establishing reasonable maximum rates of charges for the transportation of property by express companies in this state, and may delegate such power to fix reasonable maximum rates of charges for the transportation of freight by railroad companies and for the transportation of property by express companies to a commission created by law; and shall prohibit running contracts between such railroad companies whereby discrimination is made in favor of either of such companies as against other companies owning connecting or intersecting lines of railroad.

SEC. 8. 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 at least sixty days' public notice to all stockholders in such manner as shall be provided by law.

SEC. 9. No general law providing for the incorporation of trust companies or corporations for banking purposes, or regulating the business thereof, shall be adopted, amended or repealed except by a vote of twothirds of the members elected to each house of the legislature. Such laws shall not authorize the issue of bank notes or paper credit to circulate as money.

ARTICLE XIII.

EMINENT DOMAIN.

SECTION 1. Private property shall not be taken by the public nor by any corporation for public use, without the necessity therefor being first determined and just compensation therefor being first made or secured in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. 2. When private property is taken for the use or benefit of the public, the necessity for using such property and the just compensation to be made therefor, except when to be made by the state, shall be ascertained by a jury of twelve freeholders residing in the vicinity of such property, or by not less than three commissioners appointed by a court of record, as shall be prescribed by law: Provided, That the foregoing provision shall not be construed to apply to the action of commissioners of highways or road commissioners in the official discharge of their duties.

SEC. 3. Private roads may be opened in the manner prescribed by law; but in every case the necessity for the road and the amount of all damages to be sustained by the opening thereof shall be first determined by a jury of six freeholders or by not less than three commissioners, and such amount, together with the expense of proceedings, shall be paid by the person or persons to be benefited.

SEC. 4. The regents of the university of Michigan shall have power to take private property for the use of the university, in the manner prescribed by law.

ARTICLE XIV.

EXEMPTIONS.

SECTION 1. The personal property of every resident of this state, to consist of such property only as shall be designated by law, shall be exempted to the amount of not less than five hundred dollars from sale on execution or other final process of any court.

SEC. 2. Every homestead of not exceeding forty acres of land and the dwelling house thereon and the appurtenances to be selected by the owner thereof and not included in any town plat, city or village; or instead thereof, at the option of the owner, any lot in any city, village or recorded town plat, or such parts of lots as shall be equal thereto, and the dwelling house thereon and its appurtenances, owned and occupied by any resident of the state, not exceeding in value fifteen hundred dollars, shall be exempt from forced sale on execution or any other final process from a court. Such exemption shall not extend to any mortgage thereon lawfully obtained, but such mortgage or other alienation of such land by the owner thereof, if a married màn, shall not be valid without the signature of his wife to the same.

SEC. 3. The homestead of a family, after the death of the owner thereof, shall be exempt from the payment of his debts in all cases during the minority of his children.

SEC. 4. If the owner of a homestead die, leaving a widow but no children, such homestead shall be exempt, and the rents and profits thereof shall accrue to her benefit during the time of her widowhood, unless she be the owner of a homestead in her own right.

ARTICLE XV.

MILITIA.

SECTION 1. The militia shall be composed of all able-bodied male citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, except such as are exempted by the laws of the United States or of this state; but all such citizens of any religious denomination, who, from scruples of conscience, may be averse to bearing arms, shall be excused therefrom upon such conditions as shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. 2. The legislature shall provide by law for organizing, equipping and disciplining the militia in such manner as it shall deem expedient, not incompatible with the laws of the United States.

SEC. 3. Officers of the militia shall be elected or appointed and be commissioned in such manner as may be prescribed by law.

ARTICLE XVI.

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.

SECTION 1. The terms of office of all elective state officers and of all judges of courts of record shall begin on the first day of January next succeeding their election, except as otherwise prescribed in this constitution. The terms of office of all county officers shall begin on the first

day of January next succeeding their election, except as otherwise prescribed by law.

SEC. 2. Members of the legislature and all officers, executive and judicial, except such officers as may by law be 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) that I' will support the constitution of the United States and the constitution of this state, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of according to the best of my ability." No other oath, declaration or test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust.

SEC. 3. Neither the legislature nor any municipal authority shall grant or authorize extra compensation to any public officer, agent, employe or contractor after the service has been rendered or the contract entered into. Salaries of public officers, except circuit judges, shall not be increased, nor shall the salary of any public officer be decreased, after election or appointment.

SEC. 4. In case two or more persons have an equal and the highest number of votes for any office, as canvassed by the board of state canvassers, the legislature in joint convention shall choose one of said persons to fill such office. When the determination of the board of state canvassers is contested, the legislature in joint convention shall decide which person is elected.

SEC. 5. The legislature may provide by law the cases in which any office shall be deemed vacant and the manner of filling vacancies, where no provision is made in this constitution.

SEC. 6. The laws, public records and the written judicial and legislative proceedings of the state shall be conducted, promulgated and preserved in the English language.

SEC. 7. The legislature may establish courts of conciliation with such powers and duties as shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. 8. The real and personal estate of every woman, acquired before marriage, and all property to which she may afterwards become entitled by gift, grant, inheritance or devise shall be and remain the estate and property of such woman, and shall not be liable for the debts, obligations or engagements of her husband, and may be devised or bequeathed by her as if she were unmarried.

SEC. 9. Aliens, who are or who may hereafter become bona fide residents of this state, shall enjoy the same rights in respect to the possession, enjoyment and inheritance of property as native born citizens.

