USA > Michigan > Michigan official directory and legislative manual for the years 1903-1904 > Part 5
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SEC. 29. No person after acquittal upon the merits shall be tried for the same offense. All persons shall, before conviction, be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for murder and treason when the proof is evident or the presumption great.
SEC. 30. Treason against the state shall consist only in levying war against or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless upon the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.
SEC. 31. Excessive bail shall not be required, excessive fines shall not be imposed; cruel or unusual punishment shall not be inflicted, nor shall wit- nesses be unreasonably detained.
SEC. 32. No person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due pro- cess of law.
SEC. 33. No person shall be imprisoned for debt arising out of, or founded on a contract, express or implied, excep; in cases of fraud or breach of trust, or of moneys collected by public officers, or in any professional employment. No person shall be imprisoned for a militia fine in time of peace.
SEC. 34. No person shall be rendered incompetent to be a witness on account of his opinions on matters of religious relief.
SEC. 35. The style of all process shall be, "In the name of the People of the State of Michigan."
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ARTICLE VII.
ELECTIONS.
(a) SECTION 1. In all elections, every male inhabitant of this state, being a citizen of the United States, every male inhabitant residing in this state on the twenty-fourth day of June, eighteen hundred thirty-five, every male inhabitant residing in this state on the first day of January, eighteen hundred fifty, every male inhabitant of foreign birth who, having resided in the state two years and six months prior to the eighth day of November, eighteen hundred ninety-four, and having declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States two years and six months prior to said last named day, and every civilized male inhabitant of Indian descent, a native of the United States and not a member of any tribe, shall be an elector and entitled to vote; but no one shall be an elector or entitled to vote at any election un- less he shall be above the age of twenty-one years, and has resided in this state six months, and in the township or ward in which he offers to vote twenty days next preceding such election: Provided, That in time of war, insurrection or rebellion, no qualified elector in the actual military service of the United States, or of this state, or in the army or navy thereof, shall be deprived of his vote by reason of his absence from the township, ward or state in which he resides, and the legislature shall have the power, and shall provide the manner in which, and the time and place at which such absent electors may vote, and for the canvass and return of their votes to the township or ward election district in which they respectively reside or otherwise.
SEC. 2. All votes shall be given by ballot, except for such township officers as may be authorized by law to be otherwise chosen.
SEC. 3. Every elector, in all cases, except treason, felony or breach of the peace, shall be privileged from arrest during his attendance at election, and in going to and returning from the same.
SEC. 4. No elector shall be obliged to do militia duty on the day of elec- tion, except in time of war or public danger, or attend court as a suitor or witness.
(b) SEC. 5. No elector shall be deemed to have gained or lost a residence by reason of his being employed in the service of the United States or.of this state; nor while engaged in the navigation of the waters of this state or of the United States; or of the high seas; nor while a student of any sem- inary of learning; nor while kept at any almshouse or other asylum at public expense ; nor while confined in any public prison, except that honorably dis- charged soldiers, sailors and marines who have served in the military or naval forces of the United States or of this state, and who reside in soldiers' homes established by this state, may acquire a residence where such home is located.
SEC. 6. Laws may be passed to preserve the purity of elections and guard against abuses of the elective franchise.
(a) As amended by joint resolution No. 20, public acts 1893; ratified Nov- ember election, 1894.
(b) As amended by joint resolution No. 21, public acts 1893; ratified Nov- ember election, 1894.
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SEC. 7. No soldier, seaman or marine, in the army or navy of the United States, shall be deemed a resident of this state in consequence of being stationed in any military or naval place within the same.
SEC. 8. Any inhabitant who may hereafter be engaged in a duel, either as principal or accessory before the fact, shall be disqualified from holding any office under the constitution and laws of this state, and shall not be permit- ted to vote at any election.
ARTICLE VIII.
STATE OFFICERS.
SECTION 1. There shall be elected at each general biennial election a sec- retary of state, a superintendent of public instruction, a state treasurer, a commissioner of the land office, an auditor general, and an attorney general for the term of two years. They shall keep their offices at the seat of gov- ernment and shall perform such duties as may be prescribed by law.
SEC. 2. Their term of office shall commence on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, and of every second year there- after.
SEC. 3. Whenever a vacancy shall occur in any of the state offices, the governor shall fill the same by appointment, by and with the advice and consent of the senate if in session.
SEC. 4. The secretary of state, state treasurer, and commissioner of the state land office shall constitute a board of state auditors to examine and adjust all claims against the state, not otherwise provided for by general law. They shall constitute a board of state canvassers, todetermine the result of all elections for governor, lieutenant governor and state officers, and of such other officers as shall by law be referred to them.
SEC. 5. In case two or more persons have an equal and the highest num- ber of votes for any office, as canvassed by the board of state canvassers, the legislature in joint convention shall choose one of said persons to fill such office. When the determination of the board of state canvassers is contested, the legislature in joint convention shall decide which person is elected.
