vided for by this constitution, and all officers whose offices may be hereafter created by law, shall be elected by the people, or appointed as the legislature may direct.

SEC. 7. When the duration of any office is not provided for by this constitution, it may be declared by law, and if not so declared, such office shall be held during the pleasure of the authority making the appointment; nor shall the duration of any office, not fixed by this constitution, ever exceed four years.'

SEC. 8. The fiscal year shall commence on the first day of July.

SEC. 9. Each county, town, city and incorporated village, shall make provision for the support of its own officers, subject to such restrictions and regulations as the legislature may prescribe.

SEC. 10. The credit of the state shall not, in any manner, be given or loaned to or in aid of any individual, association, or corporation; nor shall the state directly or indirectly become a stockholder in any association or corporation.

SEC. 11. Suits may be brought against the state in such manner, and in such courts, as shall be directed by law.

SEC. 12. No contract of marriage, if otherwise duly made, shall be invalidated for want of conformity to the requirements of any religious sect."

SEC. 13. Taxation shall be equal and uniform throughout the state. All property in this state shall be taxed in proportion to its value, to be ascertained as directed by 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 her before marriage, and that acquired afterward 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

1 People ex rel. Finley v. Jewett, July T., 1856. People v. Reid, id.

* This section was adopted as a pledge of security to the native inhabitants. People v. Coleman,

4 Cal. 46. It applies only to direct taxation on property. People v. Naglee, 1 Cal. 232.

* That the same property is taxed in another state is no California, when it is within the limits of the latter state.

ground why it should not be taxed in Minturn v. Hays, 2 Cal. 590.

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 this 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 any 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 twentieth degree of longitude west from Greenwich, and running south on the line of said one hundred twentieth degree of west longitude until it intersects the thirty-ninth degree of north latitude; thence running in a

1 Cook v. McChristian, 4 Cal. 28.

straight line in a south-easterly 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 thirtieth, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight; thence running west and along said boundary line to the Pacific Ocean, and extending therein three English miles; thence running in a north-westerly direction and following the direction of the Pacific Coast to the forty-second 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 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 necessary 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 thirteenth day of November next. The execu tive 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 on the day aforesaid, in their respective districts. The election shall be conducted in the manner which was prescribed for the election of delegates to this convention, except that the prefects, sub-prefects, 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 tenth day of December next, if the returns be not sooner rcceived, 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 thirteenth 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 fifteenth 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 can

vassers.

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