SEC. 6. There shall be in each of the organized counties, or cities and counties, of the State, a Superior Court, for each of which at least one judge shall be elected by the qualified electors of the county, or city and county, at the general State election; provided, that until otherwise ordered by the Legislature, only one judge shall be elected for the counties of Yuba and Sutter, and that in the City and County of San Francisco there shall be elected twelve Judges of the Superior Court, any one or more of whom may hold court. There may be as many sessions of said court, at the same time, as there are judges thereof. The said judges shall choose, from their own number, a presiding judge, who may be removed at their pleasure. He shall distribute the business of the court among the judges thereof, and prescribe the order of business. The judg ments, orders, and proceedings of any session of the Superior Court held by any one or more of the judges of said courts, respectively, shall be equally effectual as if all the judges of said respective courts presided at such session. In each of the counties of Sacramento, San Joaquin, Los Angeles, Sonoma, Santa Clara, and Alameda there shall be elected two such judges. The term of office of Judges of the Superior Courts shall be six years from and after the first Monday of January next succeeding their election; provided, that the twelve Judges of the Superior Court elected in the City and County of San Francisco, at the first election held under this Constitution, shall at their first meeting so classify themselves, by lot, that four of them shall go out of office at the end of two years, and four of them shall go out of office at the end of four years, and four of them shall go out of office at the end of six years, and an entry of such classification shall be made in the minutes of the court, signed by them, and a duplicate thereof filed in the office of the Secretary of State. The first election of Judges of the Superior Courts shall take place at the first general election held after the adoption and ratification of this Constitution. If a vacancy occur in the office of Judge of a Superior Court, the Governor shall appoint a person to hold the office until the election and qualification of a judge to fill the vacancy, which election shall take place at the next succeeding general election, and the judge so elected shall hold office for the remainder of the unexpired term.

SEC. 7. In any county, or city and county, other than the City and County of San Francisco, in which there shall be more than one Judge of the Superior Court, the judges of such court may hold as many sessions of said court at the same time as there are judges thereof, and shall apportion the business among themselves as equally as may be.

SEC. 8. A Judge of any Superior Court may hold a Superior Court in any county, at the request of a Judge of the Superior Court thereof, and upon the request of the Governor it shall be his duty so to do. But a cause in the Superior Court may be tried by a judge pro tempore, who must be a member of the bar, agreed upon in writing by the parties litigant, or their attorneys of record, approved by the court, and sworn to try the cause.

SEC. 9. The Legislature shall have no power to grant leave of absence to any judicial officer; and any such officer who shall absent himself from the State for more than sixty consecutive days shall be deemed to have forfeited his office. The Legislature of the State may, at any time, two thirds of the members of the Senate and two thirds of the members of the Assembly voting therefor, increase or diminish the number of Judges of the Superior Court in any county, or city and county, in the State; provided, that no such reduction shall affect any judge who has been elected.

SEC. 10. Justices of the Supreme Court and Judges of the Superior Courts may be removed by concurrent resolution of both houses of the Legislature, adopted by a twothirds vote of each house. All other judicial officers, except Justices of the Peace, may be removed by the Senate on the recommendation of the Governor, but no removal shall be made by virtue of this section, unless the cause thereof be entered on the journal, nor unless the party complained of has been served with a copy of the complaint against him, and shall have had an opportunity of being heard in his defense. On the question of removal, the ayes and noes shall be entered on the journal.

SEC. 11. The Legislature shall determine the number of Justices of the Peace to be elected in townships, incorporated cities and towns, or cities and counties, and shall fix by law the powers, duties, and responsibilities of Justices of the Peace; provided, such powers shall not, in any case, trench upon the jurisdiction of the several courts of record, except that said justices shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the Superior Courts in cases of forcible entry and detainer, where the rental value does not exceed twenty-five dollars per month, and where the whole amount of damages claimed does not exceed two hundred dollars, and in cases to enforce and foreclose liens on personal property when neither the amount of liens nor the value of the property amounts to three hundred dollars.

SEC. 12. The Supreme Court, the Superior Courts, and such other courts as the Legislature shall prescribe, shall be courts of record.

SEC. 13. The Legislature shall fix by law the jurisdiction of any inferior courts which may be established in pursuance of section one of this article, and shall fix by law the powers, duties, and responsibilities of the judges thereof.

