USA > Indiana > An illustrated history of the state of Indiana: being a full and authentic civil and political history of the state from its first exploration down to 1875 > Part 57
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SEC. 30. No Senator or Representative shall, during the term for which he may have been elected, be eligible to any office, the election to which is vested in the General Assembly ; nor shall he be appointed to any civil office of profit which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased during such term ; but this latter provision shall not be construed to apply to any office elective by the people.
ARTICLE V. EXECUTIVE.
SECTION 1. The executive power of the State shall be vested in a Gov- ernor. He shall hold his office during four years, and shall not be eligi- ble more than four years in any period of eight years.
SEC. 2. There shall be a Lieutenant Governor, who shall hold his office during four years.
SEC. 3. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall be elected at the times and places of choosing members of the General Assembly.
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SEC. 4. In voting for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, the electors shall designate for whom they vote as Governor, and for whom as Lieu- tenant Governor. The returns of every election for Governor and Lieuten- ant Governor shall be sealed up and transmitted to the seat of govern- ment, directed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall open and publish them in the presence of both Houses of the General Assembly.
SEC. 5. The persons respectively having the highest number of votes for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, shall be elected; but in case two or more persons shall have an equal and the highest number of votes for either office, the General Assembly shall, by joint vote, forthwith proceed to elect one of the said persons Governor, or Lieutenant Governor, as the case may be.
SEC. 6. Contested elections for Governor or Lieutenant Governor, shall be determined by the General Assembly in such manner as may be pre- scribed by law.
SEC. 7. No person shall be eligible to the office of Governor or Lieu- tenant Governor, who shall not have been five years a citizen of the United States, and also a resident of the State of Indiana during the five years next preceding his election ; nor shall any person be eligible to either of the said offices who shall not have attained the age of thirty years.
SEC. 8. No member of Congress, or person holding any office under the United States, or of this State, shall fill the office of Governor or Lieu- tenant Governor.
SEC. 9. The official term of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall commence on the second Monday in January, in the year one thou- sand eight hundred and fifty-three, and on the same day every fourth year thereafter.
SEC. 10. In case of the removal of the Governor from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the duties of the office, the same shall devolve upon the Lieutenant Governor, and the General Assem- bly shall, by law, provide for the case of removal from office, death, resig- nation, or inability, both of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, declaring what officer then shall act as Governor ; and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed or a Governor elected.
SEC. 11. Whenever the Lieutenant Governor shall act as Governor, or shall be unable to attend as President of the Senate, the Senate shall elect one of its own members as President for the occasion.
SEC. 12. The Governor shall be commander-in-chief of the militia and naval forces, and may call out such forces to execute the laws, or to sup- press insurrection, or to repel invasion.
SEC. 13. He shall, from time to time, give to the General Assembly information touching the condition of the State, and recommend such measures as he shall judge to be expedient.
SEC. 14. Every bill which shall have passed the General Assembly, shall be presented to the Governor ; if he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to the House in which it shall
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have originated ; which House shall enter the objections at large upon its journals, and proceed to reconsider the bill. If, after such reconsidera- tion, a majority of all the members elected to that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, with the Governor's objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by a majority of all the members elected to that House, it shall be a law. If any bill shall not be returned by the Governor within three days, Sundays excepted, after it shall have been presented to him, it shall be a law with_ out his signature, unless the general adjournment shall prevent its return, in which case it shall be a law, unless the Governor within five days next after such adjournment shall file such bill with his objections thereto in the office of the Secretary of State, who shall lay the same before the Gen- eral Assembly at its next session, in like manner as if it had been returned by the Governor. But no bill shall be presented to the Governor within two days next previous to the final adjournment of the General Assembly.
SEC. 15. The Governor shall transact all necessary business with the officers of government, and may require information in writing, from the officers of the administrative department, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices.
SEC. 16. He shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.
