USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > The annals of San Francisco; containing a summary of the history of California, and a complete history of its great city: to which are added, biographical memoirs of some prominent citizens > Part 68
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69
Sec. 16. No perpetuities shall be allowed, except for eleemosynary purposes.
Sec. 17. Every person shall be disqualified from holding any office of profit in this State, who shall have been convicted of having given or offered a bribe to procure his election or appointment.
Sec. 18. Laws shall be made to exclude from office, serving on juries, and from the right of suffrage, those who shall hereafter be convicted of bribery, perjury, forgery, or other high crimes. The privi- lege of free suffrage shall be supported by laws regulating elections, and prohibiting, under adequate penalties, all undue influence thereon from power, bribery, tumult, or other improper practice.
Sec. 19. Absence from this State on business of the State, or of the United States, shall not affect the question of residence of any person.
Sec. 20. A plurality of the votes given at an election shall constitute a choice, where not otherwise directed in this Constitution.
Scc. 21. All laws, decrees, regulations, and provisions, which from their nature require publication, shall be published in English and Spanish.
ARTICLE XII.
BOUNDARY.
The boundary of the Stato of California shall be as follows :
Commencing at the point of intersection of forty-second degree of north latitude with the one hundred and twentieth degree of longitude west from Greenwich, and running south on the line of said one hundred and twentieth degree of west longitude until it intersects the thirty-ninth degree of north latitude; thence running in a straight line in a southi-easterly direction to the River Colorado, at a point where it intersects the thirty-fifth degree of north latitude; thence down the middle of the channel of said river, to the boundary line between the United States and Mexico, as established by the treaty of May 30th, 1348 ; thence running west and along said boundary line to the Pacific Ocean, and extending therein three English miles; thence running in a north-westerly direction and following the direction of the Pacific Coast to the forty-second degree of north latitude, thence on the line of said forty-second degree of north latitude to the place of beginning. Also, all the islands, harbors and bays along and adjacent to the Pacific Coast.
SCHEDULE.
Section 1. All rights, prosecutions, claims and contracts, as well of individuals as of bodies cor- porate, and all laws in force at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, and not inconsistent there- with, until altered or repealed by the Legislature, shall continne as if tho same had not been adopted.
815
CONSTITUTION OF CALIFORNIA.
Sec. 2. The Legislature shall provide for the removal of all causes which may be pending when this Constitution goes into effeet, to courts created by the same.
Sec. 3. In order that no inconvenience may result to the public service, from the taking effect of this Constitution, no office shall be superseded thereby, nor the laws relative to the duties of the several officers be changed, until the entering into office of the new officers to be appointed under this Constitution.
Sec. 4. The provisions of this Constitution concerning the term of residence necessary to enabto persons to hold certain offices therein mentioned, shall not be held to apply to officers chosen by the people at the first election, or by the Legislature at its first session.
Sec. 5. Every citizen of California, declared a legal voter by this Constitution, and every citizen of the United States, a resident of this State on the day of election, shall be entitled to vote at the first general election under this Constitution, and on the question of the adoption thereof.
