or.

the Territory, the secretary shall, be, and he is hereby, author- or, the secretary ized and required to execute and perform all the powers and act as govern duties of the governor during such vacancy or necessary absence, or until another governor shall be duly appointed to fill such vacancy...

er how vested.

sembly to consist

house of repre

ber of councillors

tives limited.

Census to be

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the legislative pow- Legislative pow er and authority of said Territory shall be vested in the governor and a legislative assembly. The legislative assembly shall Legislative as consist of a council and house of representatives. The council of council and shall consist of nine members, having the qualifications of vo- sentatives. ters as hereinafter prescribed, whose term of service shall continue two years. The house of representatives shall, at its first session, consist of eighteen members, possessing the same qualifications as prescribed for members of the council, and whose term of service shall continue one year. The number of councillors and representatives may be increased by the legislative assembly, from time to time, in proportion to the increase of population: Provided, That the whole number shall never Proviso-numexceed fifteen councillors and thirty-nine representatives. An and representaapportionment shall be made, as nearly equal as practicable, Apportionment among the several counties or districts, for the election of the of representation council and representatives, giving to each section of the Territory representation in the ratio of its population, Indians excepted, as nearly as may be. And the members of the council and of the house of representatives shall reside in, and be inhabitants of, the district for which they may be elected respectively. Previous to the first election, the governor shall cause a census or enumeration of the inhabitants of the several counties and districts of the Territory to be taken, and the first elec- taken-whèn. tion shall be held at such time and places, and be conducted in such manner, as the governor shall appoint and direct; and he shall, at the same time, declare the number of members of the council and house of representatives to which each of the counties or districts shall be entitled under this act. The number of persons authorized to be elected having the highest numbered. of votes in each of said council districts for members of the council shall be declared by the governor to be duly elected to the council; and the person or persons authorized to be elected having the greatest number of votes for the house of representatives, equal to the number to which each county or district shall be entitled, shall be declared by the governor to be duly elected members of the house of representatives: Provided, That in Proviso. case of a tie between two or more persons voted for, the governor shall order a new election to supply the vacancy made by such tie. And the persons thus elected to the legislative assembly shall meet at such place, and on such day, as the governor shall appoint; but thereafter, the time, place, and manner of holding and conducting all election by the people, and the apportioning the representation in the several counties or districts 10 the council and house of representatives according to the population, shall be prescribed by law, as well as the day of the commencement of the regular sessions of the legislative as

How elections shall be conduct

Proviso as to sembly: Provided, That no one session shall exceed the term

terms of sessions

of legislative as- of sixty days.

sembly

Qualifications

of voters.

Proviso.

Extent of legislative power.

How township, distret,

ed.

and

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That every free white male inhabitant above the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been a resident of said Territory at the time of the passage of this act, shall be entitled to vote at the first election, and shall be eligible to any office within the said Territory; but the qualifications of voters and of holding office, at all subsequent elections, shall be such as shall be prescribed by the legislative assembly: Provided, That the right of suffrage and of holding office shall be exercised only by citizens of the United States, and those who shall have declared, on oath, their intention to become such, and shall have taken an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and the provisions of this act.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the legislative power of the Territory shall extend to all rightful subjects of fegislation, consistent with the Constitution of the United States and the provisions of this act; but no law shall be passed interfering with the primary disposal of the soil; no tax shall be imposed upon the property of the United States; nor shall the lands or other property of non-residents be taxed higher than the lands or other property of residents. All the laws passed by the legislative assembly and governor shall be submitted to the Congress of the United States, and if disapproved, shall be null and of no effect.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That all township, discounty officers trict, and county officers, not herein otherwise provided for, shall be appoint shall be appointed or elected, as the case may be, in such manner as shall be provided by the governor and legislative assembly of the Territory of Minesota. The governor shall nominate, and, by and with the advice and consent of the legisla tive council, appoint all officers not herein otherwise provided for; and in the first instance the governor alone may appoint all said officers, who shall hold their offices until the end of the next session of the legislative assembly.