SEC. 14. The Legislature shall provide for the election of a Clerk of the Supreme Court, and shall fix by law his duties and compensation, which compensation shall not be increased or diminished during the term for which he shall have been elected. The County Clerks shall be ex officio clerks of the courts of record in and for their respective counties, or cities and counties. The Legislature may also provide for the appointment, by the several Superior Courts, of one or more commissioners in their respective counties, or cities and counties, with authority to perform chamber business of the Judges of the

Superior Courts, to take depositions, and perform such other business connected with the administration of justice as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 15. No judicial officer, except Justices of the Peace and Court Commissioners, shall receive to his own use any fees or perquisites of office.

SEC. 16. The Legislature shall provide for the speedy publication of such opinions of the Supreme Court as it may deem expedient, and all opinions shall be free for publication by any person.

SEC. 17. The Justices of the Supreme Court and Judges of the Superior Courts shall severally, at stated times during their continuance in office, receive for their services a compensation which shall not be increased or diminished after their election, nor during the term for which they shall have been elected. The salaries of the Justices of the Supreme Court shall be paid by the State. One half of the salary of each Superior Court Judge shall be paid by the State; the other half thereof shall be paid by the county for which he is elected. During the term of the first judges elected under this Constitution, the annual salaries of the Justices of the Supreme Court shall be six thousand dollars each. Until otherwise changed by the Legislature, the Superior Court Judges shall receive an annual salary of three thousand dollars each, payable monthly, except the judges of the City and County of San Francisco, and the counties of Alameda, San Joaquin, Los Angeles, Santa Clara, Yuba and Sutter combined, Sacramento, Butte, Nevada, and Sonoma, who shall receive four thousand dollars each.

SEC. 18. The Justices of the Supreme Court and Judges of the Superior Courts shall be ineligible to any other office or public employment, than a judicial office or employment, during the term for which they shall have been elected.

SEC. 19. Judges shall not charge juries with respect to matters of fact, but may state the testimony and declare the law.

SEC. 20. The style of all process shall be "The People of the State of California," and all prosecutions shall be conducted in their name and by their authority.

SEC. 21. The justices shall appoint a reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Court, who shall hold his office and be removable at their pleasure. He shall receive an annual salary not to exceed twenty-five hundred dollars, payable monthly.

SEC. 22. No judge of a court of record shall practice law in any court of this State during his continuance in office.

SEC. 23. No one shall be eligible to the office of Justice of the Supreme Court, or to the office of Judge of a Superior Court, unless he shall have been admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the State.

SEC. 24. No Judge of a Superior Court, nor of the Supreme Court, shall, after the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and eighty, be allowed to draw or receive any monthly salary, unless he shall take and subscribe an affidavit before an officer entitled to administer oaths, that no cause in his court remains undecided that has been submitted for decision for the period of ninety days.

ARTICLE VII.

PARDONING POWER.

SECTION 1. The Governor shall have the power to grant reprieves, pardons, and commutations of sentence, after conviction, for all offenses except treason and cases of impeachment, upon such conditions, and with such restrictions and limitations, as he may think proper, subject to such regulations as may be provided by law relative to the manner of applying for pardons. Upon conviction for treason, the Governor shall have power to suspend the execution of the sentence until the case shall be reported to the Legislature at its next meeting, when the Legislature shall either pardon, direct the execution of the sentence, or grant a further reprieve. The Governor shall communicate to the Legislature, at the beginning of every session, every case of reprieve or pardon granted, stating the name of the convict, the crime for which he was convicted, the sentence, its date, the date of the pardon or reprieve, and the reasons for granting the same. Neither the Governor nor the Legislature shall have power to grant pardons, or commutations of sentence, in any case where the convict has been twice convicted of a felony, unless upon the written recommendation of a majority of the Judges of the Supreme Court.

ARTICLE VIII.

MILITIA.

SECTION 1. The Legislature shall provide, by law, for organizing and disciplining the militia, in such manner as it may deem expedient, not incompatible with the Constitution and laws of the United States. Officers of the militia shall be elected or appointed in such manner as the Legislature shall, from time to time, direct, and shall be commissioned by the Governor. The Governor shall have power to call forth the militia to execute the laws of the State, to suppress insurrections, and repel invasions. SEC. 2. All military organizations provided for by this Constitution, or any law of this State, and receiving State support, shall, while under arms, either for ceremony or duty, carry no device, banner, or flag of any State or nation, except that of the United States or the State of California.

