and a Surveyor-General shall be elected at the same time and places, and in the same manner, as the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, and their terms of office shall be the same as that of the Governor.

SECT. 18. Secretary of State.-The Secretary of State shall keep a correct record of the official Acts of the legislative and executive departments of the government, and shall, when required, lay the same, and all matters relative thereto, before either branch of the Legislature, and shall perform such other duties as may be assigned him by law.

SECT. 19. Compensation of Executive Officers.—The Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary of State, Controller, Treasurer, Attorney-General, and Surveyor-General shall, at stated times during their continuance in office, receive for their services a compensation which shall not be increased or diminished during the term for which they shall have been elected, which compensation is hereby fixed for the following officers for the two terms next ensuing the adoption of this Constitution, as follows: Governor, six thousand dollars per annum; Lieutenant-Governor, the same per diem as may be provided by law for the Speaker of the Assembly, to be allowed only during the session of the Legislature; the Secretary of State, Controller, Treasurer, Attorney-General, and Surveyor-General, three thousand dollars each per annum, such compensation to be in full for all services by them, respectively, rendered in any official capacity or employment whatsoever during their respective terms of office; provided, however, that the Legislature, after the expiration of the terms herein before mentioned, may by law diminish the compensation of any or all of such officers, but in no case shall have the power to increase the same above the sums hereby fixed by this Constitution. No salary shall be authorized by law for clerical service, in

any office provided for in this article, exceeding sixteen hundred dollars per annum for each clerk employed. The Legislature may, in its discretion, abolish the office of Surveyor-General; and none of the officers hereinbefore named shall receive for their own use any fees or perquisites for the performance of any official duty. (Compare U. S. Const., Art. II., Sect. 1, Par. 7.)

SECT. 20. Governor Ineligible to U. S. Senate.-The Governor shall not, during his term of office, be elected a Senator to the Senate of the United States.

ARTICLE VI.

JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT.

SECTION 1. The Judicial Power.-The judicial power of the State shall be vested in the Senate sitting as a Court of Impeachment, in a Supreme Court, Superior Courts, justices of the peace, and such inferior courts as the Legislature may establish in any incorporated city or town or city and county. (Compare U. S. Const., Art. III., Sect. 1.)

SECT. 2. Supreme Court: How Constituted; Mode of Procedure.-The Supreme Court shall consist of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The court may sit in departments and in bank, and shall always be open for the transaction of business. There shall be two departments, denominated, respectively, Department One and Department Two. The Chief Justice shall assign three of the Associate Justices to each department, and such assignment may be changed by him from time to time. The Associate Justices shall be competent to sit in either department, and may interchange with each other by agreement among themselves or as ordered by

the Chief Justice. Each of the departments shall have the power to hear and determine causes and all questions arising therein, subject to the provisions hereinafter contained in relation to the court in bank. The presence of three justices shall be necessary to transact any business in either of the departments, except such as may be done at chambers, and the concurrence of three justices shall be necessary to pronounce a judgment. The Chief Justice shall apportion the business to the departments, and may, in his discretion, order any cause pending before the court to be heard and decided by the court in bank. The order may be made before or after judgment pronounced by a department; but where a cause has been allotted to one of the departments, and a judgment pro- . nounced thereon, the order must be made within thirty days after such judgment, and concurred in by two Associate Justices, and if so made it shall have the effect to vacate and set aside the judgment. Any four justices may, either before or after judgment by a department, order a case to be heard in bank. If the order be not made within the time above limited the judgment shall be final. No judgment by a department shall become final until the expiration of the period of thirty days aforesaid, unless approved by the Chief Justice, in writing, with the concurrence of two Associate Justices. The Chief Justice may convene the court in bank at any time, and shall be the presiding justice of the court when so convened. The concurrence of four justices present at the argument shall be necessary to pronounce a judgment in bank; but if four justices, so present, do not concur in a judgment, then all the justices qualified to sit in the cause shall hear the argument; but to render a judgment a concurrence of four judges shall be necessary. In the determination of causes, all decisions of the court in bank or in departments shall be given in writing, and

the grounds for the decision shall be stated. The Chief Justice may sit in either department, and shall preside when so sitting, but the justices assigned to each department shall select one of their number as presiding justice. In case of the absence of the Chief Justice from the place at which the court is held, or his inability to act, the Associate Justices shall select one of their own number to perform the duties and exercise the powers of the Chief Justice during such absence or inability to act.

SECT. 3. Election of Justices of Supreme Court.—The Chief Justice and the Associate Justices shall be elected by the qualified electors of the State at large at the general State elections, at the times and places at which State officers are elected; and the term of office shall be twelve years, from and after the first Monday after the first day of January next succeeding their election; provided, that the six Associate Justices elected at the first election shall, at their first meeting, so classify themselves, by lot, that two of them shall go out of office at the end of four years, two of them at the end of eight years, and two of them at the end of twelve years, and an entry of such classification shall be made in the minutes of the court in bank, signed by them, and a duplicate thereof shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State. If a vacancy occur in the office of a justice, the Governor shall appoint a person to hold the office until the election and qualification of a justice to fill the vacancy, which election shall take place at the next succeeding general election, and the justice so elected shall hold the office for the remainder of the unexpired term. The first election of the justices shall be at the first general election after the adoption and ratification of this Constitution.

SECT. 4. Jurisdiction of Supreme Court.-The Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction in all cases in

equity, except such as arise in justices' courts; also, in all cases at law which involve the title or possession of real estate, or the legality of any tax, impost, assessment, toll, or municipal fine, or in which the demand, exclusive of interest, or the value of the property in controversy, amounts to three hundred dollars; also, in cases of forcible entry and detainer, and in proceedings in insolvency, and in actions to prevent or abate a nuisance, and in all such probate matters as may be provided by law; also, in all criminal cases prosecuted by indictment or information in a court of record on questions of law alone. The court shall also have power to issue writs of mandamus, certiorari, prohibition, and habeas corpus, and all other writs necessary or proper to the complete exercise of its appellate jurisdiction. Each of the justices shall have power to issue writs of habeas corpus to any part of the State, upon petition by or on behalf of any person held in actual custody, and may make such writs returnable before himself, or the Supreme Court, or before any Superior Court in the State, or before any judge thereof.

SECT. 5. Jurisdiction of Superior Court.-The Superior Court shall have original jurisdiction in all cases in equity, and in all cases at law which involve the title or possession of real property, or the legality of any tax, impost, assessment, toll, or municipal fine, and in all other cases in which the demand, exclusive of interest or the value of the property in controversy, amounts to three hundred dollars, and in all criminal cases amounting to felony, and cases of misdemeanor not otherwise provided for; of actions of forcible entry and detainer; of proceedings in insolvency; of actions to prevent or abate a nuisance; of all matters of probate; of divorce and for annulment of marriage, and of all such special cases and proceedings as are not otherwise provided for.