shall hold their office for the term of six years from the first day of January next after their election; provided that the legislature shall, at its first meeting, elect a chief justice and two associate justices of the supreme court, by joint vote of both houses, and so classify them that one shall go out of office every two years. After the first election, the senior justice in commission shall be the chief justice.

SEC. 4. The supreme court shall have appellate jurisdiction in all cases when the matter in dispute exceeds two hundred dollars, when the legality of any tax, toll, or impost or municipal fine is in question, and in all criminal cases amounting to felony on questions of law alone.' And the said court, and each of the justices thereof, as well as all district and county judges, shall have power to issue writs of habeas corpus at the instance of any person held in actual custody. They shall also have power to issue all other writs and process necessary to the exercise of their appellate jurisdiction, and shall be conservators of the peace. throughout the state.

SEC. 5. The state shall be divided by the first legislature into a convenient number of districts, subject to such alteration from time to time as the public good may require, for each of which a district judge shall be appointed by the joint vote of the legislature, at its first meeting, who shall hold his office for two years from the first day of January next after his election; after which, said judges shall be elected by the qualified electors of their respective districts, at the general election, and shall hold their office for the term of six years.

SEC. 6. The district courts shall have original jurisdiction, in law and equity, in all civil cases where the amount in dispute exceeds two hundred dollars, exclusive of interest. In all criminal cases not otherwise provided for, and in all issues of fact joined in the probate courts, their jurisdiction shall be unlimited."

SEC. 7. The legislature shall provide for the election, by the people, of a clerk of the supreme court, and county clerks, district attorneys, sheriffs, coroners, and other necessary officers;

1 The jurisdiction is limited to felony. People v. Applegate, 5 Cal. 295.

2 The word "unlimited" qualifies the amount in value and not the term "original." Reed v. McCornick, 4 Cal. 342. "Issues of fact," etc., refer to issues to be tried. Id.

and shall fix by law their duties and compensation. County clerks shall be, ex officio, clerks of the district courts in and for their respective counties.

SEC. S. There shall be elected in each of the organized counties of this state, one county judge, who shall hold his office for four years. He shall hold the county court, and perform the duties of surrogate or probate judge. The county judge, with two justices of the peace, to be designated according to law, shall hold courts of sessions with such criminal jurisdiction as the legis lature shall prescribe, and he shall perform such other duties as shall be required by law.'

SEC. 9. The county courts shall have such jurisdiction, in cases arising in justices' courts, and in special cases, as the legislature may prescribe, but shall have no original civil jurisdiction, except in such special cases."

SEC. 10. The times and places of holding the terms of the supreme court, and the general and special terms of the district courts within the several districts, shall be provided for by law.

SEC. 11. No judicial officer, except a justice of the peace, shall receive, to his own use, any fees or perquisites of office.

SEC. 12. The legislature shall provide for the speedy publication of all statute laws, and of such judicial decisions as it may deem expedient; and all laws and judicial decisions shall be free. for publication by any person.

SEC. 13. Tribunals for conciliation may be established, with such powers and duties as may be prescribed by law; but such tribunals shall have no power to render judgment to be obligatory on the parties, except they voluntarily submit their matters in difference, and agree to abide the judgment, or assent thereto in the presence of such tribunal, in such cases as shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. 14. The legislature shall determine the number of justices of the peace, to be elected in each county, city, town and incorporated village of the state, and fix by law their powers, duties and responsibilities. It shall also determine in what cases appeals may be made from justices' courts to the county court.

The county judge and two associates are necessary to constitute the court. People v. Ah Chung, 5 Cal. 103.

* Parsons v. Tuolumne county, 5 Cal. 48; Brock v. Bruce, id. 279.

SEC. 15. The justices of the supreme court, and judges of the district courts, shall severally, at stated times during their continuation in office, receive for their services a compensation to be paid out of the treasury, which shall not be increased or diminished during the term for which they shall have been elected. The county judges shall also severally, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation to be paid out of the county treasury of their respective counties, which shall not be increased or diminished during the term for which they shall have been elected.