Sec. 6. This Constitution shall be submitted to the people for their ratification or rejection, at the general election to be held on Tuesday, the thirteenth day of November next. The Executive of the existing Government of California is hereby requested to issue a proclamation to the people, directing the Prefects of the several districts, or in case of vacancy, the Sub-Prefects, or Senior Judge of First Instance, to cause such election to be held, the day aforesaid, in the respective districts. The election shall be conducted in the manner which was prescribed for the election of Delegates to this Conven- tion, except that the Prefect, Sub-Prefect, or Senior Judge of First Instance, ordering such election in each district, shall have power to designate any additional number of places for opening the polls, and that, in every place of holding the election, a regular poll list shall be kept by the judges and Inspec- ters of election. It shall also be the duty of these judges and inspectors of election, on the day afore- said, to receive the votes of the electors qualified to vote at such election. Each voter shall express his opinion, by depositing in the ballot box a ticket, whereon shall be written, or printed, "For the Constitution," or " Against the Constitution," or some such words as will distinctly convey the inten- tion of the voter. These judges and inspectors shall also receive the votes for the several oflieers to be voted for at the said election as herein provided. At the close of the election, the judges and in- spectors shall carefully count each ballot, and forthwith make duplicate returns thereof to the Prefect, Sub-Prefect, or Senior Judge of First Instance, as the case may be, of their respective districts; and said Prefect, Sub-Prefect, or Senior Judge of First Instance shall transmit ene of the same, by the most safe and rapid conveyance, to the Secretary of State. Upon the receipt of said returns, or on the tenth day of December next, if the returns be not sooner received, it shall be the duty of a Board of Canvassers, to consist of the Secretary of State, one of the Judges of the Superior Court, the Pretect, Judge of First Instance, and an Alcalde of the District of Monterey, or any three of the afore- mentioned officers, in the presence of all who shall choose to attend, to compare the votes given at said election, and to immediately publish an abstract of the same in one or more of the newspapers of California. And the Exeentive will also, immediately after ascertaining that the Constitution has been ratified by the people, make proclamation of the faet ; and thenceforth this Constitution shall be ordained and established as the Constitution of California.
Sec. 7. If this Constitution shall be ratified by the people of California, the Exeentive of the exist- ing Government is hereby requested immediately after the same shall be ascertained, in the manner herein directed, to cause a fair copy thereof to be forwarded to the President of the United States, in order that he may lay it before the Congress of the United States.
Sec. S. At the general election aforesaid, viz., the thirteenth day of November next, there shall be elected a Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, members of the Legislature, and also twe members of' Congress.
Sec. 9. If this Constitution shall be ratified by the people of California, the Legislature shall assemble at the seat of Government on the fifteenth day of December next, and in order to complete the organization of that body, the Senate shall elect a l'resident pro tempore, until the Lieutenant- Goveruor shall be installed into office.
See. 10. On the organization of the Legislature, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State te lay before each House a copy of the abstract made by the Board of Canvassers, and if called for, the original returns of election, in order that each Ilouse may judge of the correctness of the report of said Board of Canvassers.
See. 11. The Legislature, at its first session, shall eleet such officers as may be ordered by this Constitution, to be elected by that body, and within four days after its organization proceed to elect two Senators to the Congress of the United States. But no law passed by this Legislature shall take effect until signed by the Governor after his installation into office.
Sec. 12. The Senators and Representatives to the Congress of the United States, elected by the Legislature and People of California, as herein directed, shall be furnished with certifled copies of this Constitution, wben ratified, which they shall lay before the Congress of the United States, requesting,
816
ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
in the name of the People of California, the admission of the State of California into the American Union.
Sec. 13. All officers of this State, other than members of the Legislature, shall be installed into office on the fifteenth day of December next, or as soon thereafter as practicable.
Sec. 14. Until the Legislature shall divide the State into Counties, and Senatorial and Assembly Districts, as directed by this Constitution, the following shall be the apportionment of the two Houses of the Legislature, viz : The Districts of San Diego and Los Angeles shall jointly elect two Senators ; the Districts of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo shall jointly elect one Senator; the District of Monterey, one Senator; the District of San Jose, one Senator ; the District of San Francisco, two Senators ; the District of Sonoma, one Senator ; the District of Sacramento, four Senators; and the District of San Joaquin, four Senators. And the District of San Diego shall elect one member of Assembly ; the District of Los Angeles, two members of Assembly ; the District of Santa Barbara, two members of Assembly ; the District of San Luis Obispo, one member of Assembly ; the District of Monterey, two members of Assembly ; the District of San Jose, three members of Assembly ; the District of San Francisco, five members of Assembly; the District of Sonoma, two members of Assembly ; the District of Sacramento, nine members of Assembly; and the District of San Joaquin, nine members of Assembly.