ARTICLE IX.

EDUCATION.

SECTION 1. A general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, the Legislature shall encourage by all suitable means the promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral, and agricultural improvement.

SEC. 2. A Superintendent of Public Instruction shall, at each gubernatorial election after the adoption of this Constitution, be elected by the qualified electors of the State. He shall receive a salary equal to that of the Secretary of State, and shall enter upon the duties of his office on the first Monday after the first day of January next succeeding his election.

SEC. 3. A Superintendent of Schools for each county shall be elected by the qualified electors thereof at each gubernatorial election; provided, that the Legislature may authorize two or more counties to unite and elect one Superintendent for the counties so uniting.

SEC. 4. The proceeds of all lands that have been or may be granted by the United States to this State for the support of common schools, which may be, or may have been, sold or disposed of, and the five hundred thousand acres of land granted to the new States under an Act of Congress distributing the proceeds of the public lands among the several States of the Union, approved A. D. one thousand eight hundred and forty-one, and all estates of deceased persons who may have died without leaving a will or heir, and also such per cent as may be granted, or may have been granted, by Congress on the sale of lands in this State, shall be and remain a perpetual fund, the interest of which, together with all the rents of the unsold lands, and such other means as the Legislature may provide, shall be inviolably appropriated to the support of common schools throughout the State.

SEC. 5. The Legislature shall provide for a system of common schools, by which a free school shall be kept up and supported in each district at least six months in every year, after the first year in which a school has been established.

SEC. 6. The public school system shall include primary and grammar schools, and such high schools, evening schools, normal schools, and technical schools as may be established by the Legislature, or by municipal or district authority. The entire revenue derived from the State school fund and from the general State school tax shall be applied exclusively to the support of primary and grammar schools; but the Legislature may authorize and cause to be levied a special State school tax for the support of high schools and technical schools, or either of such schools, included in the public school system, and all revenue derived from such special tax shall be applied exclusively to the support of the schools for which such special tax shall be levied. [Amendment adopted November 4, 1902.]

SEC. 7. The Governor, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the President of the University of California, and the professor of pedagogy therein, and the principals of the state normal schools shall constitute the State Board of Education, and shall compile, or cause to be compiled, and adopt, a uniform series of text-books for use in the common schools throughout the State. The State Board may cause such text-books, when adopted, to be printed and published by the Superintendent of State Printing, at the state printing office, and, when so printed and published, to be distributed and sold at the cost price of printing, publishing, and distributing the same. The text-books so adopted shall continue in use not less than four years; and said State Board shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed by law. The Legislature shall provide for a Board of Education in each county in the State. The County Superintendents and the County Boards of Education shall have control of the examination of teachers and the granting of teachers' certificates within their respective jurisdictions. [Amendment adopted November 6, 1894.]

SEC. 8. No public money shall ever be appropriated for the support of any sectarian or denominational school, or any school not under the exclusive control of the officers of the public schools; nor shall any sectarian or denominational doctrine be taught, or instruction thereon be permitted, directly or indirectly, in any of the common schools of this State.

SEC. 9. The University of California shall constitute a public trust, and its organization and government shall be perpetually continued in the form and character prescribed by the Organic Act creating the same, passed March twenty-third, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight (and the several Acts amendatory thereof), subject only to such legislative control as may be necessary to insure compliance with the terms of its endowments and the proper investment and security of its funds. It shall be entirely independent of all political or sectarian influence, and kept free therefrom in the appointment of its regents, and in the administration of its affairs; provided, that all the moneys derived from the sale of the public lands donated to this State by Act of Congress, approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two (and the several Acts amendatory thereof), shall be invested as provided by said Acts of Congress, and the interest of said moneys shall be inviolably appropriated to the endowment, support, and maintenance of at least one College of Agriculture, where the leading objects shall be (without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics) to teach such branches of learning as are related to scientific and practical agriculture and the mechanic arts, in accordance with the requirements and conditions of said Acts of Congress; and the Legislature shall provide that if, through neglect, misappropriation, or any other contingency, any portion of the funds so set apart shall be diminished or lost, the State shall replace such portion so lost or misappropriated, so that the principal thereof shall remain forever undiminished. No person shall be debarred admission to any of the collegiate departments of the University on account of sex.

