Illinois Constitution of 1870
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Constitution of the State of Illinois
Adopted in Convention at Springfield, May 13, A.D. 1870.
[Ratified by the People July 2, 1870; in force August 8th, 1870; and amended, in 1877.]
As published SPRINGFIELD: WEBER & Co., STATE PRINTERS 1879
(Other versions exist due to amendments between 1879 and 1970)
- 1 Preamble
- 2 ARTICLE I Boundaries
- 3 ARTICLE II Bill of Rights
- 4 ARTICLE III Distribution of Powers
- 5 ARTICLE IV Legislative Department
- 5.1 Election
- 5.2 Eligibility and Oath
- 5.3 Apportionment - Senatorial
- 5.4 MINORITY REPRESENTATION
- 5.5 TIME OF MEETING AND GENERAL RULES
- 5.6 STYLE OF LAWS, AND PASSAGE OF BILLS
- 5.7 PRIVILEGES AND DISABILITIES
- 5.8 PUBLIC MONEYS AND APPROPRIATIONS
- 5.9 PAY OF MEMBERS
- 5.10 SPECIAL LEGISLATION PROHIBITED
- 5.11 IMPEACHMENT
- 5.12 MISCELLANEOUS
- 6 ARTICLE V EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT
- 7 ARTICLE VI JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
- 8 ARTICLE VII SUFFRAGE
- 9 ARTICLE VIII EDUCATION
- 10 ARTICLE IX REVENUE
- 11 ARTICLE X COUNTIES
- 12 ARTICLE XI CORPORATIONS
- 13 ARTICLE XII MILITIA
- 14 ARTICLE XIII WAREHOUSES
- 15 ARTICLE XIV AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION
- 16 SECTIONS SEPARATELY SUBMITTED
- 17 SCHEDULE
- 18 PROCLAMATION
We, the people of the State of Illinois — grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to Him for a blessing upon our endeavors to secure and transmit the same unimpaired to succeeding generations — in order to form a more perfect government, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and our posterity; do ordain and establish this constitution for the State of Illinois
ARTICLE I Boundaries
The boundaries and jurisdiction of the State shall be as follows, to-wit: Beginning at the mouth of the Wabash River; thence up the same, and with the line of Indiana to the northwest corner of said state; thence east with the line of the same state, to the middle of Lake Michigan; thence north along the middle of said lake to north latitude forty-two degrees and thirty minutes, thence west to the middle of the Mississippi River, and thence down along the middle of that river to its confluence with the Ohio River, and thence up the latter river along its northwestern shore to the place of beginning: Provided, that this State shall exercise such jurisdiction upon the Ohio River as she is now en-titled to, or such as may here-after be agreed upon by this State and the State of Kentucky.
ARTICLE II Bill of Rights
§ 1. All men are by nature free and independent, and have certain inherent and inalienable rights — among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. To secure these rights and the protection of property, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
§ 2. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.
§ 3. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination shall for-ever be guaranteed; and no person shall be denied any civil or political right, privilege or capacity on account of his religious opinions; but the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be construed to dispense with oaths or affirmations, excuse acts of licentiousness, or justify practices inconsistent with the peace or safety of the State. No person shall be required to attend or support any ministry or place of worship against his consent, nor shall any preference be given by law to any religious denomination or mode of worship.
§ 4. Every person may freely speak, write and publish on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty; and in all trials for libel, both civil and criminal, the truth, when published with good motives and for justifiable ends, shall be a sufficient defense.
§ 5. The right of trial by jury, as heretofore en-joyed, shall remain inviolate; but the trial of civil cases be-fore justices of the peace by a jury of less than twelve men, may be authorized by law.
§ 6. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue without probable cause, supported by affidavits, particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or things to be seized.
§ 7. All persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses, where the proof is evident or the presumption great; and the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.
§ 8. No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense unless on indictment of a grand jury, except in cases which the punishment is by fine, or imprisonment otherwise than in the penitentiary, in cases of impeachment, and in cases arising in the army and navy, or in the militia when in actual service in time of war or public danger: Provided, that the grand jury may be abolished by law in all cases.
§ 9. In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall have the right to appear and defend in person and by counsel; to demand the nature and cause of the accusation, and to have a copy thereof; to meet the witnesses face to face, and to have process to compel the attendance of witnesses in his behalf, and a speedy public trial by an impartial jury in the county or district in which the offense is alleged to have been committed.
§ 10. No person shall be compelled in any criminal case to give evidence against himself or be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense.
§ 11. All penalties shall be proportioned to the nature of the offense; and no conviction shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture of estate; nor shall any person be transported out of the State for any offense committed within the same.
§ 12. No person shall be imprisoned for debt, unless upon refusal to deliver up his estate for the benefit of his creditors, in such a manner as shall be prescribed by law; or in cases where there is strong presumption of fraud.
§ 13. Private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use without just compensation. Such compensation when not made by the State, shall be ascertained by a jury, as shall be prescribed by law. The fee of land taken for railroad tracks, without the consent of the owners thereof, shall remain in such owners, subject to use for which it is taken.
§ 14. No ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or making any irrevocable grant of special privilege or immunities, shall be passed.
§ 15. The military shall be in strict subordination to the civil power.
§ 16. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner; nor in time of war except in the manner prescribed by law.
§ 17. The people have a right to assemble in a peaceable manner to consult for the common good, to make known their opinions to their representatives, and to apply for redress of grievances.
§ 18. All elections shall be free and equal.
§ 19. Every person ought to find a certain remedy in the laws for all injuries and wrongs which he may receive in his person, property or reputation; he ought to obtain, by law, right and justice freely and without being obliged to purchase it, completely and without denial, promptly and without delay.
§ 20. A frequent recurrence to the fundamental principles of civil government is absolutely necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty.
ARTICLE III Distribution of Powers
The powers of the government of this State are divided into three distinct departments — the Legislative, Executive and Judicial; and no person, or collection of persons, being one of these departments, shall exercise any power properly belonging to either of the others, except as hereinafter expressly directed or permitted.
ARTICLE IV Legislative Department
§ 1. The legislative power shall be vested in a General Assembly, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives, both to be elected by the people.
§ 2. An election for members of the General Assembly shall be held on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy, and every two years thereafter, in each county, at such places therein as may be provided by law. When vacancies occur in either house, the Governor, or person exercising the powers of Governor, shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.
Eligibility and Oath
§ 3. No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained the age of twenty-five years, or a Representative who shall not have attained the age of twenty-one years. No person shall be a Senator or Representative who shall not be a citizen of the United States, and who shall not have been for five years a resident of this State, and for two years next preceding his election a resident within the territory forming the district from which he is elected. No judge or clerk of any court, Secretary of State, Attorney General, State's Attorney, recorder, sheriff, or collector of public revenue, member of either House of Congress, or person holding any lucrative office under the United States or this State, or any foreign government, shall have a seat in the General Assembly: Provided, that appointments in the militia, and the offices of notary public and justice of the peace, shall not be considered lucrative. Nor shall any person holding any office of honor or profit under any foreign government, or under the government of the United States, (except post-masters whose annual compensation does not exceed the sum of three hundred dollars) hold any office of honor or profit under the authority of this State.
§ 4. No person who has been, or hereafter shall be convicted of bribery, perjury or other infamous crime, nor any person who has been or may be a collector or holder of public moneys, who shall not have accounted for and paid over, according to law, all such moneys due from him, shall be eligible to the General Assembly, or to any office of profit or trust in this State.
§ 5. Members of the General Assembly, before they enter upon their official duties, shall take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Illinois, and will faithfully discharge the duties of Senator (or Representative) according to the best of my ability; and that I have not, knowingly or intentionally, paid or contributed anything, or made any promise in the nature of a bribe, to directly or indirectly influence any vote at the election at which I was chosen to fill the said office, and have not accepted, nor will I accept or receive, directly or indirectly, any money or other valuable thing, from any corporation, company or person, for any vote or influence I may give or withhold on any bill, resolution or appropriation, or for any other official act."
This oath shall be administered by a judge of the supreme or circuit court in the hall of the house to which the member is elected, and the Secretary of State shall record and file the oath subscribed by each member. Any member who shall refuse to take the oath herein prescribed shall forfeit his office, and every member who shall be convicted of having sworn falsely to, or of violating, his said oath, shall forfeit his office and be disqualified thereafter from holding any office of profit or trust in this State.
Apportionment - Senatorial
§ 6. The general assembly shall apportion the State every ten years, beginning with the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, by dividing the population of the State, as ascertained by the federal census, by the number fifty-one, and the quotient shall be the ratio of representation in the Senate. The State shall be divided into fifty-one senatorial districts, each of which shall elect one senator, whose term of office shall be four years. The senators elected in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in districts bearing odd numbers, shall vacate their offices at the end of two years, and those elected in districts bearing even numbers, at the end of four years; and vacancies occurring by the expira- tion of term shall be filled by the election of senators for the full term. Senatorial districts shall be formed of contiguous and compact territory, bounded by county lines, and contain as nearly as practicable an equal number of inhabitants; but no district shall contain less than four-fifths of the senatorial ratio. Counties containing not less than the ratio and three-fourths, may be divided into separate districts, and shall be entitled to two senators, and to one additional senator for each number of inhabitants equal to the ratio, contained by such counties in excess of twice the number of said ratio.
NOTE.—By the adoption of minority representation, §§ 7 and 8, of this article, cease to be a part of the Constitution. Under § 12 of the schedule, and the vote or adoption, the following section relating to minority representation is substituted for said sections: §§ 7 and 8. The house of representatives shall consist of three times the number of the members of the senate, and the term of office shall be two years. Three representatives shall be elected in each senatorial district at the general election in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy- two, and every two years thereafter. In all elections of representatives aforesaid, each qualified voter may cast as many votes for one candidate as there are representatives to be elected, or may distribute the same, or equal parts thereof, among the candidates, as he shall see fit; and the candidates highest in votes shall be declared elected.