ARTICLE IX.
SALARIES.
(a) SECTION 1. The governor shall receive an annual salary of four thousand dollars; the judges of the circuit court shall each receive an annual salary of two thousand five hundred dollars; the state treasurer shall receive an annual salary of one thousand dollars; the superintendent of public instruc- tion shall receive an annual salary of one thousand dollars; the secretary of state shall receive an annual salary of eight hundred dollars; the commis- sioner of the land office shall receive an annual salary of eight hundred dollars; the attorney general shall receive an annual salary of eight hundred dollars. They shall receive no fees or perquisites whatever for the perform-
(a) As amended by joint resolution No. 21, public acts 1893; ratified Novem- ber election, 1894.
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ance of any duties connected with their offices. It shall not be competent for the legislature to increase the salaries herein provided.
ARTICLE
COUNTIES.
SECTION 1. Each organized county shall be a body corporate, with such powers and immunities as shall be established by law. All suits and pro- ceedings by or against a county shall be in the name thereof.
SEC. 2. No organized county shall ever be reduced by the organization of new counties to less than sixteen townships as surveyed by the United States, unless in pursuance of law a majority of electors residing in each county to be affected thereby shall so decide. The legislature may organize any city into a separate county, when it has attained a population of twenty thousand inhabitants, without reference to geographical extent, when a majority of the electors of a county in which such city may be situated, voting thereon, shall be in favor of a separate organization.
SEC. 3. In each organized county there shall be a sheriff, a county clerk, a county treasurer, a register of deeds and a prosecuting attorney, chosen by the electors thereof, once in two years, and as often as vacancies shall happen, whose duties and powers shall be prescribed by law. The board of supervisors in any county may unite the offices of county clerk and register of deeds in one office, or disconnect the same.
SEC. 4. The sheriff, county clerk, county treasurer, judge of probate and register of deeds shall hold their offices at the county seat.
SEC. 5. The sheriff shall hold no other office, and shall be incapable of holding the office of sheriff longer than four in any period of six years. He may be required by law to renew his security from time to time, and in default of giving such security, his office shall be deemed vacant. The county shall never be responsible for his acts.
SEC. 6. A board of supervisors, consisting of one from each organized township, shall be established in each county, with such powers as shall be prescribed by law.
SEC. 7. Cities shall have such representation in the board of supervisors of the counties in which they are situated as the legislature may direct.
SEC. 8. No county seat once established shall be removed until the place to which it is proposed to be removed shall be designated by two-thirds of the board of supervisors of the county, and a majority of the electors voting thereon shall have voted in favor of the proposed location, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.
SEC. 9. The board of supervisors of any county may borrow or raise by tax one thousand dollars for constructing or repairing public buildings, high- ways or bridges; but no greater sum shall be borrowed or raised by tax for such purpose in any one year, unless authorized by a majority of the electors of such county voting thereon.
SEC. 10. The board of supervisors, or, in the county of Wayne, the board of county auditors, shall have the exclusive power to prescribe and fix the compensation for all services rendered for, and to adjust all claims against, their respective counties, and the sum so fixed or defined shall be subject to no appeal.
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CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN
i SEC. 11. The board of supervisors of each organized county may provide for laying out highways, constructing bridges, and organizing townships, under such restrictions and limitations as shall be prescribed by law.
ARTICLE XI.
TOWNSHIPS.
SECTION 1. There shall be elected annually, on the first Monday of April, in each organized township, one supervisor, one township clerk, who shall be ex officio school inspector, one commissioner of highways, one township treas- urer, one school inspector, not exceeding four constables, and one overseer of highways for each highway district, whose powers and duties shall be pre- scribed by law.
SEC. 2. Each organized township shall be a body corporate, with such pow- ers and immunities as shall be prescribed by law. All suits and proceedings by or against a township shall be in the name thereof.
ARTICLE XII.
IMPEACHMENTS AND REMOVALS FROM OFFICE.
SECTION 1. The house of representatives shall have the sole power of impeaching civil officers for corrupt conduct in office, or for crimes or misde- meanors; but a majority of the members elected shall be necessary to direct an impeachment.
SEC. 2. Every impeachment shall be tried by the senate. When the gov- ernor or lieutenant governor is tried, the chief justice of the supreme court shall preside. When an impeachment is directed, the senate shall take an oath or affirmation truly and impartially to try and determine the same according to the evidence. No person shall be convicted without the concur- rence of two-thirds of the members elected. Judgment in case of impeach- ment shall not extend further than removal from office, but the party convicted shall be liable to punishment according to law.
SEC. 3. When an impeachment is directed, the house of representatives shall elect from their own body three members, whose duty it shall be to prosecute such impeachment. No impeachment shall be tried until the final adjournment of the legislature, when the senate shall proceed to try the same.