No member of the legislative as

while he was a

one year thereaf

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That no member of the sembly to hold legislative assembly shall hold or be appointed to any office office created which shall have been created, or the salary or emoluments of member, or for which shall have been increased, while he was a member, ter. Officers of during the term for which he was elected, and for one year the Government after the expiration of such term; and no person holding a States, except commission or appointment under the United States, except to be members of postmasters, shall be a member of the legislative assembly, or the assembly. shall hold any office under the government of said Territory.

of the United

postmasters, not

Judicial power

-how vested.

SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That the judicial power of said Territory shall be vested in a supreme court, district courts, probate courts, and in justices of the peace. The Supreme court. supreme court shall consist of a chief justice and two associate justices, any two of whom shall constitute a quorum, and who shall hold a term at the seat of government of said Territory annually, and they shall hold their offices during the period of

District courts.

Jurisdiction of trict, and probate courts, & justices

the supreme, dis

of the peace.

four years. The said Territory shall be divided into three judicial districts, and a district court shall be held in each of said districts by one of the justices of the supreme court, at such times and places as may be prescribed by law; and the said judges shall, after their appointsment, respectively, reside in the districts which shall be assigned them. The jurisdiction of the several courts herein provided for, both appellate and original, and that of the probate courts and of justices of the peace, shall be as limited by law: Provided, That the justices of the peace shall not have jurisdiction of any matter in controversy when the title or boundaries of land may be in dispute, or where the debt or sum claimed shall exceed one hundred dollars; and the said supreme and diict courts, respectively, shall possess chancery as well as common law jurisdiction. Each district court, or the judge thereof, shall appoint its clerk, Clerks of district who shall also be the register in chancery, and shall keep his courts. office at the place where the court may be held. Writs of error, bills of exception and appeals, shall be allowed in all cases from the final decisions of said district courts to the. supreme court, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law, but in no case removed to the supreme court shall trial by jury be allowed in said court. The supreme court, or the justices thereof, shall appoint its own clerk, and every clerk Clerk of Sup. shall hold his office at the pleasure of the court for which he shall have been appointed. Writs of error and appeals from the final decisions of said supreme court shall be allowed and may be taken to the Supreme Court of the United States, in the same manner and under the same regulations as from the circuit courts of the United States, where the value of the property or the amount in controversy, to be ascertained by the oath or affirmation of either party, or other competent witness, shall exceed one thousand dollars; and each of the said district courts shall have and exercise the same jurisdiction, in all cases arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States, as is vested in the circuit and district courts of the United States; and the first six days of every term of said courts, or so much thereof as shall be necessary, shall be appropriated to the trial of causes arising under the said constitution and laws; and writs of error and appeal in all such cases shall be made to the supreme court of said Territory, the same as in other cases. The said clerk shall receive, in all such cases, the same fees which the clerks of the district courts of the late Wisconsin Territory received for similar services.

SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That there shall be appointed an attorney for said Territory, who shall continue in office for four years, unless sooner removed by the President, and who shall receive the same fees and salary as the attorney of the United States for the late Territory of Wisconsin received. There shall also be a marshal for the Territory appointed, who shall hold his office for four years, unless sooner removed by the President, and who shall execute all processes issuing from the said courts, when exercising their jurisdiction as circuit and

Court.

Fees of clerk.

Attorney and fees and emolu

marshal-their

ments.

Governor, sec. retary, chief and associate

and marshal,how

official oaths,&c.

district courts of the United States; he shall perform the duties, be subject to the same regulations and penalties, and be entitled to the same fees, as the marshal of the district court of the United States for the late Territory of Wisconsin; and shall, in addition, be paid two hundred dollars annually as a compensation for extra services.

SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That the governor, jus- secretary, chief justice, and associate justices, attorney, and tices, attorney, marshal, shall be nominated, and, by and with the advice and to be appointed. consent of the Senate, appointed by the President of the United States. The governor and Secretary to be appointed as aforeEach to take said shall, before they act as such, respectively take an oath or affirmation, before the district judge, or some justice of the peace in the limits of said Territory, duly authorized to administer oaths and affirmations by the laws now in force therein, or before the chief justice or some associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, to support the Constitution of the United States, and faithfully to discharge the duties of their respective offices; which said oaths, when so taken, shall be certified by the person by whom the same shall have been taken, and such certificates shall be received and recorded by the said secretary among the executive proceedings; and the chief justice and associate justices, and all other civil officers in said territory, before they act as such, shall take a like oath or affirmation, before the said governor or secretary, or some judge or justice of the peace of the Territory, who may be duly commissioned and qualified, which said oath or affirmation shall be certified and transmitted by the person taking the same, to the secretary, to be by him recorded as aforesaid; and afterwards, the like oath or affirmation shall be taken, certified, and recorded in such manner and form as may be prescribed by Salary of gov- law. The governor shall receive an annual salary of fifteen hundred dollars as governor, and one thousand dollars as superSalaries of chief intendent of Indian affairs. The chief justice and associate justices shall each receive an annual salary of eighteen hundred dollars. The secretary shall receive an annual salary of eighteen hundred dollars. The said salaries shall be paid quarter-yearly, at the treasury of the United States. The members of the legislative assembly shall be entitled to receive of members of three dollars each per day during their attendance at the ses sions thereof, and three dollars each for every twenty miles travel in going to and returning from the said sessions, estimated according to the nearest usually travelled route. There shall Provision for be appropriated, annually, the sum of one thousand dollars, ex- to be expended by the governor to defray the contingent expenses of the Territory; and there shall also be appropriated, annually, a sufficient sum, to be expended by the secretary of the Territory, and upon an estimate to be made by the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, to defray the expenses of the legislative assembly, the printing of the laws and other incidental expenses; and the Secretary of the Territory shall annually account to the Secretary of the Treasury of the

ernor.

and associate jus

tices.

Salary of sec. retary.

Compensation

legislative assem

bly.

contingent

penses, &c.

United States for the manner in which the aforesaid sum shall

have been expended.

Inhabitants to

of Wisconsin.

SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That the inhabitants be entitled to all of the said Territory shall be entitled to all the rights, privileges, the rights and and immunities heretofore granted and secured to the Territory ed to inhabitants of Wisconsin and to its inhabitants; and the laws in force in the Territory of Wisconsin at the date of the admission of the State of Wisconsin shall continue to be valid and operative therein, so far as the same be not incompatible with the provisions of this act, subject, nevertheless, to be altered, modified, consin to continor repealed, by the governor and legislative assembly of the ue in force. said Territory of Minnesota; and the laws of the United States are hereby extended over and declared to be in force in said Territory, so far as the same, or any provision thereof, may be applicable.

Laws of Wis

Seat of govern

Territory.

SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That the legislative assembly of the Territory of Minnesota shall hold its first session at Saint Paul; and at said first session the governor and legislative assembly shall locate and establish a temporary seat of government for said Territory at such place as they may ment for said deem eligible; and shall, at such time as they shall see proper, prescribe by law the manner of locating the permanent seat of government of said Territory by a vote of the people. And the sum of twenty thousand dollars, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, is hereby appropriated and ings. granted to said Territory of Minnesota, to be applied, by the governor and legislative assembly, to the erection of suitable public buildings at the seat of government.

Appropriation for public build

U. S. to

be

SEC. 14. And be it further enacted, That a delegate to the Delegate House of Representatives of the United States, to serve for the Congress of the term of two years, may be elected by the voters qualified to elected. elect members of the legislative assembly, who shall be entitled to the same rights and privileges as are exercised and enjoyed by the delegates from the several other Territories of the United States to the said House of Representatives. The first election shall be held at such times and places, and be conducted in such manner, as the governor shall appoint and direct; and at all subsequent elections, the times, places, and manner of holding the elections shall be prescribed by law. The person having the greatest number of votes shall be declared by the gov ernor to be duly elected, and a certificate thereof shall be given accordingly.

&c., pending in

in limits of said

SEC. 15. And be it further enacted, That all suits, proAll suits, process, and process, and proceedings, civil and criminal, at law and in chan- ceedings at law, cery, and all indictments and informations, which shall be pend-the courts of ing and undetermined in the courts of the Territory of Wis- Wisconsin, withconsin, within the limits of said Territory of Minnesota, when Territory, transthis act shall take effect, shall be transferred to be heard, tried, courts of said prosecuted, and determined in the district courts hereby estab- Territory. lished, which may include the counties or districts where any such proceedings may be pending. All bonds, recognisances, and obligations of every kind whatsoever, valid under the ex

ferred to district