TIME OF MEETING AND GENERAL RULES
§ 9. The sessions of the general assembly shall commence at twelve o'clock noon, on the Wednesday next after the first Monday in January, in the year next ensuing the election of members thereof, and at no other time, unless as provided by this constitution. A majority of the members elected to each house shall constitute a quorum. Each house shall determine the rules of its proceedings, and be the judge of the election, returns and qualifications of its members; shall choose its own officers; and the senate shall choose a temporary president to preside when the lieutenant governor shall not attend as president or shall act as governor. The secretary of state shall call the house of representatives to order at the opening of each new assembly, and preside over it until a temporary presiding officer thereof shall have been chosen and shall have taken his seat. No member shall be expelled by either house, except by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to that house, and no member shall be twice expelled for the same offense. Each house may punish by imprisonment any person, not a member, who shall be guilty of disrespect to the house by disorderly or contemptuous behavior in its presence. But no such imprisonment shall extend beyond twenty-four hours at one time, unless the person shall persist in such dis- orderly or contemptuous behavior.
§ 10. The doors of each house and of committees of the whole shall be kept open, except in such cases as, in the opinion of the house, require secrecy. Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than two days, or to any other place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, which shall be published. In the senate at the request of two members, and in the house at the request of five members, the yeas and nays shall be taken on any question, and entered up- on the journal. Any two members of either house shall have liberty to dissent from and protest, in respectful language, against any act or resolution which they think injurious to the public or to any individual, and have the reasons of their dissent entered upon the journals.
STYLE OF LAWS, AND PASSAGE OF BILLS
§ 11. The style of the laws of this State shall be: "Be it en- acted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly."
§ 12. Bills may originate in either house, but may be alter- ed, amended or rejected by the other; and on the final passage of all bills, the vote shall be by yeas and nays, upon each bill separately, and shall be entered upon the journal; and no bill shall become a law without the concurrence of a majority of the members elected to each house.
§ 13. Every bill shall be read at large on three different days, in each house; and the bill and all amendments thereto shall be printed before the vote is taken on its final passage; and every bill, having passed both houses, shall be signed by the speakers thereof. No act hereafter passed shall embrace more than one subject, and that shall be expressed in the title. But if any subject shall be embraced in an act which shall not be expressed in the title, such act shall be void only as to so much thereof as shall not be so expressed; and no law shall be revived or amended by reference to its title only, but the law revived, or the section amended, shall be inserted at length in the new act. And no act of the general assembly shall take effect until the first day of July next after its passage, unless, in case of emergency, (which emergency shall be expressed in the preamble or body of the act), the general assembly shall, by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, otherwise direct.
PRIVILEGES AND DISABILITIES
§ 14. Senators and representatives shall, in all cases, except treason, felony or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during the session of the general assembly, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either house, they shall not be questioned in any other place.
§ 15. No person elected to the general assembly shall receive any civil appointment within this State from the governor, the governor and senate, or from the general assembly, during the term for which be shall have been elected; and all such appointments, and all votes given for any such members for any such office or appointment, shall be void; nor shall any member of the general assembly be interested, either directly or indirectly, in any contract with the State, or any county thereof, authorized by any law passed during the term for which he shall have been elected, or within one year after the expiration thereof.
PUBLIC MONEYS AND APPROPRIATIONS
§ 16. The general assembly shall make no appropriation of money out of the treasury in any private law. Bills making appropriations for the pay of members and officers of the general assembly, and for the salaries of the officers of the government, shall contain no provision on any other subject.
§ 17. No money shall be drawn from the treasury except in pursuance of an appropriation made by law, and on the presentation of a warrant issued by the auditor thereon; and no money shall be diverted from any appropriation made for any purpose, or taken from any fund whatever, either by joint or separate resolution. The auditor shall, within sixty days after the adjournment of each session of the general assembly, prepare and publish a full statement of all money expended at such session, specifying the amount of each item, and to whom and for what paid.
§ 18. Each general assembly shall provide for all the appropriations necessary for the ordinary and contingent expenses of the government until the expiration of the first fiscal quarter after the adjournment of the next regular session, the aggregate amount of which shall not be increased without a vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house, nor exceed the amount of revenue authorized by law to be raised in such time; and all appropriations, general or special, requiring money to be paid out of the State Treasury, from funds belonging to the State, shall end with such fiscal quarter: Provided, the State may, to meet casual deficits or failures in revenues, contract debts, never to exceed in the aggregate two- hundred and fifty thousand dollars; and moneys thus borrowed shall be applied to the purpose for which they were obtained, or to pay the debt thus created, and to no other purpose; and no other debt, except for the purpose of repelling invasion, suppressing insurrection, or defending the State in war, (for payment of which the faith of the State shall be pledged), shall be contracted, unless the law authorizing the same shall, at a general election, have been submitted to the people, and have received a majority of the votes cast for members of the general assembly at such election. The general assembly shall provide for the publication of said law for three months, at least, before the vote of the people shall be taken upon the same. and provision shall be made, at the time, for the payment of the interest annually, as it shall accrue, by a tax levied for the purpose, or from other sources of revenue; which law, providing for the payment of such interest by such tax, shall be irrepealable until such debt be paid: And provided, furthur, that the law levying the tax shall be submitted to the people with the law authorizing the debt to be contracted.
§ 19. The general assembly shall never grant or authorize extra compensation, fee or allowance to any public officer, agent, servant or contractor, after service has been rendered or a contract made, nor authorize the payment of any claim, or part thereof, hereafter created against the State under any agreement or contract made without express authority of law; and all such unauthorized agreements or contracts shall be null and void: Provided, the general assembly may make appropriations for expenditures incurred in suppressing insurrection or repelling invasion.
§ 20. The State shall never pay, assume or become responsible for the debts or liabilities of, or in any manner give, loan or extend its credit to, or in aid of any public or other corpo- ration, association or individual.
PAY OF MEMBERS
§ 21. The members of the general assembly shall receive for their services the sum of five dollars per day, during the first session held under this constitution, and ten cents for each mile necessarily traveled in going to and returning from the seat of government, to be computed by the auditor of public accounts; and thereafter such compensation as shall be prescribed by law, and no other allowance or emolument, directly or indirectly, for any purpose whatever; except the sum of fifty dollars per session to each member, which shall be in full for postage, stationary, newspapers, and all other incidental expenses and perquisites; but no change shall be made in the compensation of members of the general assembly during the term for which they may have been elected. The pay and mileage allowed to each member of the general assembly shall be certified by the speakers of their respective houses, and entered on the journals, and published at the close of each session.
SPECIAL LEGISLATION PROHIBITED
§ 22. The general assembly shall not pass local or special laws in any of the following enumerated cases, that is to say: for— Granting divorces; Changing the names of persons or places; Laying out, opening, altering and working roads or high- ways; Vacating roads, town plats, streets, alleys and public grounds; Locating or changing county seats; Regulating county and township affairs; Regulating the practice in courts of justice; Regulating the jurisdiction and duties of justices of the peace, police magistrates, and constables; Providing for changes of venue in civil and criminal cases; Incorporating cities, towns, or villages, or changing or amending the charter of any town, city or village; Providing for the election of members of the board of super- visors in townships, incorporated towns or cities; Summoning and impaneling grand or petit juries; Providing for the management of common schools; Regulating the rate of interest on money; The opening and conducting of any election, or designating the place of voting; The sale or mortgage of real estate belonging to minors or others under disability; The protection of game or fish; Chartering or licensing ferries or toil bridges; Remitting fine, penalties or forfeitures; Creating, increasing, or decreasing fees, percentage or allow- ances of public officers, during the term for which said officers are elected or appointed; Changing the law of descent; Granting to any corporation, association or individual the right to lay down railroad tracks, or amending existing char- ters for such purpose; Granting to any corporation, association or individual any special or exclusive privilege, immunity or franchise what- ever. In all other cases where a general law can be made applicable, no special law shall be enacted.
§ 23. The general assembly shall have no power to release or extinguish, in whole or in part, the indebtedness, liability, or obligation of any corporation or individual to this State or to any municipal corporation therein.
§ 24. The house of representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment; but a majority of all the members elected must concur therein. All impeachments shall be tried by the senate; and when sitting for that purpose, the senators shall be upon oath, or affirmation, to do justice ac- cording to law and evidence. When the governor of the state is tried, the chief justice shall preside. No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the senators elected. But judgment, in such cases, shall not extend further than removal from office, and disqualification to hold any office of honor, profit or trust under the government of this State. The party, whether convicted or acquitted, shall, nevertheless, be liable to prosecution, trial, judgment and punishment according to law.
§ 25. The general assembly shall provide, by law, that the fuel, stationery, and printing paper furnished for the use of the State; the copying, printing, binding and distributing the laws and journals, and all other printing ordered by the general assembly, shall be let by contract to the lowest res- ponsible bidder; but the general assembly shall fix a maximum price; and no member thereof, or other officer of the State, shall be interested, directly or indirectly, in such contract. But all such contracts shall be subject to the approval of the governor, and if he disapproves the same there shall be a re-letting of the contract, in such manner as shall be pre- scribed by law.
§ 26. The State of Illinois shall never be made defendant in any court of law or equity.
§ 27. The general assembly shall have no power to autho- rize lotteries or gift enterprises, for any purpose, and shall pass laws to prohibit the sale of lottery or gift enterprise tickets in this State.
§ 28. No law shall be passed which shall operate to extend the term of any public officer after his election or appointment.
§ 29. It shall be the duty of the general assembly to pass such laws as may be necessary for the protection of operative miners, by providing for ventilation, when the same may be required, and the construction of escapement shafts, or such other appliances as may secure safety in all coal mines, and to provide for the enforcement of said laws by such penalties and punishments, as may be deemed proper.