SEC. 10. No lease or grant of agricultural land for agricultural purpossess for a longer period than twelve years, reserving any rent or service of any kind, shall be valid.

ARTICLE XVII.

AMENDMENT AND REVISION.

SECTION 1. Any amendment or amendments to this constitution may be proposed in the senate or house of representatives. If the same shall be agreed to by two-thirds of the members elected to each house, such amendment or amendments shall be entered on the journals, respec

tively, with the yeas and nays taken thereon; and the same shall be submitted to the electors at the next spring or autumn election thereafter, as the legislature shall direct; and, if a majority of electors qualified to vote for members of the legislature voting thereon shall ratify and approve such amendment or amendments, the same shall become part of the constitution.

(a) SEC. 2. Amendments may also be proposed to this constitution by petition of the qualified voters of this state. Every such petition shall include the full text of the amendment so proposed and be signed by not less than ten per cent of the legal voters of the state. Initiative petitions proposing an amendment to this constitution shall be filed with the secretary of state at least four months before the election at which such proposed amendment is to be voted upon. Upon receipt of such petition by the secretary of state, he shall canvass the same to ascertain if such petition has been signed by the requisite number of qualified electors, and if the same has been so signed, the proposed amendment shall be submitted to the electors at the next regular election at which any state officer is to be elected. Any constitutional amendment initiated by the people as herein provided, shall take effect and become a part of the constitution if the same shall be approved by a majority of the electors voting thereon and not otherwise. Every amendment shall take effect thirty days after the election at which it is approved. The total number of votes cast for governor at the regular election last preceding the filing of any petition proposing an amendment to the constitution, shall be the basis upon which the number of legal voters necessary to sign such a petition shall be computed. The secretary of state shall submit all proposed amendments to the constitution initiated by the people for adoption or rejection in compliance herewith. The petition shall consist of sheets in such form and having printed or written at the top thereof such heading as shall be designated or prescribed by the secretary of state. Such petition shall be signed by qualified voters in person only, with the residence address of such persons and the date of signing the same. To each of such petitions, which may consist of one or more sheets, shall be attached the affidavit of the elector circulating the same, stating that each signature thereto is the genuine signature of the person signing the same, and that to the best knowledge and belief of the affiant each person signing the petition was at the time of signing a qualified elector. Such petition so verified shall be prima facie evidence that the signatures thereon are genuine, and that the persons signing the same are qualified electors. The text of all amendments to be submitted shall be published as constitutional amendments are now required to be published.

All proposed amendments to the constitution submitted to the electors shall be published in full, with any existing provisions of the constitution which would be altered or abrogated thereby, and a copy thereof shall be posted at each registration and election place. Proposed amendments shall also be printed in full on a ballot or ballots separate from the ballot containing the names of nominees for public office.

SEC. 4. At the general election to be held in the year nineteen hundred twenty-six, in each sixteenth year thereafter and at such other times as may be provided by law, the question of a general revision of

(a) Amendment proposed by concurrent resolution No. 3, P. A. 1913, page 780; ratified April election, 1913.

the constitution shall be submitted to the electors qualified to vote for members of the legislature. In case a majority of such electors voting at such election shall decide in favor of a convention for such purpose, at the next biennial spring election the electors of each senatorial district of the state as then organized shall elect three delegates. The delegates so elected shall convene at the state capitol on the first Tuesday in September next succeeding such election, and shall continue their sessions until the business of the convention shall be completed. majority of the delegates elected shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. The convention shall choose its own officers, determine the rules of its proceedings and judge of the qualifications, elections and returns of its members. In case of a vacancy by death, resignation or otherwise, of any delegate, such vacancy shall be filled by appointment by the governor of a qualified resident of the same district. The convention shall have power to appoint such officers, employes and assistants as it may deem necessary and to fix their compensation, and to provide for the printing and distribution of its documents, journals and proceedings. Each delegate shall receive for his services the sum of one thousand dollars and the same mileage as shall then be payable to members of the legislature, but such compensation may be increased by law. No proposed constitution or amendment adopted by such convention shall be submitted to the electors for approval as hereinafter provided unless by the assent of a majority of all the delegates elected to the convention, the yeas and nays being entered on the journal. Any proposed constitution or amendments adopted by such convention shall be submitted to the qualified electors in the manner provided by such convention on the first Monday in April following the final adjournment of the convention; but, in case an interval of at least ninety days shall not intervene between such final adjournment and the date of such election, then it shall be submitted at the next general election. Upon the approval of such constitution or amendments by a majority of the qualified electors voting thereon such constitution or amendments shall take effect on the first day of January following the approval thereof.

SCHEDULE.

That no inconvenience may arise from the changes in the constitution of this state, and in order to carry the same into complete operation, it is hereby declared that:

SECTION 1. The common law and the statute laws now in force, not repugnant to this constitution, shall remain in force until they expire by their own limitations, or are altered or repealed.

SEC. 2. All writs, actions, causes of action, prosecutions and rights of individuals, and of bodies corporate, and of the state, and all charters of incorporation which shall not have been heretofore forfeited or become subject to forfeiture shall continue; and all complaints, informations or indictments which shall have been made, filed or found or which may hereafter be made, filed or found for any crime or offense committed before the adoption of this constitution, may be proceeded upon as if no change had taken place. The several courts shall con