SEC. 16. The justices of the supreme court and district judges shall be ineligible to any other office during the term for which they shall have been elected.

SEC. 17. Judges shall not charge juries with respect to matters of fact, but may state the testimony and declare the law. SEC. 18. The style of all process shall be "The people of the state of California;" and all prosecutions shall be conducted in the name and by the authority of the same.

ARTICLE VII.

MILITIA.

SECTION 1. The legislature shall provide by law for organizing and disciplining the militia, in such manner as they shall deem expedient, not incompatible with the constitution and laws of the United States.

SEC. 2. Officers of the militia shall be elected or appointed, in such manner as the legislature shall from time to time direct, and shall be commissioned by the governor.

SEC. 3. The governor shall have power to call forth the militia, to execute the laws of the state, to suppress insurrections and repel invasions.

ARTICLE VIII.

STATE DEBTS.

The legislature shall not in any manner create any debt or debts, liability or liabilities, which shall singly, or in the aggre

gate, with any previous debts or liabilities, exceed the sum of three hundred thousand dollars, except in case of war, to repel invasion or suppress insurrection, unless the same shall be authorized by some law for some single object or work, to be distinctly specified therein, which law shall provide ways and means, exclusive of loans, for the payment of the interest of such debt or liability, as it falls due, and also to pay and discharge the principal of such debt or liability within twenty years from the time of the contracting thereof, and shall be irrepealable until the principal and interest thereon shall be paid and discharged; but no such law shall take effect until, at a general election, it shall have been submitted to the people, and have received a majority of all the votes cast for and against it at such election; and all money raised by authority of such law, shall be applied only to the specific object therein stated, or to the payment of the debt thereby created; and such law shall be published in at least one newspaper in each judicial district, if one be published therein, throughout the state, for three months next preceding the election at which it is submitted to the people.'

ARTICLE IX.

EDUCATION.

SECTION 1. The legislature shall provide for the election, by the people, of a superintendent of public instruction, who shall hold his office for three years, and whose duties shall be prescribed by law, and who shall receive such compensation as the legislature may direct.

SEC. 2. The legislature shall encourage, by all suitable means, the promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral and agricultural improvement. The proceeds of all lands that may be granted by the United States to this state for the support of schools, which may be sold or disposed of, and the five hundred thousand acres of land granted to the new states, under an act of congress distributing the proceeds of the public lands among the several

1 The entire state debt over three hundred thousand dollars, declared unconstitutional. People v. Johnson, Oct. T. 1856. Nougues v. Douglass, Jan. T. 1857.

states of the Union, approved A. D. one thousand eight hundred and forty-one; and all estates of deceased persons who may have died without leaving a will, or heir, and also such per cent. as may be granted by congress on the sale of lands in this state, shall be and remain a perpetual fund, the interest of which, together with all the rents of the unsold lands, and such other means as the legislature may provide, shall be inviolably appropriated to the support of common schools throughout the state. SEC. 3. The legislature shall provide for a system of common schools, by which a school shall be kept up and supported in each district at least three months in every year, and any school district neglecting to keep up and support such a school may be deprived of its proportion of the interest of the public fund during such neglect.

SEC. 4. The legislature shall take measures for the protection, improvement, or other disposition of such lands as have been, or may hereafter be reserved or granted by the United States, or any person or persons, to this state for the use of a university; and the funds accruing from the rents or sale of such lands, or from any other source for the purpose aforesaid, shall be and remain a permanent fund, the interest of which shall be applied to the support of said university, with such branches as the public convenience may demand, for the promotion of literature, the arts and sciences, as may be authorized by the terms of such grant. And it shall be the duty of the legislature, as soon as may be, to provide effectual means for the improvement and permanent security of the funds of said university.

ARTICLE X.

MODE OF AMENDING AND REVISING THE CONSTITUTION.

SECTION 1. Any amendment or amendments to this constitution, may be proposed in the senate or assembly; and if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each of the two houses, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered on their journals, with the yeas and nays taken thereon, and referred to the legislature then next to be chosen, and shall be published for three months next preceding