§ 30. The general assembly may provide for establishing and opening roads and cartways, connected with a public road, for private and public use.
§ 31. The general assembly may pass laws permitting the owners of lands to construct drains, ditches and levees for agricultural, sanitary or mining purposes, across the lands of others, and provide for the organization of drainage districts, and vest the corporate authorities thereof, with power to construct and maintain levees, drains and ditches, and to keep in repair all drains, ditches and levees heretofore constructed under the laws of this State, by special assessments upon the property benefited thereby.
Section 31, as adopted and ratified in the constitution of 1870, reads as follows: § 31. The general assembly, may pass laws permitting the owners or occupants of lands to construct drains and ditches, for agricultural and sanitary purposes, across the lands of others. In 1877 this section was amended to read as printed above.]
§ 32. The general assembly shall pass liberal homestead and exemption laws.
§ 33. The general assembly shall not appropriate out of the State treasury, or expend on account of the new capitol grounds, and construction, completion, and furnishing of the State house, a sum exceeding, in the aggregate, three and a half mil- lions of dollars, inclusive of all appropriations heretofore made, without first submitting the proposition for an additional expenditure to the legal voters of the State, at a general election; nor unless a majority of all the votes cast at such election shall be for the proposed additional expenditure.
ARTICLE V EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT
§ 1. The executive department shall consist of a Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor of Public Accounts, Treasurer, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Attorney General, who shall, each, with the exception of the Treasurer, hold his office for the term of four years from the second Monday of January next after his election, and until his successor is elected and qualified. They shall, except the Lieutenant Governor, reside at the seat of government during their term of office, and keep the public records, books and papers there, and shall perform such duties as may be pre- scribed by law.
§ 2. The Treasurer shall hold his office for the term of two years. and until his successor is elected and qualified; and shall be ineligible to said office for two years next after the end of the term for which he was elected. He may be required by the Governor to give reasonable additional security, and in default of so doing his office shall be deemed vacant.
§ 3. An election for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State. Auditor of Public Accounts, and Attorney General, shall be held on the Tuesday next after the first Monday of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, and every four years thereafter; for Superintendent of Public Instruction on the Tuesday next after the first Monday of November, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy, and every four years thereafter; and for Treasurer on the day last above mentioned, and every two years thereafter, at such places and in such manner as may be prescribed by law.
§ 4. The returns of every election for the above named officers shall be sealed up and transmitted, by the returning officers. to the secretary of state, directed to "The Speaker of the House of Representatives," who shall, immediately after the organization of the house. and before proceeding to other business, open and publish the same in the presence of a majority of each house of the general assembly, who shall, for that purpose, assemble in the hall of the house of representatives. The person having the highest number of votes for either of said offices shall be declared duly elected; but if two or more have an equal, and the highest, number of votes, the general assem- bly shall, by joint ballot, choose one of such persons for said office. Contested elections for all of said offices shall be de- termined by both houses of the general assembly, by joint bal- lot, in such manner as may be prescribed by law.
§ 5. No person shall be eligible to the office of governor, or lieutenant governor, who shall not have attained the age of thirty years, and been, for five years next preceeding his elec- tion, a citizen of the United States and of this State. Neither the governor, lieutenant governor, auditor of public accounts, secretary of state, superintendent of public instruction nor at- torney general shall be eligible to any other office daring the period for which he shall have been elected.
§ 6. The supreme executive power shall be vested in the governor, who shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.
§ 7. The governor shall, at the commencement of each ses- sion, and at the close of his term of office, give to the general assembly information, by message, of the condition of the State, and shall recommend such measures as he shall deem expedient. He shall account to the general assembly, and ac- company his message with a statement of all moneys received and paid out by him from any funds subject to his order, with vouchers, and, at the commencement of each regular session present estimates of the amount of money required to be rais- ed by taxation for all purposes.
§ 8. The governor may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the general assembly, by proclamation, stating therein the purpose for which they are convened; and the general assembly shall enter upon no business except that for which were called together.
§ 9. In case of a disagreement between the two houses with respect to the time of adjournment, the governor may, on the same being certified to him by the house first moving the ad- journment, adjourn the general assembly to such time as he thinks proper, not beyond the first day of the next regular session.
§ 10. The governor shall nominate and, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, (a majority of all the senators elected concurring, by yeas and nays), appoint all officers whose offices are established by this constitution, or which may be created by law, and whose appointment or election is not otherwise provided for; and no such officer shall be appointed or elected by the general assembly.
§ 11. In case of a vacancy, during the recess of the senate, in any office which is not elective, the governor shall make a temporary appointment until the next meeting of the senate, when he shall nominate some person to fill such office; and any person so nominated, who is confirmed by the senate (a majority of all the senators elected concurring by yeas and nays), shall hold his office during the remainder of the term, and until his successor shall be appointed and qualified. No person, after being rejected by the senate, shall be again nominated for the same office at the same session, unless at the request of the senate, or be appointed to the same office during the recess of the general assembly.
§ 12. The governor shall have power to remove any officer whom he may appoint, in case of incompetency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office; and he may declare his office vacant, and fill the same as is herein provided in other cases of vacancy.
§ 13. The governor shall have power to grant reprieves, commutations and pardons, after conviction, for all offenses, subject to such regulations as may be provided by law relative to the manner of applying therefor.
§ 14. The governor shall be commander-in-chief of the military and naval forces of the State (except when they shall be called into the service of the United States): and may call out the same to execute the laws, suppress insurrection, and repel invasion.
§ 15. The governor, and all civil officers of this State, shall be liable to impeachment for any misdemeanor in office.
§ 16. Every bill passed by the general assembly shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the governor. If he approve, he shall sign it, and thereupon it shall become a law; but if he do not approve, he shall return it, with his ob- jections, to the house in which it shall have originated, which house shall enter the objections at large upon its journal, and proceed to reconsider the bill. If, then, two-thirds of the mem- bers elected agree to pass the same, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall like- wise be reconsidered; and if approved by two-thirds of the members elected to that house, it shall become a law, notwith- standing the objections of the governor. But in all such vases, the vote of each house shall be determined by yeas and nays, to be entered on the journal. Any bill which shall not be returned by the governor within ten days (Sundays ex- cepted) after it shall have been presented to him, shall become a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the gene- ral assembly shall, by their adjournment, prevent its return; in which case it shall be filed, with his objections, in the of- fice of the secretary of state, within ten days after such ad- journment, or become a law.
§ 17. In case of the death, conviction on impeachment, failure to qualify, resignation, absence from the state, or other disability of the governor, the powers, duties and emoluments of the office for the residue of the term, or until the disability shall be removed, shall devolve upon the lieutenant governor.
§ 18. The lieutenant governor shall be president of the senate, and shall vote only when the senate is equally divi- ded. The senate shall choose a president, pro tempore, to pre- side in case of the absence or impeachment of the lieutenant governor, or when he shall hold the office of governor.
§ 19. If there be no lieutenant governor, or if the lieutenant governor shall, for any of the causes specified in section seventeen, of this article, become incapable of performing the duties of the office, the president of the senate shall act as gov- ernor until the vacancy is filled or the disability removed; and if the president of the senate, for any of the above named causes, shall become incapable of performing the duties of governor, the same shall devolve upon the speaker of the house of representatives.
OTHER STATE OFFICERS
§ 20. If the office of auditor of public accounts, treasurer, secretary of state, attorney general, or superintendent of public instruction shall be vacated by death, resignation or other- wise, it shall be the duty of the governor to fill the same by appointment, and the appointee shall hold his office until his successor shall be elected and qualified in such manner as may be provided by law. An account shall be kept by the officers of the executive department, and of all the public institutions of the State, of all moneys received or disbursed by them, severally, from all sources, and for every service performed, and a semi-annual report thereof be made to the governor, under oath; and any officer who makes a false report shall be guilty of perjury, and punished accordingly.
§ 21. The officers of the executive department, and of all the public institutions of the State, shall, at least ten days preceding each regular session of the general assembly, severally report to the governor, who shall transmit such reports to the general assembly, together with the reports of the judges of the supreme court of defects in the constitution and laws; and the governor may at any time require information, in writing, under oath, from the officers of the executive department, and all officers and managers of state institutions, upon any subject relating to the condition, management and expenses of their respective offices.
THE SEAL OF STATE
§ 22. There shall be a seal of the State, which shall be called the "Great Seal of the State of Illinois," which shall be kept by the secretary of state, and used by him, officially, as direct- ed by law.
FEES AND SALARIES
§ 23. The officers named in this article shall receive for their services a salary, to be established by law, which shall not be increased or diminished during their official terms, and they shall not, after the expiration of the terms of those in office at the adoption of this constitution, receive to their own use any fees, costs, perquisites of office, or other compensation. And all fees that may hereafter be payable by law for any services performed by any officer provided for in this article of the constitution, shall be paid in advance into the state treasury.
DEFINITION AND OATH OF OFFICE
§ 24. An office is a public position created by the constitution or law, continuing daring the pleasure of the appointing power, or for a fixed time, with a successor elected or appointed. An employment is an agency, for a temporary purpose, which ceases when that purpose is accomplished.
§ 25. All civil officers, except members of the general assembly and such inferior officers as may be by law exempted, shall, before they enter on the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation: "I do solemnly swear or affirm, as the case may be) that I will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the State of Illinois, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of — according to the best of my ability." And no other oath, declaration or test shall be required as a qualification.
ARTICLE VI JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
§ 1. The judicial powers, except as in this article is other- wise provided, shall be vested in one supreme Court, circuit courts, county courts, justices of the peace, police magistrates, and in such courts as may be created by law in and for cities and incorporated towns.
§ 2. The supreme court shall consist of seven judges, and shall have original jurisdiction in cases relating to the revenue, in mandamus, and habeas corpus, and appellate jurisdiction in all other cases. One of said judges shall be chief justice; four shall constitute a quorum, and the concurrence of four shall be necessary to every decision.