SEC. 17. He shall have the power to grant reprieves, commutations and pardons after conviction, for all offenses, except treason and cases of impeachment, subject to such regulations as may be provided by law. Upon conviction for treason, he shall have power to suspend the execution of the sentence until the case shall be reported to the General Assembly, at its next meeting; when the General Assembly shall either grant a pardon, commute the sentence, direct the execution of the sentence, or grant a further reprieve. He shall have power to remit fines and forfeit- ures, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law, and shall report to the General Assembly at its next meeting, each case of reprieve, com- mutation, or pardon granted, and also the names of all persons in whose favor remission of fines and forfeitures shall have been made and the sev- eral amounts remitted : Provided, however, that the General Assembly may, by law, constitute a council, to be composed of officers of State, without whose advise and consent the Governor shall not have power to grant pardons in any case, except such as may by law be left to his sole power.
SEC. 18. When, during a recess of the General Assembly, a vacancy shall happen in any office, the appointment to which is vested in the Gen- eral Assembly; or when at any time a vacancy shall have occurred in any other State office, or in the office of Judge of any Court; the Governor shall fill such vacancy by appointment, which shall expire when a suc- cessor shall have been elected and qualified.
SEC. 19. He shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies as may have occurred in the General Assembly.
SEC. 20. Should the seat of government become dangerous from dis- ease, or a common enemy, he may convene the General Assembly at any other place.
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SEC. 21. The Lieutenant Governor shall, by virtue of his office, be Pres- ident of the Senate, have a right, when in committee of the whole, to join in debate, and to vote on all subjects; and whenever the Senate shall be equally divided he shall give the casting vote.
SEC. 22. The Governor shall, at stated times, receive for his services a compensation, which shall neither be increased or diminished during the term for which he shall have been elected.
SEC. 23. The Lieutenant Governor, while he shall act as President of the Senate, shall receive for his services, the same compensation as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and any person acting as Gover- nor, shall receive the compensation attached to the office of Governor.
SEC. 24. Neither the Governor nor Lieutenant Governor shall be eligi- ble to any other office, during the term for which he shall have been elected.
ARTICLE VI. ADMINISTRATIVE.
SECTION 1. There shall be elected, by the voters of the State, a Secre- tary, an Auditor, and a Treasurer of State, who shall, severally, hold their offices for two years. They shall perform such duties as may be enjoined by law; and no person shall be eligible to either of said offices more than four years in any period of six years.
SEC. 2. There shall be elected, in each county, by the voters thereof, at the time of holding the general elections, a Clerk of the Circuit Court, Auditor, Recorder, Treasurer, Sheriff, Coroner, and Surveyor. The Clerk, Auditor, and Recorder, shall continue in office four years; and no person shall be eligible to the office of Clerk, Recorder, or Auditor, more than eight years in any period of twelve years. The Treasurer, Sheriff, Coroner and Surveyor, shall continue in office two years; and no person shall be eligible to the office of Treasurer or Sheriff more than four years in any period of six years.
SEC. 3. Such other county and township officers as may be necessary, shall be elected, or appointed, in such manner as may be prescribed by law.
SEC. 4. No person shall be elected, or appointed, as a county officer, who shall not be an elector of the county; nor any one who shall not have been an inhabitant thereof during one year next preceding his appoint- ment, if the county shall have been so long organized; but if the county shall not have been so long organized, then within the limits of the county or counties out of which the same shall have been taken.
SEC. 5. The Governor, and the Secretary, Auditor and Treasurer of State, shall, severally, reside and keep the public records, books, and papers, in any manner relating to their respective offices, at the seat of government.
SEC. 6. All county, township and town officers, shall reside within their respective counties, townships and towns, and shall keep their respective offices at such places therein, and perform such duties, as may be directed by law.
SEC. 7. All State officers shall, for crime, incapacity, or negligence, be
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liable to be removed from office, either by impeachment by the House of Representatives, to be tried by the Senate, or by a joint resolution of the General Assembly; two-thirds of the members elected to each branch voting, in either case, therefor.