SEC. 4. No judicial officer shall exercise his office after an impeachment is directed until he is acquitted.
SEC. 5. The governor may make a provisional appointment to fill a vacancy occasioned by the suspension of an officer, until he shall be acquitted or until after the election and qualification of a successor.
SEC. 6. For reasonable cause, which shall not be sufficient ground for the impeachment of a judge, the governor shall remove him on a concurrent resolution of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the legis- lature; but the cause for which such removal is required shall be stated at length in such resolution. 6
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SEC. 7. The legislature shall provide by law for the removal of any officer elected by a county, township or school district, in such manner and for such cause as to them shall seem just and proper.
(a) SEC. 8. The governor shall have power and it shall be his duty, except at such time as the legislature may be in session, to examine into the con- dition and administration of any public office and the acts of any public officer, elective or appointed, to remove from office for gross neglect of duty or for corrupt conduct in office, or any other misfeasance or malfeasance therein, either of the following state officers, to wit: The attorney general, state treasurer, commissioner of the land office, secretary of state, auditor general, superintendent of public instruction or members of the state board of education, or any other officer of the state except legislative and judicial, elective or appointed, and to appoint a successor for the remainder of their respective unexpired term of office, and report the causes of such removal to the legislature at its next session.
ARTICLE XIII.
EDUCATION.
SECTION 1. The superintendent of public instruction shall have the general supervision of public instruction, and his duties shall be prescribed by law.
SEC. 2. The proceeds from the sales of all lands that have been or here- after may be granted by the United States to the state for educational purposes, and the proceeds of all lands or other property given by individuals or appropriated by the state for like purposes, shall be and remain a per- petual fund, the interest and income of which, together with the rents of all such lands as may remain unsold, shall be inviolably appropriated and annually applied to the specific objects of the original gift, grant or appropriation.
SEC. 3. All lands the titles to which shall fail from a defect of heirs, shall escheat to the state, and the interest on the clear proceeds from the sales thereof shall be appropriated exclusively to the support of primary schools.
SEC. 4. The legislature shall, within five years from the adoption of this constitution, provide for and establish a system of primary schools, whereby a school shall be kept without charge for tuition at least three months in each year in every school district in the state, and all instruction in said school shall be conducted in the English language.
SEC. 5. A school shall be maintained in each school district at least three months in each year. Any school district neglecting to maintain such school shall be deprived, for the ensuing year, of its proportion of the income of the primary school fund and of all funds arising from taxes for the support of schools.
(b) SEC. 6. There shall be elected in the year eighteen hundred and sixty- three, at the time of the election of a justice of the supreme court, eight regents of the university, two of whom shall hold their office for two years, two for four years, two for six years, and two for eight years. They shall enter upon the duties of their office on the first of January next succeeding
(a) As amended by joint resolution No. 15, laws of 1861, p. 588; ratified election of 1862.
(b) As amended by joint resolution No. 17, laws of 1861, p. 589; ratified election of 1862.
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CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN
their election. At every regular election of a justice of the supreme court thereafter there shall be elected two regents whose term of office shall be eight years. When a vacancy shall occur in the office of regent, it shall be filled by appointment of the governor. The regents thus elected shall con- stitute the board of regents of the university of Michigan.
SEC. 7. The regents of the university and their successors in office shall continue to constitute the body corporate, known by the name and title of "The Regents of the University of Michigan."
SEC. 8. The regents of the university shall, at their first annual meeting, or as soon thereafter as may be, elect a president of the university, who shall be ex-officio a member of their board, with the privilege of speaking but not of voting. He shall preside at the meetings of the regents and be the principal executive officer of the university. The board of regents shall have the general supervision of the university, and the direction and control of all expenditures from the university interest fund.
SEC. 9. There shall be elected at the general election in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two three members of a state board of edu- cation: one for two years, one for four years, and one for six years; and at each succeeding biennial election there shall be elected one member of such board, who shall hold his office for six years. The superintendent of public instruction shall be ex-officio a member and secretary of such board. The board shall have the general supervision of the state normal school, and their duties shall be prescribed by law.
SEC. 10. Institutions for the benefit of those inhabitants who are deaf, dumb, blind, or insane shall always be fostered and supported.
SEC. 11. The legislature shall encourage the promotion of intellectual, scientific and agricultural improvements; and shall, as soon as practicable, provide for the establishment of an agricultural school. The legislature may appropriate the twenty-two sections of salt spring lands now unappropriated, or the money arising from the sale of the same, where such lands have been already sold, and any land which may hereafter be granted or appropriated for such purpose for the support and maintenance of such school, and may make the same a branch of the university, for instruction in agriculture and the natural sciences connected therewith, and place the same under the super- vision of the regents of the university.