§ 3. No person shall be eligible to the office of judge of the supreme court unless he shall be at least thirty years of age, and a citizen of the United States, nor unless he shall have resided in this State five years next preceding his election, and be a resident of the district in which he shall be elected.
§ 4. Terms of the supreme court shall continue to be held in the present grand divisions at the several places now pro- vided for holding the same; and until otherwise provided by law, one or more terms of said court shall be held, for the northern division, in the city of Chicago, each year, at such times as said court may appoint, whenever said city or the county of Cook shall provide appropriate rooms therefor, and the use of a suitable library, without expense to the State. The judicial divisions may be altered, increased or diminished in number, and the times and places of holding said court may be changed by law.
§ 5. The present grand divisions shall be preserved, and be denominated Southern, Central and Northern, until otherwise provided by law. The State shall be divided into seven districts for the election of judges, and until otherwise provided by law, they shall be as follows
First District. - The counties of St. Clair, Clinton, Washington, Jefferson, Wayne, Edwards, Wabash, White, Hamil- ton, Franklin, Perry, Randolph, Monroe, Jackson, Williamson, Saline, Gallatin, Hardin, Pope, Union, Johnson, Alexander, Pulaski and Massac.
Second District.—The counties of Madison, Bond, Marion, Clay, Richland, Lawrence, Crawford, Jasper, Effingham, Fayette, Montgomery, Macoupin, Shelby, Cumberland, Clark, Greene, Jersey, Calhoun and Christian.
Third District—The counties of Sangamon, Macon, Logan, DeWitt, Piatt, Douglas, Champaign, Vermilion, McLean, Livingston, Ford, Iroquois, Coles, Edgar, Moultrie and Taze- well.
Fourth District.—The counties of Fulton, McDonough, Hancock, Schuyler, Brown, Adams, Pike, Mason, Menard, Morgan, Cass and Scott.
Fifth District.—The counties of Knox, Warren, Henderson, Mercer, Henry, Stark, Peoria, Marshall, Putnam, Bureau, LaSalle, Grundy and Woodford.
Sixth District.—The counties of Whiteside, Carroll, Jo Daviess, Stephenson, Winnebago, Boone, McHenry, Kane, Kendall, DeKalb, Lee, Ogle and Rock Island.
Seventh District —The counties of Lake, Cook, Will, Kankakee and DuPage.
The boundaries of the districts may be changed at the session of the general assembly next preceding the election for judges herein, and at no other time; but whenever such alterations shall be made, the same shall be upon the rule of equality of population, as nearly as county boundaries will allow, and the districts shall be composed of contiguous counties, in as nearly compact form as circumstances will permit. The alteration of the districts shall not affect the tenure of office of any judge.
§ 6. At the time of voting on the adoption of this constitution, one judge of the supreme court shall be elected by the electors thereof, in each of said districts numbered two, three, six, and seven, who shall hold his office for the term of nine years from the first Monday of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy. The term of office of judges of the supreme court, elected after the adoption of this constitution, shall be nine years; and on the first Monday of June of the year in which the term of any of the judges in office at the adoption of this constitution, or of the judges then elected, shall expire, and every nine years thereafter, there shall be an election for the successor or successors of' such judges, in the respective districts wherein the term of such judges shall expire. The chief justice shall continue to act as such until the expiration of the term for which he was elected, after which the judges shall choose one of their number chief justice.
§ 7. From and after the adoption of this constitution, the judges of the supreme court shall each receive a salary of four thousand dollars per annum, payable quarterly, until otherwise provided by law. And after said salaries shall be fixed by law, the salaries of the judges in office shall not be increased or diminished during the terms for which said judges shall have been elected.
§ 8. Appeals and writs of error may be taken to the supreme court, held in the grand division in which the case is decided, or, by consent of the parties, to any other grand division.
§ 9. The supreme court shall appoint one reporter of its decisions, who shall hold his office for six years, subject. to removal by the court.
§ 10. At the time of the election for representatives in the general assembly, happening next preceding the expiration of the terms of office of the present clerks of said court, one clerk of said court, for each division shall be elec- ted, whose term of office shall be six years from said election, but who shall not enter upon the duties of his office until the expiration of the term of his predecessor, and every six years thereafter, one clerk of said court for each division shall be elected.
§ 11. After the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, inferior appellate courts, of uni- form organization and jurisdiction, may be created in districts formed for that purpose, to which such appeals and writs of error as the general assembly may provide, may be prosecuted from circuit and other courts, and from which appeals and writs of error shall lie to the supreme court, in all criminal cases, and cases in which a franchise, or freehold, or the validity of a statute is involved, and in such other cases as may be provided by law. Such appellate courts shall be held by such number of judges of the circuit courts, and at such times and places, and in such manner, as may be provided by law; but no judge shall sit in review up- on cases decided by him; nor shall said judges receive any additional compensation for such services.
§ 12. The circuit courts shall have original jurisdiction of all causes in law and equity, and such appellate jurisdiction as is or may be provided by law, and shall hold two or more terms each year in every county. The terms of office of judges of circuit courts shall be six years.
§ 13. The State, exclusive of the county of Cook and other counties having a population of one hundred thousand, shall be divided into judicial circuits, prior to the expiration of the terms of office of the present judges of the circuit courts. Such circuits shall be formed of contiguous counties, in as nearly compact form and as nearly equal as circumstances will permit, having due regard to business, territory and population, and shall not exceed in number one circuit for every one hundred thousand of population in the State. One judge shall be elected for each of said circuits by the electors thereof. New circuits may be formed and the boundaries of circuits changed by the general assembly, at its session next preceding the election for circuit judges, but at no other time: Provided, that the circuits may be equalized or changed at the first session of the general assembly, after the adoption of this constitution. The creation, alteration or change of any circuit shall not affect the tenure of office of any judge. Whenever the business of the circuit court of any one, or of two or more contiguous counties, containing a population exceeding fifty thousand, shall occupy nine months of the year, the general assembly may make of such conuty, or counties, a separate circuit. Whenever additional circuits are created, the foregoing limitations shall be observed.
§ 14. The general assembly shall provide for the times of holding court in each county; which shall not be changed, except by the general assembly next preceding the general election for judges of said courts; but additional terms may be provided for in any county. The election for judges of the circuit courts shall be held on the first Monday in June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy three, and every six years thereafter.
§ 15. The general assembly may divide the State into judicial circuits of greater population and territory, in lieu of the circuits provided for in section thirteen of this article, and provide for the election therein, severally, by the electors there- of, by general ticket, of riot exceeding four judges, who shall hold the circuit courts in the circuit for which they shall be elected, in such manner as may be provided by law.
§ 16. From and after the adoption of this constitution, judges of the circuit courts shall receive a salary of three thousand dollars per annum, payable quarterly, until otherwise provided by law, and after their salaries shall be fixed by law, they shall not be increased or diminished during the terms for which said judges shall be, respectively, elected; and from and after the adoption of this constitution, no judge of the supreme or circuit court shall receive any other compensation, perquisite or benefit, in any-form whatsoever, nor perform any other than judicial duties to which may belong any emoluments.
§ 17. No person shall be eligible to the office of judge of the circuit or any inferior court, or to membership in the "board of county commissioners," unless he shall be at least twenty-five years of age, and a citizen of the United States, nor unless he shall have resided in this State five years next pre- ceding his election, and he a resident of the circuit, county, city, cities, or incorporated town in which he shall be elected.
§ 18. There shall be elected in and for each county, one county judge and one clerk of the county court, whose terms of office shall be four years. But the general assembly may create districts of two or more contiguous counties, in each of which shall be elected one judge, who shall take the place of, and exercise the powers and jurisdiction of county judges in such districts. County courts shall be courts of record, and shall have original jurisdiction in all matters of probate; settlement of estates of deceased persons; appointment of guardians and conservators, and settlements of their accounts; in all matters relating to apprentices; and in proceedings for the collection of taxes and assessments, and such other jurisdiction as may be provided for by general law.
§ 19. Appeals and writs of error shall be allowed from final determinations of county courts, as may be provided by law.
§ 20. The general assembly may provide for the establishment of a probate court in each county having a population of over fifty thousand, and for the election of a judge thereof, whose term of office shall be the same as that of the county judge, and who shall be elected at the same time and in the same manner. Said courts, when established, shall have original jurisdiction of all probate matters, the settlement of estates of deceased persons, the appointment of guardians and con- servators, and settlements of their accounts; in all matters relating to apprentices and in cases of the sales of real estate of deceased persons for the payment of debts.
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE AND CONSTABLES
§ 21. Justices of the peace, police magistrates, and con- stables shall be elected in and for such districts as are, or may be, provided by law, and the jurisdiction of such justices of the peace and police magistrates shall be uniform.
§ 22. At the election for members of the general assembly in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, and every four years thereafter, there shall be elected a State's attorney in and for each county, in lieu of the State's attorneys now provided by law, whose term of office shall be four years.
COURTS OF COOK COUNTY
§ 23. The county of Cook shall be one judicial circuit. The circuit court of Cook county shall consist of five judges, until their number shall be increased, as herein provided. The present judge of the recorder's court of the city of Chicago, and the present judge of the circuit court of Cook county, shall be two of said judges, and shall remain in office for the terms for which they were respectively elected, and until their successors shall be elected and qualified. The superior court of Chicago shall be continued, and called the superior court of Cook county. The general assembly may increase the number of said judges, by adding one to either of said courts for every additional fifty thousand inhabitants in said county, over and above a population of four hundred thousand. The terms of office of the judges of said courts here-after elected, shall be six years.
§ 24. The judge having the shortest unexpired term shall be chief justice of the court of which he is a judge. In case there are two or more whose terms expire at the same time, it may be determined by lot which shall be chief justice. Any judge of either of said courts shall have all the powers of a circuit judge, and may hold the court of which he is a member. Each of them may hold a different branch thereof at the same time.