Sec. 15. Until the Legislature shall otherwise direct, in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution, the salary of the Governor shall be ten thousand dollars per annum ; and the salary of the Lieutenant-Governor shall be double thie pay of a State Senator ; and the pay of members of the Legislature shall be sixteen dollars per diem, while in attendance, and sixteen dollars for every twenty miles' travel by the usual route from their residences to the place of holding the session of the Legis- lature, and in returning therefrom. And the Legislature shall fix the salaries of all officers, other than those elected by the people, at the first election.
Sec. 16. The limitation of the powers of the Legislature, contained in article Sth of this Constitu- tion, shall not extend to the first Legislature elected under the same, which is hereby authorized to negotiate for such amount as may be necessary to pay the expenses of the State Government.
THE
F
CHARTER OF THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO.
The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows :
ARTICLE I
GENERAL POWERS, BOUNDARIES AND WARDS.
Section 1. The People of the City of San Francisco shall continue to be a body politie and corpo- rate, under the style of the "City of San Francisco," and by that name they shall have perpetual succession, may complain and defend in all courts and in all actions and proceedings, and may pur-
817
CHARTER OF SAN FRANCISCO.
chase, receive, and hold property, real and personal, and sell or otherwise dispose of the same for their common benefit: Provided, that they shall purchase without the city only such property as may be necessary for the purposes of burial, or for tho erection of prisons, hospitals, asylums, and water-works for supplying the city with water.
Section 2. The City of San Francisco shall hereafter be bounded as follows : On the south by a line parallel with Clay street, two and a half miles distant, in a southerly direction, from the centre of Portsmouth Square, on the west by a line parallel with Kearny street, two miles distant, in a westerly direction, from the centre of Portsmouth Square. Its northern and eastern boundaries shall be coin- cident with those of the County of San Francisco.
Sec. 8. The said city shall continue as now divided into eight wards, which number shall not be altered, unless by Act of the Legislature. The Common Council shall, at least three months before the general election in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-two, and also during the second year thereafter, re-district the city, so that each ward shall contain as near as may be the same number of inhabitants.
ARTICLE II.
OF ELECTIONS.
Section 1. For the government of said city there shall be elected annually, by general ticket, thie following ofheers: A Mayor, Recorder, Comptroller, Treasurer, Collector, Attorney. Marshal, Street Commissioner, and three Assessors ; and, also, by the respective wards, a Board of Aldermen and a Board of Assistant Aldermen.
Sec. 2. No person who is not a qualified voter shall be eligible to any office under this charter, nor shall any person be entitled to vote at any city election unless he shall be an elector for State officers, and have resided in the ward thirty days next preceding said election.
Sec. 3. All vacancies, except as hereinafter provided, shall be filled by election in such manner as may be prescribed by ordinance.
Sec. 4. It shall be the duty of the Common Council to call all city elections, to designate the places of holding the same, giving at least ten days' notice thereof, to appoint inspectors of elections, to ex- amine the returns and declare the results, and to determine contested elections.
Sec. 5. The first general election for officers under this charter shall be held on the fourth Monday of April, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, and thereafter annually at the general election for State officers. No election shall be held in any place where intoxicating liqnors are vended.
Sec. 6. All provisions of law regulating elections for State officers shall apply, so far as practicable, to elections under this charter.
Sec. 7. When two or more persons have an equal, and the highest number of votes for the office of Mayor. the Common Conncit shall decide the election by joint ballot.
Sec. S. At the first election under this charter only two Assessors shall be elected, and the County Assessor shall act as one of the City Assessors during the term for which he was clected.
ARTICLE III.
OF THE COMMON COUNCIL.
Section 1. The legislative power of the city shall be vested in a Board of Aldermen and a Board of Assistant Aldermen, which shall each consist of one member from each ward, and shall forin the Common Council of the city. No person shall be eligible to either Board who shall not be an elector of the ward for which he may be elected ; nor shall he be a member except whilst a resident of the ward which he represents.