(a) SEC. 12. The legislature shall also provide for the establishment of at least one library in each township and city, and all fines assessed and col- lected in the several counties and townships for any breach of the penal laws shall be exclusively applied to the support of such libraries, unless other- wise ordered by the township board of any township or the board of educa- tion of any city : Provided, That in no case shall such fines be used for other than library or school purposes.
ARTICLE XIV.
FINANCE AND TAXATION.
SECTION 1. All specific state taxes, except those received from the min- ing companies of the upper peninsula, shall be applied in paying interest
(a) As amended by joint resolution No. 25, public acts 1879, p. 312; ratified April election, 1881.
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MICHIGAN MANUAL
upon the primary school, university and other educational funds and the interest and principal of the state debt in the order herein recited, until the extinguishment of the state debt, other than the amounts due to educational funds, when such specific taxes shall be added to, and constitute a part of the primary school interest fund. The legislature shall provide for an annual tax, sufficient with other resources, to pay the estimated expenses of the state government, the interest of the state debt and such deficiency as may occur in the resources.
SEC. 2. The legislature shall provide by law a sinking fund of at least twenty thousand dollars a year, to commence in eighteen hundred and fifty- two, with compound interest at the rate of six per cent. per annum and an annual increase of at least five per cent. to be applied solely to the payment and extinguishment of the principal of the state debt, other than the amounts due to educational funds, and shall be continued until the extinguishment thereof. The unfunded debt shall not be funded or redeemed at a value exceeding that established by law in one thousand eight hundred and forty- eight.
SEC. 3. The state may contract debts to meet deficits in revenue. Such debts shall not in the aggregate at any one time exceed fifty thousand dol- lars. The moneys so raised shall be applied to the purposes for which they were obtained, or to the payment of debts so contracted.
SEC. 4. The state may contract debts to repel invasion, suppress insurrec- tion, or defend the state in time of war. The money arising from the con- tracting of such debts shall be applied to the purposes for which it was raised, or to repay such debts.
SEC. 5. No money shall be paid out of the treasury except in pursuance of appropriations made by law.
SEC. 6. The credit of the state shall not be granted to, or in aid of, any person, association or corporation.
SEC. 7. No scrip, certificate, or other evidence of state indebtedness shall be issued, except for the redemption of stock previously issued, or for such debts as are expressly authorized in this constitution.
SEC. 8. The state shall not subscribe to, or be interested in, the stock of any company, association or corporation.
(a) SEC. 9. The state shall not be a party to, or interested in, any work or internal improvement, nor engaged in carrying on any such work, except in the expenditure of grants to the state of land or other property : Provided, however, That the legislature of the state, by appropriate legislation, may authorize the city of Grand Rapids to issue its bonds for the improvement of the navigation of Grand river.
(b) SEC. 10. The state may continue to collect all specific taxes accruing to the treasury under existing laws. The legislature may provide for the col- lection of specific taxes from corporations. The legislature may provide for the assessment of the property of corporations, at its true cash value by a state board of assessors and for the levying and collection of taxes thereon. All taxes hereafter levied on the property of such classes of corporations as
(a) As amended by joint resolution No. 9, public acts 1893; ratified April election, 1893.
(b) As amended by joint resolution No. 1, extra session of 1900; ratified November election, 1900.
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CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN
are paying specific taxes under laws in force on November sixth, A. D. nine- teen hundred, shall be applied as provided for specific state taxes in section one of this article.
(a) SEC. 11. The legislature shall provide a uniform rule of taxation, except on property paying specific taxes, and taxes shall be levied on such property as shall be prescribed by law : Provided, That the legislature shall provide an uniform rule of taxation for such property as shall be assessed by a state board of assessors, and the rate of taxation on such property shall be the rate which the state board of assessors shall ascertain and determine is the average rate levied upon other property upon which ad valorem taxes are assessed for state, county, township, school and municipal purposes.
SEC. 12. All assessments hereafter authorized shall be on property at its cash value.
(a) SEC. 13. In the year one thousand nine hundred and one, and every fifth year thereafter, and at such other times as the legislature may direct. the legislature shall provide for an equalization of assessments by a state board, on all taxable property, except that taxed under laws passed pursuant to section 10 of this article.
SEC. 14. Every law which imposes, continues or revives a tax shall distinctly state the tax, and the objects to which it is to be applied; and it shall not be sufficient to refer to any other law to fix such tax or object.
ARTICLE XV.
CORPORATIONS.
(6) SECTION 1. Corporations may be formed under general laws but shall not be created by special act except for municipal purposes. All laws passed pursuant to this section may be amended, altered or repealed. But the legis- lature may, by a vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house, create a single bank with branches.
(b) SEC. 2. No general banking law shall have effect until the same shall, after its passage, be submitted to a vote of the electors of the state at a general election and be approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon at such election.
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