USA > Indiana > Johnson County > The people's guide, a business, political and religious directory of Johnson Co., Ind. together with a collection of very important documents and statistics connected with our moral, political and scientific history; also, a historical sketch of Johnson County > Part 4
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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 re- spective 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 liable to be removed from office, either by im- peachment 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 lo- cal administrative character.
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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 General 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 contiguous territory, as nearly equal in pop- ulation, as, without dividing a county, the same can be made. One of said judges shall be elected from each district, and re- side therein; but said judge shall be elected by the electors of the State at large.
Sec. 4. The Supreme Court shall have jurisdiction, co-ex- tensive with the limits of the State, in appeals and writs of error, under such regulations and restrictions as may be pre- scribed by law. It shall also have such original jurisdiction as the General Assembly may confer.
Sec. 5. The Supreme Court shall, upon the decision of every case, give a statement in writing of each question aris- ing in the record of such case, and the dicision of the court thereon.
Sec. 6. The General Assembly shall provide, by law, for the speedy publication of the decisions of the Supreme Court, made under this Constitution; but no judge shall be allowed to report such decisions.
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 jurisdiction as may be prescribed by law.
Sec. 9. The State shall from time to time. be divided into judicial circuits; 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.
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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 convenience ; and in case of temporary inability of any judge, from sickness 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 convicted of corruption or other high crime, may, on information in the name of the State, be removed from of- fice 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 conpetent number of justices of the peace shall be elected, by the voters in each township in the several counties. They shall continue 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, dur- ing 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 office.
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
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adoption of this Constitution, shall provide for the appoint- ment of three commissioners, whose duty it shall be to revise, simplify, and abridge the rules, practice, pleadings, and forms of the courts of justice. And they shall provide for abolish- ing the distinct forms of action at law, now in use, and that justice shall be administered in a uniform mode of pleading, without distinction between law and equity. And the Gen- eral Assembly may, also, make it the duty of said commis- sioners to reduce into a systematic code, the general statute law of the State ; and said commissioners shall report the re- sult of their labors to the General Assembly, with such recommendations and suggestions, as to abridgment 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 compensation 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.
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 intel- lectual, scientific, and agricultural improvement; 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 con- gressional 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 funds arising from the one hun- dred 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 semina- ries; from the fines assessed for breaches of the penal laws of the State; and from all forfeitures which may accrue ;
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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 28th of September, 1850, after deducting the expenses of selecting and draining the same ;
Taxes on the property of corporations, that may be assessed by the General Assembly for common school purposes.
Sec. 3. The principal of the common school fund shall re- main a perpetual fund, which may be increased, but shall never be diminished; and the income thereof shall be invio- lably appropriated to the support of common 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 have not heretofore been entrusted to the sev- eral counties ; and shall make provision, by law, for the distri- bution among the several counties of the interest thereof.
Sec. 5. If any county shall fail to demand its proportion of such interest for common school purposes, the same shall be reinvested 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 intrusted to them, and for the payment of the annual interest thereon.
Sec. 7. All trust funds held by the State shall remain invio- late, and be faithfully, and exclusively applied to the purpose for which the trust was created.
Sec. 8. The General Assembly shall provide for the elec- tion, by the voters of the State, of a State Superintendent of Public Instruction, who shall hold his office for two years, and whose duties an I 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 Institututions for the edu - cation of the Deaf and Dumb, and of the Blind; and also for the treatment of the Insane.
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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 misfortune, have claims upon the sympa- thies 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 regulations as shall secure a just valua- tion for taxation of all property, both real and personal, ex- cepting such only for municipal, educational, literary, scien- tific, 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 an- nual income thereof, and any surplus that may at any time re- main in the treasury, derived from taxation 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 direc- tion 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 expend- itures 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 contract- ed, on behalf of the State, except in the following cases : To meet casual deficits in the revenue ; 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 incorpo- rated company, 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 of the State, assume the debts of
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any county, city, town, or township, nor of any corporation whatever.
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 porpose of issuing bills of credit, or bills payable to order or bearer, except under the condi- tions prescribed in this Constitution.
Sec. 2. No banks shall be established otherwise than under a general banking law, except as provided in the fourth sec- tion 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 State, of all paper credit de- signed to be circulated as money; and ample collateral se- curity, readily convertible into specie, for the redemption of the same in gold or silver, shall be required; which collateral security 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 com- pany, 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, redeemable 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 indi- viduals loaning money.
