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for the next three years after the termination of their offices. They may be required by law to renew their security, from time to time; and in default of giving such new security, their offices shall be deemed vacant. But the county shall never be made responsible for the acts of the sheriff. The Governor may remove any officer, in this section mentioned, within the term for which he shall have been elected; giving to such officer a copy of the charges against him, and an opportunity of being heard in his defense.

Sec. 2. All county officers, whose election or appointment is not provided for by this Constitution, shall be elected by the electors of the respective counties or appointed by the boards of supervisors, or other county authorities, as the Legislature shall direct. All city, town and village officers, whose election or appointment is not provided for by this Constitution, shall be elected by the electors of such cities, towns and villages, or of some division thereof, or appointed by such authorities thereof, as the Legislature shall designate for that purpose. All other officers, whose election or appointment is not provided for by this Constitution, and all officers, whose offices may hereafter be created by law, shall be elected by the people, or appointed, as the Legislature may direct.

Sec. 3. When the duration of any office is not provided by this Constitution, it may be declared by law, and if not so declared, such office shall be held during the pleasure of the authority making the appointment.

Sec. 4. The time of electing all officers named in this article shall be prescribed by law.

Sec. 5. The Legislature shall provide for filling vacancies in office, and in case of elective officers, no person appointed to fill a vacancy shall hold his office by virtue of such appointment longer than the commencement of the political year next succeeding the first annual election after the happening of the vacancy.

Sec. 6. The political year and legislative term shall begin on the first day of January; and the Legislature shall, every year, assemble on the first Tuesday in January, unless a different day shall be appointed by law.

Sec. 7. Provision shall be made by law for the removal for misconduct or malversation in office of all officers (except judi

cial) whose powers and duties are not local or legislative and who shall be elected at general elections, and also for supplying vacancies created by such removal.

Sec. 8. The Legislature may declare the cases in which any office shall be deemed vacant when no provision is made for that purpose in this Constitution.

Sec. 9. No officer whose salary is fixed by the Constitution shall receive any additional compensation. Each of the other State officers named in the Constitution, shall, during his continuance in office, receive a compensation, to be fixed by law, which shall not be increased or diminished during the term for which he shall have been elected or appointed; nor shall he receive to his use any fees or perquisites of office or other compensation.

ARTICLE XI.

Section 1. The militia of this State shall, at all times hereafter, be armed and disciplined and in readiness for service; but all such inhabitants of this State of any religious denomination whatever as from scruples of conscience may be averse to bearing arms, shall be excused therefrom upon such conditions as shall be prescribed by law.

Sec. 2. Militia officers shall be chosen, or appointed as fol lows: Captains, subalterns and non-commissioned officers shall be chosen by the written votes of the members of their respective companies. Field officers of regiments and separate battalions by the written votes of the commissioned officers of the respective regiments and separate battalions; brigadier-generals and brigade inspectors by the field officers of their respective brigades; major-generals, brigadier-generals and commanding officers of regiments or separate battalions, shall appoint the staff officers to their respective divisions, brigades, regiments or separate battalions.

Sec. 3. The Governor shall nominate, and with the consent of the Senate, appoint all major-generals and the commissary-general. The adjutant-general and other chiefs of staff departments, and the aids-de-camp of the commander-in-chief, shall be appointed by the Governor, and their commissions shall expire with the time for which the Governor shall have been elected. The commissary-general shall hold his office for two years. He shall give security for the faithful execution of the duties of his office in such manner and amount as shall be prescribed by law.

Sec. 4. The Legislature shall, by law, direct the time and manner of electing militia officers, and of certifying their elections to the Governor.

Sec. 5. The commissioned officers of the militia shall be com missioned by the Governor; and no commissioned officer shall be removed from office, unless by the Senate on the recommendation of the Governor, stating the grounds on which such removal is recommended, or by the decision of a court-martial, pursuant to law. The present officers of the militia shall hold their commissions subject to removal, as before provided.

Sec. 6. In case the mode of election and appointment of militia officers hereby directed shall not be found conducive to the improvement of the militia, the Legislature may abolish the same, and provide by law for their appointment and removal, if two-thirds of the members present in each house shall concur therein.