SEC. 8. All State, county, township and town officers, may be impeached, or removed from office, in such manner as may be prescribed by law.
SEC. 9. Vacancies in county, township and town offices, shall be filled in such manner as may be prescribed by law.
SEC. 10. The General Assembly may confer upon the Boards doing county business in the several counties, powers of a local, administrative character.
ARTICLE VII.
JUDICIAL.
SECTION 1. The Judicial power of the State shall be vested in a Supreme Court, in Circuit Courts, and in such inferior Courts as the Gen- eral Assembly may establish.
SEC. 2. The Supreme Court shall consist of not less than three nor more than five Judges, a majority of whom shall form a quorum. They shall hold their offices for six years, if they so long behave well.
SEC. 3. The State shall be divided into as many districts as there are Judges of the Supreme Court ; and such districts shall be formed of con- tiguous territory, as nearly equal in population as, without dividing a county, the same can be made. One of said Judges shall be elected from each district, and reside therein ; but said Judges shall be elected by the electors of the State at large.
SEC. 4. The Supreme Court shall have jurisdiction co-extensive with the limits of the State, in appeals and writs of error, under such regulations and restrictions as may be prescribed by law. It shall also have such original jurisdiction as the General Assembly may confer.
SEC. 5. The Supreme Court shall, upon the decisions of every case, give a statement in writing of each question arising in the record of such case, and the decision of the Court thereon.
SEC. 6. The General Assembly shall provide, by law, for the speedy pub- lication of the decisions of the Supreme Court, made under this Constitu- tion ; but no Judge shall be allowed to report such decision.
SEC. 7. There shall be elected by the voters of the State, a Clerk of the Supreme Court, who shall hold his office four years, and whose duties shall be prescribed by law.
. SEC. 8. The Circuit Courts shall each consist of one Judge, and shall have such civil and criminal prosecution as may be prescribed by law.
SEC. 9. The State shall, from time to time, be divided into judicial cir cuits, and a Judge for each circuit shall be elected by the voters thereof. He shall reside within the circuit, and shall hold his office for the term of six years, if he so long behave well.
SEC. 10. The General Assembly may provide by law, that the Judge of one circuit may hold the courts of another circuit, in cases of necessity or
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convenience ; and, in case of temporary inability of any Judge, from sick- ness or other cause, to hold the courts in his circuit, provision may be made, by law, for holding such courts.
SEC. 11. There shall be elected, in each judicial circuit, by the voters thereof, a Prosecuting Attorney, who shall hold his office for two years.
SEC. 12. Any Judge or Prosecuting Attorney, who shall have been con- victed of corruption or other high crime, may, on information in the name of the State, be removed from office by the Supreme Court, or in such other manner as may be prescribed by law.
SEC. 13. The Judges of the Supreme Court and Circuit Courts shall, at stated times, receive a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.
SEC. 14. A competent number of Justices of the Peace shall be elected, by the voters in each township in the several counties. They shall con- tinue in office four years, and their powers and duties shall be prescribed by law.
SEC. 15. All judicial officers shall be conservators of the peace in their respective jurisdictions.
SEC. 16. No person elected to any judicial office, shall, during the term for which he shall have been elected, be eligible to any office of trust or profit, under the State, other than a judicial one.
SEC. 17. The General Assembly may modify or abolish the Grand Jury system.
SEC. 18. All criminal prosecutions shall be carried on in the name and by the authority of the State ; and the style of all process shall be "The State of Indiana."
SEC. 19. Tribunals of conciliation may be established, with such powers and duties as shall be prescribed by law ; or the powers and duties of the same may be conferred upon other courts of justice ; but such tribunals or other courts, when sitting as such, shall have no power to render judgment to be obligatory on the parties, unless they voluntarily submit their matters of difference, and agree to abide the judgment of such tribunal or court.