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Sec. 10. Every bank or banking company shall be required to cease all banking operations within twenty years from the time of its organization, and promptly thereafter to close its business.
Sec. 11. The General Assembly is not prohibited from in- vesting the Trust Funds in a bank with branches; butin case of such investment, the safety of the same shall be guaran- teed by unquestionable security.
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Sec. 12. The State shall not be a stockholder in any bank after the expiration of the present bank charter; nor shall the credit of the State ever be given, or loaned, in aid of any person, association or corporation ; nor shall the State here- after become a stockholder in any corporation or association. Sec. 13. Corporations, other than banking, shall not be cre- ated by special act, but may be formed under general laws.
Sec. 14. Dues from corporations, other than banking, shall be secured by such individual liability of the corporators, or other means, as may be prescribed by law.
ARTICLE XII. MILITIA.
SECTION 1. The militia shall consist of all able-bodied white male persons, between the ages of eighteen and forty- five years, except such as may be exempted by the laws of the United States, or of this State; and shall be organized, officered, armed, equipped, and trained, in such manner as may be provided by law.
Sec. 2. The Governor shall appoint the Adjutant, Quarter- master and Commissary Generals.
Sec. 3. All militia officers shall be commissioned by the Governor, and shall hold their offices not longer than six years.
Sec. 4. The General Assembly shall determine the method of dividing the militia into divisions, brigades, regiments, batalions and companies, and fix the rank of all staff officers.
Sec. 5. The militia may be divided into classes of sedentary and active militia, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.
Sec. 6. No person conscientiously opposed to bearing arms shall be compelled to do militia duty ; but such person shall pay an equivalent for exemption; the amount to be pre- scribed by law.
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ARTICLE XIII.
NEGROES AND MULATTOES.
Sec. 1. No Negro or Mulatto shall come into, or settle in, the State, after the adoption of this Constitution.
Sec. 2. All contracts made with any Negro or Mulatto coming into the State, contrary to the provisions of the fore- going section, shall be void; and any person who shall employ such Negro or Mulatto, or otherwise encourage him to remain in the State, shall be fined in any sum not less than ten dol- lars, nor more than five hundred dollars.
Sec. 3. All fines which may be collected for a violation of the provisions of this article, or of any law which may here- after be passed for the purpose of carrying the same into exe- cution, shall be set apart and appropriated for the colonization of such Negroes and Mulattoes, and their descendants, as may be in the State at the adoption of this Constitution, and may be willing to emigrate.
Sec. 4. The General Assembly shall pass laws to carry out the provisions of this article.
ARTICLE XIV.
BOUNDARIES
SECTION 1. In order that the boundaries of the State may be known and established, it is hereby ordained and declared, that the State of Indiana is bounded, on the east, by the me- ridian line which forms the western boundary of the State of Ohio; on the south, by the Ohio River, from the mouth of the Great Miami River to the mouth of the Wabash River; on the west, by a line drawn along the middle of the Wabash River, from its mouth to a point where a due north line, drawn from the town of Vincennes, would last touch the north-west- ern shore of said Wabash River; and, thence, by a due north line, until the same shall intersect an east and west line, drawn through a point ten miles north of the southern extreme of Lake Michigan ; on the north, by said east and west line, until the same shall intersect the first mentioned meridian line, which forms the western boundary of the State of Ohio.
Sec. 2. The State of Indiana shall possess jurisdiction and sovereignty co extensive with the boundaries declared in the preceding section; and shall have concurrent jurisdiction, in
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civil and criminal cases, with the State of Kentucky on the Ohio River, and with the State of Illinois on the Wabash River, so far as said rivers form the common boundary between this State and said States respectively.
ARTICLE XV.
MISCELLANEOUS.
SECTION 1. All officers whose appointment is not otherwise provided for in this Constitution, shall be chosen in such man- ner as now is, or hereafter may be, prescribed by law.
Sec. 2. When the duration of any office is not provided for by this Constitution, it may be declared by law ; and, if not so declored, such office shall be held during the pleasure of the authority making the appointment. But the General Assem- bly shall not create any office, the tenure of which shall be longer than four years.
Sec. 3. Whenever it is provided in this Constitution, or in any law which may be hereafter passed, that any officer other than a member of the General Assembly, shall hold his office for any given term, the same shall be construed to mean, that such officer shall hold his office for such term, and until his successor shall have been elected and qualified.