§ 25. The judges of the superior and circuit courts, and the State's attorney, in said county, shall receive the same salaries, payable out of the State treasury, as is or may be paid from said treasury to the circuit judges and State's attorneys of the State, and such further compensation, to be paid by the county of Cook, as is or may be provided by law; such compensation shall not be changed during their continuance in office.
§ 26. The recorder's court of the city of Chicago shall be continued, and shall be called the "criminal court of Cook county." It shall have the jurisdiction of a circuit court, in all cases of criminal and quasi criminal nature, arising in the county of Cook, or that may be brought before said court pursuant to law; and all recognizances and appeals taken in said county, in criminal and quasi criminal cases shall he re-returnable and taken to said court. It shall have no jurisdiction in civil cases, except in those on behalf of the people, and incident to such criminal or quasi criminal matters, and to dispose of unfinished business. The terms of said criminal court of Cook county shall be held by one or more of the judges of the circuit or superior court of Cook county, as nearly as may be in alternation, as may be determined by said judges, or provided by law. Said judges shall be ex-offlcio judges of said court.
§ 27. The present clerk of the recorder's court of the city of Chicago, shall be the clerk of the criminal court of Cook county, during the term for which he was elected. The present clerks of the superior court of Chicago, and the present clerk of the circuit court of Cook county, shall continue in office during the terms for which they were respectively elected; and thereafter there shall be but one clerk of the superior court, to be elected by the qualified electors of said county, who shall hold his office for the term of four years, and until his successor is elected and qualified.
§ 28. All justices of the peace in the city of Chicago shall be appointed by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, (but only upon the recommendation of a majority of the judges of the circuit, superior and county courts,) and for such districts as are now or shall hereafter be provided by law. They shall hold their offices for four years, and until their successors have been commissioned and quali- fied, but they may be removed by summary proceeding in the circuit or superior court, for extortion or other malfea- sance. Existing justices of the peace and police magistrates may hold their offices until the expiration of their respective terms.
§ 29. All judicial officers shall be commissioned by the governor. All laws relating to courts shall be general. and of uniform operation; and the organization, jurisdiction, powers, proceedings and practice of all courts, of the same class or grade, so far as regulated by law, and the force and effect of the process, judgments and decrees of such courts, severally, shall be uniform.
§ 30. The general assembly may, for cause entered on the journals, upon due notice and opportunity of defense, remove from office any judge, upon concurrence of three-fourths of all the members elected, of each house. All other officers in this article mentioned, shall be removed from office on prosecution and final conviction, for misdemeanor in office.
§ 31. All judges of courts of record, inferior to the supreme court, shall, on or before the first day of June, of each year, report in writing to the judges of the supreme court, such defects and omissions in the laws as their experience may suggest; and the judges of the supreme court shall, on or before the first day of January, of each year, report in writing to the governor such defects and omissions in the constitution and laws as they may find to exist, together with appropriate forms of bills to cure such defects and omissions in the laws. And the judges of the several circuit courts shall report to the next general assembly the number of days they have held court, in the several counties composing their res- pective circuits, the preceding two years.
§ 32. All officers provided for in this article shall hold their offices until their successors shall be qualified, and they shall, respectively, reside in the division, circuit, county or district for which they may be elected or appointed. The terms of office of all such officers, where not otherwise prescribed in this article, shall be four years. All officers, there not otherwise provided for in this article, shall perform such duties and receive such compensation as is, or may be, provided by law. Vacancies in such elective offices shall be filled by election but where the unexpired term does not ex- ceed one year, the vacancy shall be filled by appointment, as follows: Of judges, by the governor; of clerks of courts, by the court to which the office appertains, or by the judge or judges thereof; and of all such other offices, by the board of supervisors, or board of county commissioners, in the county where the vacancy occurs.
§ 33. All process shall run; in the name of the people of the State of Illinois; and all prosecutions shall be carried on; in the name and by the authority of the People of the State of Illinois; and conclude; Against the peace and dignity of the same. "Population," wherever used in this article, shall be determined by the next preceding census of this State, or of the United States.
ARTICLE VII SUFFRAGE
§ 1. Every person having resided in this State one year, in the county ninety days, and in the election district thirty days next preceding any election therein, who was an elector in this State on the first day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, or obtained a certificate of naturalization, before any court of record in this state, prior to the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy, or who shall be a male citizen of the United States, above the age of twenty-one years, shall be entitled to vote at such election.
§ 2. All votes shall be by ballot.
§ 3. Electors shall, in all cases except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at elections, and in going to and returning from the same. And no elector shall be obliged to do military duty on the days of election, except in time of war or public danger.
§ 4. No elector shall be deemed to have lost his residence in this state by reason of his absence on the business of the United States, or of this state, or in the military or naval service of the United States.
§ 5. No soldier, seaman or marine in the army or navy of the United States, shall be deemed a resident of this State in consequence of being stationed therein.
§ 6. No person shall be elected or appointed to any office in this State, civil or military, who is not a citizen of the United States, and who shall not have resided in this State one year next preceding the election or appointment.
§ 7. The general assembly shall pass laws excluding from the right of suffrage persons convicted of infamous crimes.
ARTICLE VIII EDUCATION
§ 1. The general assembly shall provide a thorough and efficient system of free schools, whereby all children of this State may receive a good common school education.
§ 2. All lands, moneys, or other property, donated, grant- ed or received for school, college, seminary or university purposes, and the proceeds thereof, shall be faithfully applied to the objects for which such gifts or grants were made.
§ 3. Neither the general assembly nor any county, city, town, township, school district, or other public corporation, shall ever make any appropriation or pay from any public fund whatever, anything in aid of any church or sectarian purpose, to help support or sustain any school, academy, seminary, college, university, or other literary or scientific institution, controlled by any church or sectarian denomination whatever; nor shall any grant or donation of land, money, or other personal property ever be made by the state, or any such public corporation, to any church, or for any sectarian purpose.
§ 4. No teacher, state, county, township, or district school officer shall be interested in the sale, proceeds or profits of any book, apparatus or furniture, used or to be used, in any school in this State, with which such officer or teacher may be con- nected, under such penalties as may be provided by the general assembly.
§ 5. There may be a county superintendent of schools in each county whose qualifications, powers, duties, compensation, and time and manner of election, and term of office, shall be prescribed by law.
ARTICLE IX REVENUE
§ 1. The general assembly shall provide such revenue as may be needful by levying a tax, by valuation, so that every person and corporation shall pay a tax in proportion to the value of his, her, or its property——such value to be ascertained by some person or persons, to be elected or appointed in such manner as the general assembly shall direct, and not otherwise; but the general assembly shall have power to tax pedlers, auction- eers, brokers, hawkers, merchants, commission merchants, showmen, jugglers, inn-keepers, grocery-keepers, liquor-deal- ers, toll-bridges, ferries, insurance, telegraph and express inter- ests or business, venders of patents, and persons or corpora- tions owning or using franchises and privileges, in such man- ner as it shall, from time to time, direct by general law, uni- form as to the class upon which it operates.
§ 2. The specification of the objects and subjects of taxa- tion shall not deprive the general assembly of the power to require other subjects or objects to be taxed, in such manner as may be consistent with the principles of taxation fixed in this constitution.
§ 3. The property of the state, counties, and other municipal corporations, both real and personal, and such other property, as may be used exclusively for agricultural and horticultural societies, for school, religion, cemetery and charitable purposes, may be exempted from taxation: but such exemption shall be only by general law. In the assessment of real estate incumbered by public easement, any depreciation occasioned by such easement may be deducted in the valuation of such property.
§ 4. The general assembly shall provide, in all cases where it may be necessary to sell real estate for the non-payment of taxes or special assessments, for state, county, municipal, or other purposes, that a return of such unpaid taxes or assess ments shall be made to some general officer, of the county, having authority to receive state and county taxes; and there shall be no sale of said property for any of said taxes or assessments but by said officer, upon the order or judgment of some court of record.
§ 5. The right of redemption from all sales of real estate, for the non-payment of taxes or special assessments of any character, whatever, shall exist in favor of owners and persons interested in such real estate, for a period of not less than two years from such sales thereof And the general assembly shall provide, by law, for reasonable notice to be given to the owners or parties interested, by publication or otherwise, of the fact of the sale of the property for such taxes or assessments, and when the time of redemption shall expire: Provided, that occupants shall in all cases be served with personal notice be- fore the time of redemption expires.
§ 6. The general assembly shall have no power to release or discharge any county, city, township, town or district, what- ever, or the inhabitants thereof, or the property therein, from their or its proportionate share of taxes to be levied for state purposes, nor shall commutation for such taxes be authorized in any form whatsoever.
§ 7. All taxes levied for state purposes shall be paid into the state treasury.
§ 8. County authorities shall never assess taxes, the aggregate of which shall exceed seventy-five cents per one hundred dollars valuation, except for the payment of indebtedness existing at the adoption of this constitution, unless authorized by a vote of the people of the county.
§ 9. The general assembly may vest the corporate authorities of cities, towns, and villages, with power to make local improvements by special assessment or by special taxation of contiguous property, or otherwise. For all other corporate purposes, all municipal corporations may be vested with authority to assess and collect taxes; but such taxes shall be uniform in respect to persons and property, within the jurisdiction of the body imposing the same.
§ 10. The general assembly shall not impose taxes upon municipal corporations, or the inhabitants or property thereof, for corporate purposes, but shall require that all the taxable property within the limits of municipal corporations shall be taxed for the payment of debts contracted under authority of law, such taxes to be uniform in respect to persons and property, within the jurisdiction of the body imposing the same. Private property shall not be liable to be taken or sold for the payment of the corporate debts of a municipal corporation.