Sec. 2. Both Boards shall assemble on the first Monday after their election ; they shall sit in sepa- rate chambers, and their proceedings shall be public. A majority in each Board shall be a quorum, but a smaller number may adjourn from time to time, and may compel the attendance of absent members. Each Board shall eleet a president from its own body, choose its clerk and other officers, determine the rules of its proceedings, judge of the qualifications of clection of its own members, and keep a journal of its own proceedings, and shall have power to compel the attendance of members, to punish them for disorderly conduct, and, with the consent of two thirds, to expel a member. Elther Board may originate or amend any ordinance or resolution, and no ordinance or resolution shall be passed unless by a majority of all the members elected to each Board. On the final passage of every ordinance or resolution ayes and nays shall be taken and entered upon the journal.
Sec. 3. Every ordinance passed by both Boards shall, before it takes effect, be presented to the Mayor for his approval. If he approve he shall sign it, if not he shall return it with his objections to the Board in which it originated. Said Board shall enter the objections on Its journal, and publish
52
818
ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
them in some city newspaper. If at any stated meeting thereafter two thirds of all the members elected to each Board shall agree to pass said ordinance, notwithstanding the objections of the Mayor, it shall become a law. Should any ordinance not be returned by the Mayor within ten days after he shall have received it, it shall become a law, the same as if it had received bis signature.
Sec. 4. Every ordinance providing for any specific improvement, the creation of any office, or tho granting of any privilege, or involving the sale, lease. or other appropriation of public property, or the expenditure of public moneys (except for sums less than five hundred dollars), or laying any tax or assessment, and every ordinance imposing a new duty or penalty, shall, after its passage by either Board, and before being sent to the other, be published with the ayes and nays in some city newspa- per, and no ordinance or resolution, which shall have passed one Board shall be acted upon by the other on the same day, unless by unanimous consent
Sec. 5. The Common Council shall not create, nor permit to accrue, any debts or liabilities which, in the aggregate with all former debts or liabilities, shall exceed the sum of fifty thousand dollars over and above the annual revenue of the city, unless the same shall be authorized by ordinance for some specifie object, which ordinance shall provide ways and means, exclusive of loans, for the payment of the interest thereon as it falls dne, and also to pay and discharge the principal within twelve years; but no such ordinance shall take effect until it shall have been submitted to the people and receive a majority of all the votes cast at such election ; and all moneys raised by authority of such ordinance shall be applied only to the object therein mentioned, or to the payment of the debt thereby created : Provided, that the present debt of the city, with the interest accruing thereon, shall make no part of the fifty thousand dollars aforesaid.
Sec. 6. The Common Council shall have no power to borrow money on the credit of the city, un- less they shall by ordinance direct the same in anticipation of the revenne for the current year, and shall provide in said ordinance for repaying the same ont of such revenue, nor in such case shall they borrow a sum to exceed fifty thousand dollars ; but a larger sum may be raised by loan for the pur- pose of extinguishing the present liabilities of the city, whenever the ordinance providing for the same shall first be approved by the electors of the city at any general election: Provided, that said loan shall bear a yearly rate of interest not to exceed ten per cent, and shall be payable within twenty years.
Sec. 7. The Common Council shall have no power to cmit bills of credit or to issue or put in circu- lation any paper or device as a representative of valne or evidence of indebtedness, to award damage, for the non-performance or failure on their part of any contract, to loan the credit of the city, to sub- scribe to the stock of any association or corporation, or to increase the funded debt of the city unless the ordinance for that purpose be first approved by the people at a general election ; but this section shall not be construed te prohibit the auditing and certifying of accounts by the proper officers to the creditors of the city, but no such audited or certified accounts shall draw interest.
Sec. 8. Annual and occasional appropriations shall be made by ordinance for every branch and ob- ject of city expenditure, and no money shall be drawn from the treasury unless the same shall have been previously appropriated to the purpose for which it is drawn. Every warrant upon the treasury shall be signed by the Comptroller and countersigned by the Mayor, and shall specify the appropria- tion under which it is issned, and the date of the ordinance making the same. It shall also state from what fund and for what purpose the amount specified is to be paid.