Sec. 4 Every person elected or appointed to any office under this Constitution shall, before entering on the duties thereof, take an oath or affirmation, to support the Constitu- tion of this State, and of the United States, and also an oath of office.
Sec. 5. There shall be a seal of State kept by the Governor for official purposes, which shall be called the seal of the State of Indiana.
Sec. 6. All commissions shall issue in the name of the State, shall be signed by the Governor, sealed with the State seal, and attested by the Secretary of State.
Sec. 7. No county shall be reduced to an area less than four hundred square miles ; nor shall any county under that area be further reduced.
Sec. 8. No lottery shall be authorized ; nor shall the sale of lottery tickets be allowed.
Sec. 9. The following grounds, owned by the State in Indi- anapolis, namely : the State House Square, the Governor's 4
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Circle, and so much of out-lot numbered one hundred and forty-seven, as lies uorth of the arm of the Central Canal, shall not be sold or leased."
Sec. 10. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to provide for the permanent enclosure and preservation of the Tippecanoe Battle Ground.
ARTICLE XVI.
AMENDMENTS.
SECTION 1. Any amendment or amendments to this Consti- tution may be proposed in either branch of the General As- sembly, and if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each of the two houses, such proposed amendment or amendments, shall with the yeas and nays thereon, be entered on their journals, and referred to the Gen- eral Assembly to be chosen at the next general election ; and if in the General Assembly so next chosen, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to each house, then it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to submit such amendment or amendments to the electors of the State; and if a majority of said electors shall ratify the same, such amendment or amendments shall become a part of this Constitution.
Sec. 2. If two or more amendments shall be submitted at the same time, they shall be submitted in such manner that the electors shall vote for or against each of such amendments separately ; and while an amendment or amendments which shall have been agreed upon by one General Assembly shall be awaiting the action of a succeeding General Assembly, or of the electors, no additional amendment or amendments shall be proposed.
SCHEDULE.
This Constitution, if adopted, shall take effect on the first day of November, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, and shall supersede the Constitution adopted in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixteen. That no inconvenience may arise from the change in the government, it is hereby ordained as follows :-
First. All laws now in force, and not inconsistent with this
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Constitution, shall remain in force, until they shall expire or be repealed.
Second. All indictments, prosecutions, suits, pleas, plaints, and other proceedings, pending in any of the Courts, shall be prosecuted to final judgment and execution ; and all appeals, writs of error, certiorari, and injunctions, shall be carried on in the several Courts, in the same manner as is now provided by law.
Third. All fines, penalties, and forfeitures, due or accruing to the State, or to any county therein, shall inure to the State, or to such county, in the manner prescribed by law. All bonds executed to the State, or to any officer, in his official capacity, shall remain in force and inure to the use of those concerned.
Fourth. All acts of incorporation for municipal purposes shall continue in force under this Constitution, until such time as the General Assembly shall, in its discretion, modify or repeal the same.
Fifth. The Governor, at the expiration of the present official term, shall continue to act until his successor shall have been sworn into office.
Sixth. There shall be a session of the General Assembly, commencing on the first Monday of December, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.
Seventh. Senators now in office and holding over, under the existing Constitution, and such as may be elected at the next general election, and the Representatives then elected, shall continue in office until the first general election under this Constitution.
Eighth. The first general election under this Constitution, shall be held in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty- two.
Ninth. The first election for Governor, Lieutenant Gover- nor, Judges of the Supreme Courts and Circuit Courts, Clerk of the Supreme Court, Prosecuting Attorney, Secretary, Audi- tor, and Treasurer of State, and State Superintendent of Pub- lic Instruction, under this Constitution, shall be held at the general election in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two; and such of said officers as may be in office, when this Constitution shall go into effect, shall continue in their
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respective offices, until their successors shall have been elected and qualified.
Tenth. Every person elected by popular vote, and now in any office which is continued by this Constitution, and every person who shall be so elected to any such office before the taking effect of this Constitution, (except as in this Constitu- tion otherwise provided,) shall continue in office until the term for which such person has been, or may be, elected, shall expire : Provided, That no such person shall continue in of- fice after the taking effect of this Constitution, for a longer period than the term of such office in this Constitution pre- scribed.
Eleventh. On the taking effect of this Constitution, all of- ficers thereby continued in office, shall, before proceeding in the further discharge of their duties, take an oath, or affirma- tion, to support this Constitution.
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