§ 11. No person who is in default, as collector or custodian of money or property belonging to a municipal corporation shall be eligible to any office in or under such corporation. The fees, salary or compensation of no municipal officer who is elected or appointed for a definite term of office, shall be in- creased or diminished during such term.
§ 12. No county, city, township, school district, or other municipal corporation, shall be allowed to become indebted in any manner or for any purpose, to an amount, including existing indebtedness, in the aggregate exceeding five per centum on the value of the taxable property therein, to be ascertained by the last assessment for state and county taxes, previous to the incurring of such indebtedness. Any county, city, school district, or other municipal corporation, incurring any indebtedness as aforesaid, shall before, or at the time of doing so, provide for the collection of a direct annual tax sufficient to pay the interest on such debt, as it falls due, and also to pay and discharge the principal thereof within twenty years from the tune of contracting the same. This section shall not be construed to prevent any county, city, township, school district, or other municipal corporation, from issuing their bonds in compliance with any vote of the people which may have been had prior to the adoption of this constitution in pursuance of any law providing therefor.
ARTICLE X COUNTIES
§ 1. No new county shall be formed or established by the general assembly, which will reduce the county or counties, or either of them, from which it shall be taken, to less contents than four hundred square miles; nor shall any county be formed of less contents; nor shall any line thereof pass within less than ten miles of any county seat of the county or counties proposed to be divided.
§ 2. No county shall be divided, or have any part stricken therefrom, without submitting the question to a vote of the people of the county, nor unless a majority of all the legal voters of the county, voting on the question, shall vote for the same.
§ 3. There shall be no territory stricken from any county. unless a majority of the voters living in such territory, shall petition for such division; and no territory shall be added to any county without the consent of the majority of the voters of the county to which it is proposed to be added. But the portion so stricken off and added to another county, or formed in whole or in part into a new county, shall beholden for, and obliged to pay its proportion of the indebtedness of the county from which it has been taken.
§ 4. No county seat shall be removed until the point to which it is proposed to be removed shall be fixed in pursuance of law, and three-fifths of the voters of the county, to be ascertained in such manner as shall be provided by general law, shall have voted in favor of its removal to such point; and no person shall vote on such question who has not resided in the county six months, and in the election precinct ninety days next preceding such election. The question of the removal of a county seat shall not be oftener submitted than once in ten years, to a vote of the people. But when an attempt is made to remove a county seat to a point nearer to the centre of a county, then a majority vote only shall be necessary.
§ 5. The general assembly shall provide, by general law, for township organization, under which any county may organize whenever a majority of the legal voters of such county, voting at any general election, shall so determine, and when-ever any county shall adopt township organization, so much of this constitution as provides for the management of the fiscal concerns of the said county by the board of county com- missioners, may be dispensed with, and the affairs of said county may be transacted in such manner as the general assembly may provide. And in any county that shall have adopted a township organization, the question of continuing the same may be submitted to a vote of the electors of such county, at a general election, in the manner that now is or may be provided by law; and if a majority of all the votes cast upon that question shall be against township organization, then such organization shall cease in said county; and all laws in force in relation to counties not having township organ- ization, shall immediately take effect and be in force in such county. No two townships shall have the same name, and the day of holding the annual township meeting shall be uni- form throughout the State.
§ 6. At the first election of county judges under this constitution, there shall be elected in each of the counties in this State, not nuder township organization, three officers, who shall be styled "The board of county commissioners," who shall hold sessions for the transaction of county business as shall be provided by law. One of said commissioners shall hold his office for one year, one for two years, and one for three years, to be determined by lot; and every year thereafter one such officer shall be elected in each of said counties for the term of three years.
§ 7. The county affairs of Cook county shall be managed by a board of commissioners of fifteen persons, ten of whom shall be elected from the city of Chicago, and five from towns outside of said city, in such manner as may be provided by law.
COUNTY OFFICERS AND THEIR COMPENSATION
§ 8. In each county there shall be elected the following county officers: County judge, sheriff, county clerk, clerk of the circuit court, (who may be ex-officio recorder of deeds, except in counties having sixty thousand and more inhabitants, in which counties a recorder of deeds shall be elected at the general election in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two), treasurer, surveyor and coroner, each of whom shall enter upon the duties of his office, respectively, on the first Monday of December after their election; and they shall hold their respective offices for the term of four years, except the treasurer, sheriff and coroner, who shall hold their offices for two years, and until their successors shall be elected and qualified.
§ 9. The clerks of all the courts of record, the treasurer, sheriff, coroner and recorder of deeds of Cook county, shall receive as their only compensation for their services, salaries to be fixed by law, which shall in no case be as much as the lawful com- pensation of a judge of the circuit court of said county, and shall be paid, respectively, only out of the fees of the office actually collected. All fees, perquisites and emoluments (above the amount of said salaries) shall be paid into the county treasury. The number of the deputies and assistants of such offi- cers shall be determined by rule of the circuit court, to be entered of record, and their compensation shall be determined by the county board.
§ 10. The county board, except as provided in section nine of this article, shall fix the compensation of all county officers, with the amount of their necessary clerk hire, stationery, fuel and other expenses, and in all cases where fees are provided for, said compensation shall be paid only out of, and shall in no instance exceed, the fees actually collected; they shall not allow either of them more per annum than fifteen hundred hundred dollars, in counties not exceeding twenty thousand inhabitants; two thousand dollars, in counties containing twenty thousand and not exceeding thirty thousand inhabitants; twenty-five hundred dollars, in counties containing thirty thousand and not exceeding fifty thousand inhabitants; three thousand dollars, in counties containing fifty thousand and not exceeding seventy thousand inhabitants; thirty- five hundred dollars, in counties containing seventy thousand and not exceeding one hundred thousand inhabitants; and four thousand dollars, in counties containing over one hundred thousand and not exceeding two hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants; and not more than one thousand dollars additional compensation for each additional one hundred thousand inhabitants: Provided, that the compensation of no officer shall be increased or diminished during his term of office. All fees or allowances by them received, in excess of their said com- pensation, shall be paid into the county treasury.
§ 11. The fees of township officers, and of each class of county officers, shall be uniform in the class of counties to which they respectively belong. The compensation herein pro- vided for shall apply only to officers hereafter elected, but all fees established by special laws shall cease at the adoption of this constitution, and such officers shall receive only such fees as are provided by general law.
§ 12. All laws fixing the fees of state, county and township officers shall terminate with the terms, respectively, of those who may be in office at the meeting of the first general assembly after the adoption of this constitution; and the general assembly shall, by general law, uniform in its operation, provide for and regulate the fees of said officers and their successors, so as to reduce the same to a reasonable compensation for services actually rendered. But the general assembly may, by general law, classify the counties by population into not more than three classes, and regulate the fees according to class. This article shall not be construed as depriving the general assembly of the power to reduce the fees of existing officers.
§ 13. Every person who is elected or appointed to any office in this State, who shall be paid in whole or in part by fees, shall be required by law to make a semi-annual report, under oath, to some officer to be designated by law, of all his fees and emoluments.
ARTICLE XI CORPORATIONS
§ 1. No corporation shall be created by special laws, or its charter extended, changed, or amended, except those for charitable, educational, penal or reformatory purposes, which are to be and remain under the patronage and control of the State, but the general assembly shall provide, by general laws, for the organization of all corporations hereafter to be created.
§ 2. All existing charters or grants of special or exclusive privileges, under which organization shall not have taken place, or which shall not have been in operation within ten days from the time this constitution takes effect, shall there- after have no validity or effect whatever.
§ 3. The general assembly shall provide, by law, that in all elections for directors or managers of incorporated companies, every stockholder shall have the right to vote, in person or by proxy, for the number of shares of stock owned by him, for as many persons as there are directors or managers to be elected, or to cumulate said shares, and give one candidate as many votes as the number of directors multiplied by the number of his shares of stock, shall equal, or to distribute them on the same principle among as many candidates as he shall think fit; and such directors or managers shall not be elected in any other manner.
§ 4. No law shall be passed by the general assembly, granting the right to construct and operate a street railroad within any city, town, or incorporated village, without requiring the consent of the local authorities having the control of the street or highway proposed to be occupied by such street railroad.
§ 5. No State bank shall hereafter be created, nor shall the State own or be liable for any stock in any corporation or joint stock company or association for banking purposes, now created, or to be hereafter created. No act of the general assembly authorizing or creating corporations or associations, with banking powers, whether of issue, deposit or discount, nor amendments thereto, shall go into effect or in any manner be in force, unless the same shall be submitted to a vote of the people at the general election next succeeding the passage of the same, and be approved by a majority of all the votes cast at such election for or against such law.
§ 6. Every stockholder in a banking corporation or insti- tion shall be individually responsible and liable to its creditors, over and above the amount of stock by him or her held, to an amount equal to his or her respective shares so held, for all its liabilities accruing while he or she remains such stockholder.
§ 7. The suspension of specie payments by banking institutions, on their circulation, created by the laws of this State, shall never be permitted or sanctioned. Every banking association now, or which may hereafter be, organized under the laws of this State, shall make and publish a full and accurate quarterly statement of its affairs, (which shall be certified to, under oath, by one or more of its officers) as may be provided by law.
§ 8. If a general banking law shall be enacted, it shall provide for the registry and countersigning, by an officer of state, of all bills or paper credit, designed to circulate as money, and require security, to the full amount thereof, to be de- posited with the state treasurer, in United States or Illinois State stocks, to be rated at ten per cent. below their par value; and in case of a depreciation of said stocks to the amount of ten per cent. be]ow par, the bank or banks owning said stocks shall be required to make up said deficiency, by depositing additional stocks. And said law shall also provide for the recording of the names of all stockholders in such corporations, the amount of stock held by each, the time of any transfer thereof, and to whom such transfer is made.
