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CONSTITUTION

ON THE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

Adopted in Convention, at Sacramento, March 3rd, A. D. 1879; Ratified by a vote of the People, Wednesday, May 7th, 1879.

PREAMBLE AND DECLARATION OF RIGHTS.

PREAMBLE.

We, the people of the state of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure and perpetuate its blessings, do establish this Constitution.

Const. 1849.

Each provision of the constitution is to be given its proper effect. If in one section a power is specially conferred, or a duty specially enjoined, which, in general terms, is prohibited by other sections, the power or duty specially conferred or enjoined constitutes an exception to the general rule; the direction to employ the power or discharge the duty in the particular instance is as mandatory as the general prohibition. S. F. & N. P. R. R. Co. v. State Board, 60 Cal. 32.

The general rules of construction are the same whether applied to constitutions or statutes, and it is a familiar rule of construction not to treat any word as redundant, if that can be avoided without marring the obvious sense of the entire clause. Hyatt v. Allen, 54 Cal. 353.

ARTICLE I.

DECLARATION OF RIGHTS.

SECTION 1. All men are by nature free and independent, and have certain inalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty; acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness.

Const. 1849, Art. I, Sec. 1.

Unusual and burdensome restrictions imposed by ordinance of supervisors of San Mateo county upon the business of maintaining an asylum for treatment of insane and others, render the ordinance unconstitutional. Ex parte Whitwell, 98 Cal. 73.

A city ordinance prohibiting the sale of liquor in any saloon, dance house, etc., where females are employed to solicit or wait upon customers is a valid exercise of police power and not an unconstitutional discrimination. Ex parte Hayes, 98 Cal. 555.

So, an ordinance requiring a license of thirty dollars for ordinary saloons or bars, and a license of one hundred and fifty dollars where females are employed, is held constitutional. Ex parte Felchlin, 96 Cal. 360.

Under section 1617, Political Code, there is no authority for excluding children of African descent from public schools attended by white children, nor for establishing separate schools for Africans or Indians. The case of Ward v. Flood, 48 Cal. 37, is distinguished for the reason that at that time the statutes of the state provided for such separate schools. Suggested further that there is nothing in the constitution of this state, nor in the 13th and 14th amendments to the constitution of the United States, inhibiting legislation providing for such separate schools. Wysinger v. Crookshank, 82 Cal. 588.

Any person is at liberty to pursue any lawful calling, and to do so in his own way, not encroaching upon the rights of others; and it is not competent to forbid any person or class of persons, whether citizens or alien residents, from engaging in such business, or to subject others to penalties for employing them. An ordinance of the city of Los Angeles making it a misdemeanor for any contractor to employ any person to work more than eight hours a day, or to employ Chinese labor on work contracted for by the city, is a direct interference with the rights of individuals, and unconstitutional so far as it attempts to create a criminal offense, it not appearing that the work to be performed was unlawful or against public policy, or that the employment was such as might be unfit for infants, females or the like, or forbidden on that ground. Ex parte Kuback, 85 Cal. 274.

An ordinance of the city and county of San Francisco prohibiting the carrying on of any laundry within certain named limits without first obtaining a certificate from the health officer that the premises are sufficiently drained, and that the business can be carried on without danger to the sanitary condition of the neighborhood, and a certificate from the fire wardens that the heating appliances are in safe condition, and that no persons owning or employed in said wash houses shall wash or iron clothes between the hours of ten o'clock P. M. and six o'clock A. M., nor on Sunday. Held, the ordinance was not unconstitutional. Ex parte Moynier, 65 Cal. 33.

An ordinance of supervisors establishing a license of twenty-five dollars per month upon business of retailing spirituous liquors is not in restraint of trade nor oppressive. Ex parte Benninger, 64 Cal. 291.

The Sunday law contained in sections 300, 301 of Penal Code, as those sections existed in 1881, is not unconstitutional. Ex parte Koser, 60 Cal. 177.

The provisions of section 397 of Penal Code prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors to Indians is not obnoxious to the constitutional provisions guaranteeing the fundamental rights of persons. People v. Bray, 105 Cal. 345.

A municipal ordinance which declared that it was unlawful for any one to have in possession any lottery ticket unless such person should show that the possession thereof was

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