks shall be established otherwise than under a general banking law, except as provided in the fourth section of this article.

SEC. 3. If the general assembly shall enact a general banking law, such law shall provide for the registry and countersigning by an officer of state of all paper credit designed to be circulated as money, and ample collateral security, readily convertible into specie, or the redemption of the same in gold or silver, shall be required, which collateral security shall be under the control of the proper officer or officers of state. SEC. 4. The general assembly may also charter a bank with branches without collateral security, as required in the preceding section.

SEC. 5. If the general assembly shall establish a bank with branches, the branches shall be mutually responsible for each other's habilities upon all paper credit issued as money.

SEC. 6. The stockholders in every bank or banking company shall be individually responsible to an amount over and above their stock, equal to their respective shares of stock, for all debts or liabilities of said bank or banking company.

SEC. 7. All bills or notes issued as money shall be at all times redeemable in gold or silver; and no law shall be passed sanctioning, directly or indirectly, the suspension by any bank or banking company of specie payments.

SEC. 8. Holders of bank-notes shall be entitled, in case of insolvency, to preference of payment of over all other creditors.

SEC. 9. No bank shall receive, directly or indirectly, a greater rate of interest than shall be allowed by law to individuals loaning money.

SEC. 10. Every bank or banking company shall be required to cease all banking operations within twenty years from the time of its organization, and promptly thereafter to close its business.

SEC. 11. The general assembly is not prohibited from investing the trust-funds in a bank with branches; but in case of such investment, the safety of the same shall be guaranteed by unquestionable security.

SEC. 12. The State shall not be a stockholder in any bank after the expiration of the present bank-charter; nor shall the credit of the State ever be given or loaned in

aid of any person, association, or corporation; nor shall the State hereafter become a stockholder in any corporation or association.

SEC. 13. Corporations, other than banking, shall not be created by special act, but may be formed under general law.

SEC. 14. Dues from corporations, other than banking, shall be secured by such individual liability of the corporators, or other means, as may be prescribed by law.

ARTICLE XII.

MILITIA.

SECTION 1. The militia shall consist of all able-bodied white male persons, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, except such as may be exempted by the laws of the United States, or of this State; and shall be organized, officered, armed, equipped, and trained in such manner as may be provided by law.

SEC. 2. The governor shall appoint the adjutant, quartermaster, and commissarygenerals.

SEC. 3. All militia officers shall be commissioned by the governor, and shall hold their offices not longer than six years.

SEC. 4. The general assembly shall determine the method of dividing the militia. into divisions, brigades, regiments, battalions, and companies, and fix the rank of all staff officers.

SEC. 5. The militia may be divided into classes of sedentary and active militia, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. 6. No person conscientiously opposed to bearing arms shall be compelled to do militia duty; but such person shall pay an equivalen. for exemption, the amount to be prescribed by law.

ARTICLE XIII.*

NEGROES AND MULATTOES.

SECTION 1. No negro or mulatto shall come into, or settle in the State, after the adoption of this constitution.

SEC. 2. All contracts made with any negro or mulatto coming into the State, contrary to the provisions of the foregoing section, shall be void; and any person who shall employ such negro or mulatto, or otherwise encourage him to remain in the State, shall be fined in any sum not less than ten dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars.

SEC. 3. All fines which may be collected for violation of the provisions of this article, or of any law which may hereafter be passed for the purpose of carrying the same into execution, shall be set apart and appropriated for the colonization of such negroes and mulattoes, and their descendants, as may be in the State at the adoption of this constitution, and may be willing to emigrate.

SEC. 4. The general assembly shall pass laws to carry out the provisions of this article.

ARTICLE XIV.

BOUNDARIES.

SECTION 1. In order that the boundaries of the State may be known and established, it is hereby ordained and declared, that the State of Indiana is bounded on the east by the meridian-line which forms the western boundary of the State of Ohio; on the south by the Ohio River; from the mouth of the Great Miami River to the mouth of the Wabash River; on the west by a line drawn along the middle of the Wabash River, from its mouth, to a point where a due-north line drawn from the town of Vincennes would last touch the northwestern shore of said Wabash River; and thence by a due-north line until the same shall intersect an east and west line drawn through a point ten miles north of the southern extreme of Lake Michigan; on the north by said east and west line until the same shall intersect the first-mentioned meridian-line, which forms the western boundary of the State of Ohio.

*The courts of Indiana have declared this article repugnant to the Constitution of the United States.