Page images
PDF
EPUB

subdivision thereof, or any municipality therein, and all fines, taxes, penalties, and forfeitures due or owing to this State, or any subdivision or municipality thereof, and all writs, prosecutions, actions, and causes of action, except as herein otherwise provided, shall continue and remain unaffected by the adoption of this Constitution. All indictments or informations which shall have been found, or may hereafter be found, for any crime or offense committed before this Constitution takes effect, may be proceeded upon as if no change had taken place, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution.

SECT. 3. Existing Courts Abolished.-All courts now existing, save justices' and police courts, are hereby abolished; and all records, books, papers, and proceedings from such courts as are abolished by this Constitution, shall be transferred on the first day of January, eighteen hundred and eighty, to the courts provided for in this Constitution; and the courts to which the same are thus transferred shall have the same power and jurisdiction over them as if they had been in the first instance commenced, filed, or lodged therein.

SECT. 4. Printing and Distributing of the Constitution.The Superintendent of Printing of the State of California shall, at least thirty days before the first Wednesday in May, A. D. eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, cause to be printed at the State printing office, in pamphlet form, simply stitched, as many copies of this Constitution as there are registered voters in this State, and mail one copy thereof to the post office address of each registered voter; provided, any copies not called for ten days after reaching their delivery office, shall be subject to general distribution by the several postmasters of the State.

Election for Adoption of Constitution to be Called.—The Governor shall issue his proclamation, giving notice of the election for the adoption or rejection of this Constitution,

at least thirty days before the said first Wednesday of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, and the boards of supervisors of the several counties shall cause said proclamation to be made public in their respective counties, and general notice of said election to be given at least fifteen days next before said election.

SECT. 5. Ballots for Voting on Adoption of Constitution. The Superintendent of Printing of the State of California shall, at least twenty days before said election, cause to be printed and delivered to the clerk of each county in this State, five times the number of properly prepared ballots for said election that there are voters in said respective counties, with the words printed thereon: "For the new Constitution." He shall likewise cause to be so printed and delivered to said clerks, five times the number of properly prepared ballots for said election that there are voters in said respective counties, with the words printed thereon: "Against the new Constitution." The Secretary of State is hereby authorized and required to furnish the Superintendent of State Printing a sufficient quantity of legal ballot paper, now on hand, to carry out the provisions of this section.

SECT. 6. County Clerks to Provide Poll-Books.—The clerks of the several counties in the State shall, at least five days before said election, cause to be delivered to the inspectors of election, at each election precinct or polling place in their respective counties, suitable registers, poll-books, forms of return, and an equal number of the aforesaid ballots, which number, in the aggregate, must be ten times greater than the number of voters in the said election precincts or polling places. The returns of the number of votes cast at the presidential election in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-six shall serve as a basis of calculation for this and the preceding section; provided, that the duties in this and the preceding section

imposed upon the clerks of the respective counties shall, in the city and county of San Francisco, be performed by the registrar of voters for said city and county.

SECT. 7. Who May Vote.-Every citizen of the United States, entitled by law to vote for members of the Assembly in this State, shall be entitled to vote for the adoption or rejection of this Constitution.

SECT. 8. Returns, How Canvassed.-The officers of the several counties of this State, whose duty it is, under the law, to receive and canvass the returns from the several precincts of their respective counties, as well as of the city and county of San Francisco, shall meet at the usual places of meeting for such purposes on the first Monday after said election. If, at the time of meeting, the returns from each precinct in the county in which the polls were opened have been received, the Board must then and there proceed to canvass the returns; but if all the returns have not been received, the canvass must be postponed from time to time until all the returns are received, or until the second Monday after said election, when they shall proceed to make out returns of the votes cast for and against the new Constitution; and the proceedings of said boards shall be the same as those prescribed for like boards in the case of an election for Governor. Upon the completion of said canvass and returns, the said board shall immediately certify the same, in the usual form, to the Governor of the State of California.

SECT. 9. Governor to Examine Returns and Issue Proclamation. The Governor of the State of California shall, as soon as the returns of said election shall be received by him, or within thirty days after said election, in the presence and with the assistance of the Controller, Treasurer, and Secretary of State, open and compute all the returns received of votes cast for and against the new

Constitution. If, by such examination and computation, it is ascertained that a majority of the whole number of votes cast at such election is in favor of such new Constitution, the executive of this State shall, by his proclamation, declare such new Constitution to be the Constitution of the State of California, and that it shall take effect and be in force on the days hereinafter specified.

SECT. 10. Terms of Officers First Elected.-In order that future elections in this State shall conform to the requirements of this Constitution, the terms of all officers elected at the first election under the same shall be, respectively, one year shorter than the terms as fixed by law or by this Constitution; and the successors of all such officers shall be elected at the last election before the expiration of the terms as in this section provided. The first officers chosen after the adoption of this Constitution, shall be elected at the time and in the manner now provided by law. Judicial officers and the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be elected at the time and in the manner that State officers are elected.

SECT. 11. Laws Relating to the Judicial System.—All laws relative to the present judicial system of the State shall be applicable to the judicial system created by this Constitution until changed by legislation.

SECT. 12. When the Constitution is to Take Effect.This Constitution shall take effect and be in force on and after the fourth day of July, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, at twelve o'clock meridian, so far as the same relates to the election of all officers, the commencement of their terms of office, and the meeting of the Legislature. In all other respects, and for all other purposes, this Constitution shall take effect on the first day of January, eighteen hundred and eighty, at twelve o'clock meridian.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
« PreviousContinue »