SEC. 20. The General Assembly, at its first session after the adoption of this Constitution, shall provide for the appointment of three Commission- ers, whose duty it shall be to revise, simplify and abridge, the rules, prac- tice, pleadings and forms, of the courts of justice. And they shall provide for abolishing the distinct forms of action at law, now in use ; and that justice shall be administered in a uniform mode of pleading, without dis- tinction between law and equity. And the General Assembly may, also, make it the duty of said Commissioners to reduce into a systematic code, the general statute law of the State ; and said Commissioners shall report the result of their labors to the General Assembly, with such recommen- dations and suggestions, as to abridgement and amendment, as to said Commissioners may seem necessary or proper. Provision shall be made, by law, for filling vacancies, regulating the tenure of office, and the com- pensation of said Commissioners.
SEC. 21. Every person of good moral character, being a voter, shall be entitled to admission to practice law in all courts of justice.
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ARTICLE VIII.
EDUCATION.
SECTION 1. Knowledge and learning, generally diffused throughout a community, being essential to the preservation of a free government, it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to encourage, by all suitable means, moral, intellectual, scientific and agricultural improvement, and to provide, by law, for a general and uniform system of Common Schools, wherein tuition shall be without charge, and equally open to all.
SEC. 2. The Common School fund shall consist of the Congressional township fund, and the lands belonging thereto ;
The Surplus Revenue fund ;
The Saline fund and the lands belonging thereto ;
The Bank Tax fund, and the fund arising from the one hundred and fourteenth section of the charter of the State Bank of Indiana ;
The fund to be derived from the sale of county seminaries, and the moneys and property heretofore held for such seminaries ; from the fines assessed for breaches of the penal laws of the State, and for all forfeitures which may accrue ;
*All lands and other estate which shall escheat to the State for want of heirs or kindred entitled to the inheritance ;
All lands that have been, or may hereafter be, granted to the State, where no special purpose is expressed in the grant, and the proceeds of the sales thereof, including the proceeds of the sales of the swamp lands granted to the State of Indiana by the act of Congress of the twenty-eighth of Sep- tember, 1850, after deducting the expense of selecting and draining the same ;
Taxes on the property of corporations, that may be assessed for Com- mon School purposes.
SEC. 3. The principal of the Common School fund shall remain a per- petual fund, which may be increased, but shall never be diminished; and the income thereof shall be inviolably appropriated to the support of Com- mon Schools, and to no other purpose whatever.
SEC. 4. The General Assembly shall invest, in some safe and profitable manner, all such portions of the Common School fund as not hereintofore been entrusted to the several counties ; and shall make provision, by law, for the distribution, among the several counties, of the interest thereof.
SEC. 5. If any county shall fail to demand its proportion of such inter- est, for Common School purposes, the same shall be re-invested for the benefit of such county.
SEC. 6. The several counties shall be held liable for the preservation of so much of the said fund as may be entrusted to them, and for the pay- ment of the annual interest thereon.
SEC. 7. All trust funds, held by the State, shall remain inviolate, and be faithfully and exclusively applied to the purposes for which the trust was created.
SEC. 8. The General Assembly shall provide for the election, by the voters of the State, of a State Superintendent of Public Instruction, who
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shall hold his office for two years, and whose duties and compensation shall be prescribed by law.
ARTICLE IX. STATE INSTITUTIONS.
SECTION 1. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to provide, by law, for the support of Institutions for the education of the Deaf and Dumb, and of the Blind; and also for the treatment of the Insane.
SEC. 2. The General Assembly shall provide Houses of Refuge, for the correction and reformation of juvenile offenders.
SEC. 3. The county boards shall have power to provide farms, as an asylum for those persons who, by reason of age, infirmity, or other misfor- tune, may have claims upon the sympathies and aid of society.
ARTICLE X. FINANCE.
SECTION 1. The General Assembly shall provide, by law, for a uniform and equal rate of assessment and taxation, and shall prescribe such regu- lations as shall secure a just valuation for taxation of all property, both real and personal, excepting such only for municipal, educational, literary, scientific, religious or charitable purposes, as may be specially exempted by law.