ARTICLE XII.

Section 1. Members of the Legislature (and all officers, execu tive and judicial, except such inferior officers as shall be by law exempted) shall, before they enter on the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of New York, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of according to the best of my ability;" and all such officers who shall have been chosen at any election shall, before they enter on the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe the oath or affirmation above prescribed, together with the following addition thereto, as part thereof:

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"And I do further solemnly swear (or affirm) that I have not directly or indirectly paid, offered or promised to pay, contributed, or offered or promised to contribute any money or other val uable thing as a consideration or reward for the giving or withholding a vote at the election at which I was elected to said office, and have not made any promise to influence the giving or with holding any such vote," and no other oath, declaration or test shall be required as a qualification for any office of public trust.

ARTICLE XIII.

Section 1. Any amendment or amendments to this Constitution may be proposed in the Senate and Assembly; 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 be entered on their journal, with the ayes and nays taken thereon, and referred to the Legislature to be chosen at the next general election of Senators, and shall be published for three months previous to the time of making such choice; and if in the Legislature so next chosen, as aforesaid, 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 Legislature to submit such proposed amendment or amendments to the people, in such manner and at such time as the Legisla ture shall prescribe; and if the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments, by a majority of the electors qualified to vote for members of the Legislature, voting thereon, such amendment or amendments shall become part of the Constitution.

Sec. 2. At the general election to be held in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-six, and in each twentieth year thereafter, and also at such time as the Legislature may by law provide, the question, "Shall there be a convention to revise the Constitution, and amend the same?" shall be decided by the electors qualified to vote for members of the Legislature; and in case a majority of the electors so qualified, voting at such election, shall decide in favor of a convention for such purpose, the Legislature at its next session shall provide by law for the election of delegates to such convention.

ARTICLE XIV.

Section 1. The first election of Senators and members of the Assembly, pursuant to the provisions of this Constitution, shall be held on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven. The Senators and members of Assembly who may be in office on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, shall hold their offices until and including the thirty-first day of December following, and no longer.

Sec. 2. The first election of Governor and Lieutenant-Governor under this Constitution shall be held on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight; and the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor in office when this Constitution shall take effect shall hold their respective offices until and including the thirty-first day of December of that year.

Sec. 3. The Secretary of State, Comptroller, Treasurer, Attor ney-General, District Attorneys, Surveyor-General, Canal Commissioners and Inspectors of State Prisons, in office when this Constitution shall take effect, shall hold their respective offices until and including the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, and no longer.

Sec. 4. The first election of judges and clerk of the Court of Appeals, justices of the Supreme Court and county judges shall take place at such time between the first Tuesday of June, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, as may be prescribed by law. The said courts shall respectively enter upon their duties on the first Monday of July, next thereafter; but the term of office of said judges, clerk and justices, as declared by this Constitution, shall be deemed to commence on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.

Sec. 5. On the first Monday of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, jurisdiction of all suits and proceedings then pending in the present Supreme Court and Court of Chancery, and all suits and proceedings originally commenced and then pending in any Court of Common Pleas (except in the city and county of New York), shall become vested in the Supreme Court hereby established. Proceedings pending in Courts of Common Pleas, and in suits originally commenced in Justices' Courts, shall be transferred to the County Courts provided for in this Constitution, in such manner and form and under such regulations as shall be provided by law. The Courts of Oyer and Terminer hereby established shall in their respective counties have jurisdiction on and after the day last mentioned of all indictments and proceedings then pending in the present Courts of Oyer and Terminer, and also of all indictments and proceedings then pending in the present Courts of General Sessions of the Peace, except in the city of New York, and except in cases of which the Courts of Sessions hereby established may lawfully take cognizance; and of such indictments and proceedings the Courts of Sessions hereby established shall have jurisdiction on and after the day last mentioned.

Sec. 6. The Chancellor and the present Supreme Court shall, respectively, have power to hear and determine any of such suits and proceedings ready on the first Monday of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, for hearing or decision, and shall,

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