SEC. 10. The trusts and estates created for the founding, endowment, and maintenance of the Leland Stanford Junior University, under and in accordance with "An act to advance learning, etc.," approved March ninth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, by

the endowment grant executed by Leland Stanford and Jane Lathrop Stanford on the eleventh day of November, A.D. eighteen hundred and eighty-five, and recorded in liber eighty-three of deeds, at page twenty-three, et seq., records of Santa Clara County, and by the amendments of such grant, and by gifts, grants, bequests, and devises supplementary thereto, and by confirmatory grants, are permitted, approved, and confirmed. The board of trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, as such, or in the name of the institution, or by other intelligible designation of the trustees or of the institution, may receive property, real or personal, and wherever situated, by gift, grant, devise, or bequest, for the benefit of the institution, or of any department thereof, and such property, unless otherwise provided, shall be held by the trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University upon the trusts provided for in the grant founding the university, and amendments thereof, and grants, bequests, and devises supplementary thereto. The Legislature, by special act, may grant to the trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University corporate powers and privileges, but it shall not thereby alter their tenure, or limit their powers or obligations as trustees. All property now or hereafter held in trust for the founding, maintenance, or benefit of the Leland Stanford Junior University, or of any department thereof, may be exempted by special act from State taxation, and all personal property so held, the Palo Alto farm as described in the endowment grant to the trustees of the university, and all other real property so held and used by the university for educational purposes exclusively, may be similarly exempted from county and municipal taxation; provided, that residents of California shall be charged no fees for tuition unless such fees be authorized by act of the Legislature. [Amendment adopted November 6, 1900.]

SEC. 11. All property now or hereafter belonging to "The California School of Mechanical Arts," an institution founded and endowed by the late James Lick to educate males and females in the practical arts of life, and incorporated under the laws of the State of California, November twenty-third, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, having its school buildings located in the City and County of San Francisco, shall be exempt from taxation. The trustees of said institution must annually report their proceedings and financial accounts to the Governor. The Legislature may modify, suspend, and revive at will the exemption from taxation herein given. [Amendment adopted November 6, 1900.]

ARTICLE X.

STATE INSTITUTIONS AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

SECTION 1. There shall be a State Board of Prison Directors, to consist of five persons, to be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, who shall hold office for ten years, except that the first appointed shall, in such manner as the Legislature may direct, be so classified that the term of one person so appointed shall expire at the end of each two years during the first ten years, and vacancies occurring shall be filled in like manner. The appointee to a vacancy occurring before the expiration of a term shall hold office only for the unexpired term of his predecessor. The Governor shall have the power to remove either of the directors for misconduct, incompetency, or neglect of duty, after an opportunity to be heard upon written charges. SEC. 2. The board of directors shall have the charge and superintendence of the state prisons, and shall possess such powers and perform such duties, in respect to other penal and reformatory institutions of the State, as the Legislature may prescribe.

SEC. 3. The board shall appoint the warden and clerk, and determine the other necessary officers of the prisons. The board shall have power to remove the wardens and clerks for misconduct, incompetency, or neglect of duty. All other officers and employés of the prisons shall be appointed by the warden thereof, and be removed at his pleasure.

SEC. 4. The members of the board shall receive no compensation, other than reasonable traveling and other expenses incurred while engaged in the performance of official duties, to be audited as the Legislature may direct.

SEC. 5. The Legislature shall pass such laws as may be necessary to further define and regulate the powers and duties of the board, wardens, and clerks, and to carry into effect the provisions of this article.

SEC. 6. After the first day of January, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, the labor of convicts shall not be let out by contract to any person, co-partnership, company, or corporation, and the Legislature shall, by law, provide for the working of convicts for the benefit of the State.

ARTICLE XI.

COUNTIES, CITIES, AND TOWNS.

SECTION 1. The several counties, as they now exist, are hereby recognized as legal subdivisions of this State.

SEC. 2. No county seat shall be removed unless two thirds of the qualified electors of the county, voting on the proposition at a general election, shall vote in favor of such removal. A proposition of removal shall not be submitted in the same county more than once in four years.

SEC. 3. The Legislature, by general and uniform laws, may provide for the formation of new counties; provided, however, that no new county shall be established which shall reduce any county to a population of less than eight thousand; nor shall a new county

be formed containing a less population than five thousand; nor shall any line thereof pass within five miles of the county seat of any county proposed to be divided. Every county which shall be enlarged or created from territory taken from any other county or counties, shall be liable for a just proportion of the existing debts and liabilities of the county or counties from which such territory shall be taken. [Amendment adopted November 6, 1894.]