§ 9. Every railroad corporation organized or doing business in this State, under the laws or authority thereof, shall have and maintain a public office or place in this State for the transaction of its business, where transfers of stock shall be made and in which shall be kept, for public inspection, books, in which shall be recorded the amount of capital stock sub scribed, and by whom; the names of the owners of its stock, and the amounts owned by them respectively; the amount of stock paid in, and by whom; the transfers of said stock; the amount of its assets and liabilities, and the names and place of residence of its officers. The directors of every railroad corporation shall, annually, make a report, under oath, to the auditor of public accounts, or some officer to be designated by law, of all their acts and doings, which report shall include such matters relating to railroads as may be prescribed by law. And the general assembly shall pass laws enforcing by suitable penalties the provisions of this section.
§ 10. The rolling stock, and all other movable property belonging to any railroad company or corporation in this State, shall be considered personal property, and shall be liable to execution and sale in the same manner as the personal property of individuals, and the general assembly shall pass no law exempting any such property from execution and sale.
§ 11. No railroad corporation shall consolidate its stock, property or franchises with any other railroad corporation owning a parallel or competing line; and in no case shall any consolidation take place except upon public notice given, of at least sixty days, to all stock holders, in such manner as may be provided by law. A majority of the directors of any rail- road corporation, now incorporated or hereafter to be incorporated by the laws of this State, shall be citizens and resi- dents of this State.
§ 12. Railways heretofore constructed or that may hereafter be constructed in this State are hereby declared public highways, and shall be free to all persons. for the transportation of their persons and property thereon, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law. And the general assembly shall, from time to tune, pass laws establishing reasonable maximum rates of charges for the transportation of passengers and freight on the different railroads in this State.
§ 13. No railroad corporation shall issue any stock or bonds, except for money, labor or property, actually received, and applied to the purposes for which such corporation was created; and all stock dividends, and other fictitious increase of the capital stock or indebtedness of any such corporation, shall be void. The capital stock of no railroad corporation shall be increased for any purpose, except upon giving sixty days public notice,in such manner as may be provided by law.
§ 14. The exercise of the power, and the right of eminent domain shall never be so construed or abridged as to prevent the taking, by the general assembly, of the property and franchises of incorporated companies already organized, and subjecting them to the public necessity the same as of individuals. The right of trial by jury shall be held inviolate in all trials of claim for compensation, when, in the exercise of the said right of eminent domain, any incorporated company shall be interested either for or against the exercise of said right.
§ 15. The general assembly shall pass laws to correct abuses and prevent unjust discrimination and extortion in the rates of freight and passenger tariffs on the different railroads in this State, and enforce such laws, by adequate penalties, to the extent, if necessary for that purpose, of forfeiture of their property and franchises.
ARTICLE XII MILITIA
§ 1. The militia of the State of Illinois shall consist of all able bodied male persons, resident in the State, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, except such persons as now are, or hereafter may be, exempted by the laws of the United States, or of this State.
§ 2. The general assembly, in providing for the organization, equipment and discipline of the militia, shall conform as nearly as practicable to the regulations for the government of the armies of the United States.
§ 3. All militia officers shall be commissioned by the governor, and may hold their commissions for such time as the general assembly may provide.
§ 4. The militia shall, in all cases, except treason, felony or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at musters and elections, and in going to and returning from the same.
§ 5. The military records, banners and relics of the State, shall be preserved as an enduring memorial of the patriotism and valor of Illinois, and it shall be the duty of the general assembly to provide by law for the safe-keeping of the same.
§ 6. No person having conscientious scruples against bearing arms, shall he compelled to do militia duty in time of peace: Provided, such person shall pay an equivalent for such exemption.
ARTICLE XIII WAREHOUSES
§ 1. All elevators or storehouses where grain or other property is stored for a compensation, whether the property stored be kept separate or not, are declared to be public warehouses.
§ 2. The owner, lessee or manager of each and every public warehouse situated in any town or city of not less than one hundred thousand inhabitants, shall make weekly statements under oath, before some officer to be designated by law, and keep the same posted in some conspicuous place in the office of such warehouse, and shall also file a copy for public examination in such place as shall be designated by law, which statement shall correctly set forth the amount and grade of each and every kind of grain in such warehouse, together with such other property as may be stored therein, and what warehouse receipts have been issued, and are, at the time of making such statement, outstanding therefor; and shall, on the copy posted in the warehouse, note daily such changes as may be made in the quantity and grade of grain in such warehouse; and the different grades of grain shipped in separate lots, shall not be mixed with inferior or superior grades, without the consent of the owner or consignee thereof.
§ 3. The owners of property stored in any warehouse, or holder of a receipt for the same, shall always be at liberty to examine such property stored, and all the books and records of the warehouse in regard to such property.
§ 4. All railroad companies and other common carriers on railroads shall weigh or measure grain at points where it is shipped, and receipt for the full amount, and shall be responsible for the delivery of such amount to the owner or consignee thereof, at the place of destination.
§ 5. All railroad companies receiving and transporting grain in bulk or otherwise, shall deliver the same to any consignee thereof, or any elevator or public warehouse to which it may be consigned, provided such consignee or the elevator or public warehouse can be reached by any track owned, leased or used, or which can be used, by such railroad companies; and all railroad companies shall permit connections to be made with their track, so that any such consignee, and any public warehouse, coal bank or coal yard, may be reached by the cars on said railroad.
§ 6. It shall be the duty of the general assembly to pass all necessary laws to prevent the issue of false and fraudulent warehouse receipts, and to give full effect to this article of the constitution, which shall be liberally construed so as to protect producers and shippers. And the enumeration of the remedies herein named shall not be construed to deny to the general assembly the power to prescribe by law such other and further remedies as may be found expedient, or to deprive any person of existing common law remedies.
§ 7. The general assembly shall pass laws for the inspection of grain, for the protection of producers, shippers and receivers of grain and produce.
ARTICLE XIV AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION
§ 1. Whenever two-thirds of the members of each house of the general assembly shall, by a vote entered upon the journals thereof, concur that a convention is necessary to revise, alter or amend the constitution, the question shall be submitted to the electors at the next general election. If a majority voting at the election vote for a convention, the general assembly shall, at the next session provide for a convention, to consist of double the number of members of the senate, to be elected in the same manner, at the same places, and in the same districts. The general assembly shall, in the act calling the convention, designate the day, hour and place of its meeting, fix the pay of its members and officers, and provide for the payment of the same, together with the expenses necessarily incurred by the convention in the performance of its duties. Before proceeding. the members shall take an oath to support the constitution of the United States, and of the state of Illinois, and to faithfully discharge their duties as members of the convention. The qualification of members shall be the same as that of members or the senate, and vacancies occurring shall be filled in the manner provided for filling vacancies in the general assembly. Said convention shall meet within three months after such election and prepare such revision, alteration or amendments of the constitution as shall be deemed necessary, which shall be submitted to the electors for their ratification or rejection, at an election appointed by the convention for that purpose, not less than two nor more than six months after the adjournment thereof; and unless so submitted and approved, by a majority of the electors voting at the election, no such revision, alterations or amendments shall take effect.
§ 2. Amendments to this constitution may be proposed in either house of the general assembly, and if the same shall be voted for by two-thirds of all the members elected to each of the two houses, such proposed amendments, together with the yeas and nays of each house thereon, shall be entered in full on their respective journals, and said amendments shall be submitted to the electors of this state for adoption or rejection, at the next election of members of the general assembly, in such manner as may be prescribed by law. The proposed amendments shall be published in full at least three months preceding the election, and if a majority of the electors voting at said election shall vote for the proposed amendments, they shall become a part of this constitution. But the general assembly shall have no power to propose amendments to more than one article of this constitution at the same session, nor to the same article oftener than once in four years.
SECTIONS SEPARATELY SUBMITTED
ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD
No contract, obligation or liability whatever, of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, to pay any money into the state treasury, nor any lien of the state upon, or right to tax prop- erty of said company, in accordance with the provisions of the charter of said company. approved February tenth, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, shall ever be released, suspended, modified, altered, remitted, or in any manner diminished or impaired by legislative or other authority; and all moneys derived from said company, after the payment of the state debt, shall be appropriated and set apart for the payment of the ordinary expenses of the state government, and for no other purposes whatever.
[See Sections 7 and 8, Article IV, Page 9]
MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTIONS TO RAILROADS OR PRIVATE CORPORATIONS.
No county, city, town, township. or other municipality, shall ever become subscriber to the capital stock of any railroad or private corporation, or make donation to or loan its credit in aid of, such corporation: Provided, however, that the adoption of this article shall not be construed as affecting the right of any such municipality to make such subscriptions where the same have been authorized, under existing laws, by a vote of the people of such municipalities prior to such adoption.
The Illinois and Michigan Canal shall never be sold or leased until the specific proposition for the sale or lease there-of shall first have been submitted to a vote of the people of the state, at a general election, and have been approved by a majority of all the votes polled at such election. The general assembly shall never loan the credit of the state, or make appro priations from the treasury thereof, in aid of railroads or canals: Provided, that any surplus earnings of any canal may be appropriated for its enlargement or extension.
That no inconvenience may arise from the alterations and amendments made in the constitution of this state, and to carry the same into complete effect, it is hereby ordained and declared
§ 1. That all laws in force at the adoption of this constitution not inconsistent therewith, and all rights, actions, prose- cutions, claims, and contracts of this state, individuals, or bodies corporate, shall continue to be as valid as if this constitution had not been adopted.
§ 2. That all fines, taxes, penalties and forfeitures, due and owing to the state of Illinois under the present constitution and laws, shall inure to the use of the people of the state of Illinois, under this constitution.
§ 3. Recognizances, bonds, obligations, and all other instruments entered into or executed before the adoption of this constitution, to the people of the state of Illinois, to any state or county officer or public body, shall remain binding and valid; and rights and liabilities upon the same shall continue, and all crimes and misdemeanors shall be tried and punished as though no change had been made in the constitution of this state.