Sec. 9. There shall be elected annually by ballot a joint committee of accounts to consist of three members from each Board, who shall meet at least once a month and examine all accounts of the fi- nance department, and report thereon in writing to both Boards of the Common Conneil.
Sec. 10. No member of the Common Council shall, during the period for which be was elected, be appointed to any office under this charter, nor be interested in any contract or business, or the sale of any article, the expense of which is borne by the city, or which may be sold for city taxes; nor shall any member sell or offer for sale to the city any property in which he may be interested.
Sec. 11. No member of the Common Council shall vote on any question in which he may be in- terested, either personally or as agent for another.
Sec. 12. The Common Council shall have power, and it shall be their duty, annually to raise by tax on the real and personal property in the city, whatever amount of money may be requisite for the support of free common schools, and to provide suitable buildings therefer.
Sec. 13. They shall also have power within the city to pass all proper and necessary laws for the regulation, improvement, and sale of city property ; for the levy and collection of city taxes on all tax- able property, not to exceed one per cent. a year upon its assessed valne; for the laying out, making, opening, widening, regulating, and keeping in repair, all streets, roads, bridges, fences, public places and grounds, wharves, docks, piers, slips, sewers, wells, and alleys, and for making the assessments therefor ; for regulating and collecting wharfage, dockage, and cranage upon all water-craft and all goods landed ; for securing the protection, health, cleanliness, ornament, peace, and good order of the
819
CHARTER OF SAN FRANCISCO.
city ; for the prevention and extinguishment of fires ; for regulating firemen, watchinen, policemen. and such other officers as it may be necessary to appoint ; for the care and regulation of prisons, mar- kets, houses of correction and industry, alms-honses and asylums ; for the support, regulation, and employment of all vagrants and paupers; for licensing, taxing, and regulating all such vehicles, busi- ness, and employments as the public good may require, and as may not be prohibited by law, and for revoking such licenses ; to prohibit and suppress dram-shops, gambling-houses. houses of ill-fame, gaming. hawking, pawn-broking, and all indecent or immoral practices, amusements and exhibitions . to regulate the location of slaughter-houses, markets, stables, and houses for the storage of gunpowder and other combustibles; for the establishment of a chain-gang, and rules and regulations for the go- vernment of the same, and, in brief, to pass all such other laws and ordinances, for the management. good government, and general welfare of said city, as may not be inconsistent with this charter, or with the laws or constitution of this State or of the United Slates, and to affix penalties to the violation of any ordinance ; but such penalties shall not exceed imprisonment for sixty days and a fine of five bundred dollars.
Sec. 14. All money to be received from the following sources, shall continue to constitute a sinking fund for the payment of the existing city indebtedness with the interest accruing thereon, until the same shall be cancelled :
1st. The net proceeds of all sales of real estate belonging, or that may bereafter belong to the city ;
2d. The net proceeds of all bonds and mortgages payable to the city ;
3d. For occupation of private wharves, basins, and piers ;
4th. For wharfage, rents, and tolls. Said fund or any part thereof shall not be loaned to any other fund, or expended for any other purposes whatever.
Sec. 15. The Common Council shall at an early day take steps to fund by ordinance the existing debts of the city. The funded debt shall consist of-
1st. The liabilities for the payment of which the city revenue is already pledged ;
2d. The creditors of the city may fund the debts respectively dne them at the passage of this Act. on such terms as the Common Council may prescribe, at a rate of interest not to exceed ten per cent. a year, and payable within ten years; but no bond shall issue of a less denomination than one hundred dollars.
Sec. 16. The Common Conncil shall have no power to allow extra compensation to any creditor of the city, on account of any depreciation to which the city bonds, warrants, or other evidences of in- debtedness may be liable.
Sec. 17. The Commissioners of the Sinking Fund created by ordinance of the Common Council are hereby prohibited from permanently disposing of any property belonging to the city by sale, lease, or otherwise, and also required to re-convey and deliver to the city, before the tenth day of May next. all property, titles, rights, and interests belonging to the city, and which are or may be in their pos- session.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.