SEC. 2. All the revenues derived from the sale of any of the public works belonging to the State, and from the net annual income thereof, and any surplus that may, at any time, remain in the treasury, derived from taxa- tion for general State purposes, after the payment of the ordinary expenses of the government, and of the interest on bonds of the State, other than Bank bonds, shall be annually applied, under the direction of the General Assembly, to the payment of the principal of the public debt.
SEC. 3. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in pursuance of appropriations made by law.
SEC. 4. An accurate statement of the receipts and expenditures of the public money, shall be published with the laws of each regular session of the General Assembly.
SEC. 5. No law shall authorize any debt to be contracted, on behalf of the State, except in the following cases : To meet casual deficits in the rev_ enue ; to pay the interest on the State debt ; to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or, if hostilities be threatened, provide for the public defense.
SEC. 6. No county shall subscribe for stock in any incorporated com- pany, unless the same be paid for at the time of such subscription ; nor shall any county loan its credit to any incorporated company, nor borrow money for the purpose of taking stock in any such company ; nor shall the General Assembly ever, on behalf the State, assume the debts ^f any county, city, town or township, nor of any corporation whatever.
SEC. 7. No law or resolution shall ever be passed by the General Assem- bly of the State of Indiana that shall recognize any liability of this State to pay or redeem any certificate of stocks issued in pursuance of an act
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titled " An act to provide for the funded debt of the State of Indiana, and for the completion of the Wabash and Erie Canal to Evansville," passed January 19, 1846, and an act supplemental to said act passed January 29, 1847, which, by the provisions of the said acts, or either of them, shall be payable exclusively from the proceeds of the canal lands, and the tolls and revenues of the canal in said acts mentioned ; and no such certificates or stocks shall ever be paid by this State.
NOTE .- Agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each of the two houses of the General Assembly, Regular Session of 1871, and referred to the General Assembly to be chosen at the next general election. Agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly, Special Session of 1872. Submitted to the elec- tors of the State by an act approved January 28, 1873. Ratified by a majority of the electors, at an election held on the 18th day of February, 1873. Declared a part of the constitution by proclamation of Thomas A. Hendricks, Governor, dated March 7, 1873
ARTICLE XI. CORPORATIONS.
SECTION 1. The General Assembly shall not have power to establish or incorporate any bank or banking company, or moneyed institution, for the purpose of issuing bills of credit, or bills. payable to order or bearer, except under the conditions prescribed in this Constitution.
SEC. 2. No banks shall be established otherwise than under a general banking law, except as provided in the fourth section of this article.
SEC. 3. If the General Assembly shall enact a general banking law, such law shall provide for the registry and countersigning, by an officer of the State, of all paper credit designed to be circulated as money ; and ample collateral security, readily convertible into specie, for the redemp- tion of the same in gold or silver, shall be required, which collateral secu- rity shall be under the control of the proper officer or officers of State.
SEC. 4. The General Assembly may also charter a bank with branches, without collateral security, as required in the preceding section.
SEC. 5. If the General Assembly shall establish a bank with branches, the branches shall be mutually responsible for each other's liabilities, upon all paper credit issued as money.
SEC. 6. The stockholders in every bank or banking company, shall be individually responsible, to an amount over and above their stock, equal to their respective shares of stock, for all debts or liabilities of said bank or banking company.
SEC. 7. All bills or notes issued as money, shall be, at all times, redeem- able in gold or silver ; and no law shall be passed sanctioning, directly or indirectly, the suspension by any bank or banking company, of specie payments.
SEC. 8. Holders of bank notes shall be entitled, in case of insolvency, to preference of payment over all other creditors.
SEC. 9. No bank shall receive directly or indirectly, a greater rate of interest than shall be allowed, by law, to individuals loaning money.
SEC. 10. Every bank, or banking company, shall be required to cease all banking operations within twenty years from the time of its organiza- tion, and promptly thereafter to close its business.
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