§ 4. County courts for the transaction of county business in counties not having adopted township organization, shall continue in existence, and exercise their present jurisdiction until the board of county commissioners provided in this constitution, is organized in pursuance of an act of the general assembly; and the county courts in all other counties shall have the same power and jurisdiction they now possess until otherwise provided by general law.
§ 5. All existing courts which are not in this constitution specifically enumerated, shall continue in existence and exer- cise their present jurisdiction until otherwise provided by law.
§ 6. All persons now filling any office or appointment shall continue in the exercise of the duties thereof according to their respective commissions or appointments, unless by this con- stitution it is otherwise directed.
[Sections 7 to 17 both inclusive, providing for the submission of this constitution and voting thereon by the people, having become inoperative by the adoption of this constitution, are omitted herein.]
§ 18. All laws of the state of Illinois,and all official writings, and the executive, legislative and judicial proceedings, shall be conducted, preserved and published in no other than the English language.
§ 19. The general assembly shall pass all laws necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this constitution.
§ 20. The circuit clerks of the different counties, having a population over sixty thousand, shall continue to be Recorders (ex-officio) for their respective counties, under this constitution, until the expiration of their respective terms.
§ 21. The judges of all courts of record in Cook county shall, in lieu of any salary provided for in this constitution, receive the compensation now provided by law until the adjournment of the first session of the general assembly after the adoption of this constitution.
§ 22. The present judge of the circuit court of Cook county shall continue to hold the circuit court of Lake county until otherwise provided by law.
§ 23. When this constitution shall be adopted, and take effect as the supreme law of the state of Illinois, the two-mill tax provided to be annually assessed and collected upon each dollar's worth of taxable property, in addition to all other taxes, as set forth in article fifteen of the now existing constitution, shall cease to be assessed after the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy.
§ 24. Nothing contained in this constitution shall be so construed as to deprive the general assembly of power to authorize the city of Quincy to create any indebtedness for railroad or municipal purposes for which the people of said city shall have voted and to which they shall have given, by such vote, their assent, prior to the thirteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine: Provided, that no such indebtedness, so created, shall, in any part thereof be paid by the state, or from any state revenue tax or fund, but the same shall be paid, if at all, by the said city of Quincy alone, and by taxes to be levied upon the taxable property thereof: And provided, further, that the general assembly shall have no power in the premises, that it could not exercise under the present constitution of this state.
§ 25. In case this constitution, and the articles and sections submitted separately, be adopted, the existing constitution shall cease in all its provisions, and in case this constitution be adopted, and any one or more of the articles or sections submitted separately be defeated, the provisions of the existing constitution, if any, on the same subject shall remain in forced.
§ 26. The provisions of this constitution required to be executed, prior to the adoption or rejection thereof, shall take effect and be in force immediately. Done in convention at the capitol, in the city of Springfield, on the thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thou sand eight hundred and seventy, and of the independence of the United States of America the ninety-fourth. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our flames: CHARLES HITCHCOCK, President. William J. Allen, John Abbott, James C. Allen, Elliott Anthony, Wm. R. Archer, Henry I. Atkins, James G. Bayne, R. M. Benjamin, H. P. H. Bromwell, 0. H. Browning, Wm. G. Bowman, Silas L. Bryan, H. P. Buxton, Jas. McCoy, Daniel Cameron, William Cary, Lawrence S. Church, Hiram H. Cody, W. F. Coolbaugh. Alfred M. Craig, Robert J. Cross, Samuel P. Cummings, John Dement, G. S. Eldridge, James W. English, David Ellis, Ferris Forman, Jesse C. Fox, Miles A. Fuller, John P. Gamble, Addison Goodell, John C. Haines, Elijah M. Haines, John W. Hankins, R. P. Hanna, Joseph Hart, Abel Harwood, Milton Hay, Samuel Snowden Hayes, Jesse S. Hildrup, Robert A. King, William P. Peirce, N. J. Pillsbury, Jno. Scholfield, James M. Sharp, Henry Sherrell, Wm. H. Snyder, O. C. Skinner, Westel W. Sedgwick, Charles F. Springer, John L. Tincher, C. Truesdale, Henry Tubbs, Thomas J. Turner, Wm. H. Underwood, Wm. L. Vandeventer, Henry W. Wells, George E. Wait, George W. Wall, R. B. Sutherland, D. C. Wagner, George R. Wendling, Chas. Wheaton, L. D. Whiting, John H. Wilson, Orlando H. Wright. ATTEST:—John Q. Harmon, Secretary. Daniel Shepard, First Assistant Secretary. A. H. Swain. Second Assistant Secretary. Office of Secretary.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, STATE OF ILLINOIS. I, George H. Harlow, Secretary of State of the State of Illinois, do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy of the constitution of the State of Illinois adopted in convention on the 13th day of May. 1870, ratified by a Vote of the people on the 2nd day of July. 1870, and In force on the 8th day of August, 1870, and as amended In 1878, and now on file in this office. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Great Seal of State. Done at the city of Springfield, this 31st day of January, A. D. 1880. GEO. H. HARLOW, Secretary of State.
STATE OF ILLINOIS—DEPARTMENT OF STATE Pursuant to the provisions of section eleven of the schedule of the constitution adopted by the people of the state of Illinois, on Saturday. the second day of July, A. D. 1870, I, John M. Palmer, Governor of the state of Illinois, do hereby proclaim that on the twenty-seventh day of July, A. D. 1870, the official abstracts of the vote cast on the said second day of July, A. D. 1870, by the electors of the several counties of the state of Illinois, for and against the adoption of the proposed new constitution of the state of Illinois, and for and against the adoption of the several articles separately submitted therewith were duly canvassed by the Secretary of State, Auditor and Treasurer of State, in my presence, and that the result of said canvass was as follows: For the new Constitution, there were104,227 votes. Against the new Constitution 35,443votes. For the sections relating to Railroads in the article entitled ‘‘Cor- porations, 144, 750 votes. Against the sections relating to Railroads in the article entitled ‘Cor- porations, 23,525votes. For the article entitled ‘‘Counties136, 815 votes. Against the article entitled ‘‘Counties, 31,644 votes. For the article entitled ‘‘Warehouses, 143,533 votes. Against the article entitled ‘‘Warehouses, 22,702 votes. For a three-fifths vote to remove county seats 127,077 votes. Against a three-fifths vote to remove county seats 41,417 votes. For the section relating to the Illinois Central Railroad 147, 032 votes. Against the section relating to the Illinois Central Railroad 21,330 votes. For the section relating to Minority Representation 99,022 voles. Against the section relating to Minority Representation 70.080 votes. For the section relating to Municipal Subscriptions to railroad or Pro vate Corporations 134,134 votes. Against the section relating to Municipal Subscriptions to Railroads or Private Corporations 34,061votes. For the section relating to the Canal 142,640 votes. Against the section relating to the Canal 27,017 votes. And it further appearing from said abstracts that a majority of the votes cast were for the adoption of the proposed constitution, and for all the several articles separ- ately submitted therewith, now, therefore, I. John M. Palmer, Governor of the state of Illinois do further proclaim that on and after the eighth day of August A. D. 1870, the aforesaid constitution, and the articles submitted therewith, will become thc supreme law of the stare of illinois. In testimony whereof, I have hereto set my hand and caused the great Seal of state to be affixed. Done at Springfield, this twenty-seventh day of July, A. D. 1870. JOHN M. PALMER, [SEAL.] By the Governor; EDWARD RUMMEL, Secretary of State.
EXECUTIVE PROCLAMATION. STATE OF ILLINOIS - EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. WHEREAS, In conformity with the laws of the state of Illinois and a joint resolution of the 30th general assembly (if said state the electors of said state of Illinois did on the 5th day of November A. D. 1878. (it being the day fixed by law for the election of members of the general assembly) Vote for and against the proposed amendment of the 31st section of the 4th article of the constitution of this state as designated and set forth in the joint resolution of the 30th general assembly of said state of Illinois; and WHEREAS, on the 25th day of November A. D. 1878, a canvass of the abstracts of votes cast for and against the proposed amendment of said section 31, article 4, of the constitution of this state, as certified to by the various county clerks of said state, was - made in my presence by George H. Harlow, secretary of state, Thomas B. Needles, auditor of public accounts and Edward Rutz, treasurer of state, who are designated by law for this duty; and WHEREAS, From said canvass it appears that The whole number of votes cast for said proposed amendment was. .295,960 votes. That the whole number cast against said proposed amendment was.. 60,081 votes. And that the greatest number of votes cast at said election in said state was for the candidates for clerks of the Supreme Court for the three grand divisions of the state, which in the aggregate numbered 448,796 votes. Now Therefore, I, Shelby H. Cullom, governor of the State of Illinois, in conformity with section 7 of an act of the 30th general assembly of the State of Illinois entitled "An act to provide the manner of proposing amendments to the constitution and submitting the same to the electors of this State" approved March 14, 1877, in force July 1, 1877, do hereby publish and proclaim: That a majority of all the votes cast by the electors of said State of Illinois on the 5th day of November A. D. 1878 was for the proposed amendment to section 31, article 4, of the constitution of the State of Illinois and I do further proclaim that said section 31, article 4 of the constitution by virtue of the approval of a majority of the electors of said state, is now as follows: "The general assembly may pass laws permitting the owners of lands to construct drains, ditches and levees for agricultural, sanitary or mining purposes, across the lands of others, and provide for the organization of drainage districts and vest the corporate authorities thereof, with power to construct and maintain levees, drains and ditches, and to keep in repair all drains, ditches and levees heretofore constructed under the laws of this state, by special assessments upon the property benefited thereby." And the said section as amended is now a part of the constitution of the state of Illinois. In TESTIMONY WHEREOF I hereto set my hand and cause to be affixed the great seal of state. Done at the city of Springfield this 29th day of November In the L. s.year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy eight and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and third.
By the Governor: S. M. CULLOM. GEO. H. HARLOW, Secretary of State