SEC. 4. The Legislature shall establish a system of county governments, which shall be uniform throughout the State; and by general laws shall provide for township organization, under which any county may organize whenever a majority of the qualified electors of such county, voting at a general election, shall so determine; and whenever a county shall adopt township organization, the assessment and collection of the revenue shall be made, and the business of such county and the local affairs of the several townships therein shall be managed and transacted, in the manner prescribed by such general laws.

SEC. 5. The Legislature, by general and uniform laws, shall provide for the election or appointment, in the several counties, of Boards of Supervisors, Sheriffs, County Clerks, District Attorneys, and such other county, township, and municipal officers as public convenience may require, and shall prescribe their duties and fix their terms of office. It shall regulate the compensation of all such officers, in proportion to duties, and for this purpose may classify the counties by population; and it shall provide for the strict accountability of county and township officers for all fees which may be collected by them, and for all public and municipal moneys which may be paid to them, or officially come into their possession.

SEC. 6. Corporations for municipal purposes shall not be created by special laws; but the Legislature, by general laws, shall provide for the incorporation, organization, and classification, in proportion to population, of cities and towns, which laws may be altered, amended, or repealed. Cities and towns heretofore organized or incorporated may become organized under such general laws whenever a majority of the electors voting at a general election shall so determine, and shall organize in conformity therewith; and cities and towns heretofore or hereafter organized, and all charters thereof framed or adopted by authority of this Constitution, except in municipal affairs, shall be subject to and controlled by general laws. [Amendment adopted November 3, 1896.]

SEC. 7. City and county governments may be merged and consolidated into one municipal government, with one set of officers, and may be incorporated under general laws providing for the incorporation and organization of corporations for municipal purposes. The provisions of this Constitution applicable to cities, and also those applicable to counties, so far as not inconsistent or prohibited to cities, shall be applicable to such consolidated government. [Amendment adopted November 6, 1894.]

SEC. 8. Any city containing a population of more than three thousand five hundred inhabitants may frame a charter for its own government, consistent with and subject to the Constitution and laws of this State, by causing a board of fifteen freeholders, who shall have been for at least five years qualified electors thereof, to be elected by the qualified voters of said city, at any general or special election, whose duty it shall be, within ninety days after such election, to prepare and propose a charter for such city, which shall be signed in duplicate by the members of such board, or a majority of them, and returned, one copy to the Mayor thereof, or other chief executive officer of such city, and the other to the Recorder of the county. Such proposed charter shall then be published in two daily newspapers of general circulation in such city, for at least twenty days, and the first publication shall be made within twenty days after the completion of the charter; provided, that in cities containing a population of not more than ten thousand inhabitants such proposed charter shall be published in one such daily newspaper; and within not less than thirty days after such publication it shall be submitted to the qualified electors of said city at a general or special election, and if a majority of such qualified electors voting thereon shall ratify the same, it shall thereafter be submitted to the Legislature for its approval or rejection as a whole, without power of alteration or amendment. Such approval may be made by concurrent resolution, and if approved by a majority vote of the members elected to each house it shall become the charter of such city, or if such city be consolidated with a county, then of such city and county, and shall become the organic law thereof, and supersede any existing charter, and all amendments thereof, and all laws inconsistent with such charter. A copy of such charter, certified by the Mayor or chief executive officer, and authenticated by the seal of such city, setting forth the submission of such charter to the electors, and its ratification by them, shall, after the approval of such charter by the Legislature, be made in duplicate, and deposited, one in the office of the Secretary of State, and the other, after being recorded in said Recorder's office, shall be deposited in the archives of the city, and thereafter all courts shall take judicial notice of said charter. The charter, so ratified, may be amended, at intervals of not less than two years, by proposals therefor, submitted by the legislative authority of the city to the qualified electors thereof, at a general or special election, held at least forty days after the publication of such proposals for twenty days in a daily newspaper of general circulation in such city, and ratified by a majority of the electors voting thereon, and approved by the Legislature as herein provided for the approval of the charter. Whenever fifteen per cent of the qualified voters of the city shall petition the legislative authority thereof to submit any proposed amendment or amendments to said charter to the qualified voters thereof for approval, the legislative authority thereof must submit the same. In submitting any such charter, or amendments thereto, any alternative article or proposition may be presented for the