same manner, at the same places and in the same districts. The Legislative Assembly shall, in the act calling the convention, designate the day, hour and place of its meeting, fix the pay of its members and officers, and provide for the payment of the same, together with the necessary expenses of the convention. Before proceeding, the members shall take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and of the State of Montana, and to faithfully discharge their duties as members of the convention. The qualifications of members shall be the same as of members of the Senate, and vacancies occurring shall be filled in the manner provided for filling vacancies in the Legislative Assembly. Said convention shall meet within three months after such election, and prepare such revisions, alterations or amendments to the Constitution as may be deemed necessary, which shall be submitted to the electors for their ratification or rejection at an election appointed by the convention for that purpose, not less than two or more than six months after the adjournment thereof; and unless so submitted and approved by a majority of the electors voting at the election no such revision, alteration or amendment shall take effect.

SEC. 9. Amendments to this Constitution may be proposed in either house of the Legislative Assembly; and if the same shall be voted for by two thirds of the members elected to each house, such proposed amendments, together with the ayes and nays of each house thereon, shall be entered in full on their respective journals; and the Secretary of State shall cause the said amendment or amendments to be published in full in at least one newspaper in each county (if such there be) for three months previous to the next general election for members to the Legislative Assembly; and at said election the said amendment or amendments shall be submitted to the qualified electors of the State for their approval or rejection; and such as approved by a majority of those voting thereon shall become part of the Constitution. Should more amendments than one be submitted at the same election, they shall be so prepared and distinguished by numbers or otherwise that each can be voted upon separately; Provided, however, that not more than three amendments to this Constitution shall be submitted at the same election.

ARTICLE XX.

SCHEDULE.

That no inconvenience may arise by reason of changing from a Territorial to a State form of government it is declared as follows:

SECTION 1. All laws enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Montana, and in force at the time the State shall be admitted into the Union, and not inconsistent with this Constitution or the Constitution or laws of the United States of America, shall be and remain in full force as the laws of the State until altered or repealed, or until they expire by their own limitation; Provided, that whenever in said laws the words, "Territory," 'Montana Territory" or Territory of Montana" occur, the words State" or "State of Montana" shall be appropriately substituted and read therefor; And, provided further, that the duties which now by law devolve upon Probate Judges as jury commissioners and in relation to issuing marriage licenses and filing and recording marriage certificates, and the duties as ex officio clerks of their own courts, shall, until otherwise provided by law,

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devolve upon and be performed by the Clerks of District Courts in their respective counties; And, provided further, that the duties of Probate Judges now imposed by law relative to town sites and to the approval of bonds of other county officers shall, until otherwise provided by law, be performed by the District Judges in the several counties in their respective districts.

SEC. 2. All lawful orders, judgments and decrees in civil causes, all contracts and claims and all lawful convictions, judgments and sentences in criminal actions, made and entered, or pronounced by the courts within the Territory of Montana, and in force at the time the State shall be admitted into the Union, shall continue and be and remain in full force in the State, unaffected in any respect by the change from a Territorial to a State form of government, and may be enforced and executed under the laws of the State.

SEC. 3. No crime or criminal offense committed against the laws of the Territory of Montana shall abate, or be in any wise affected, by reason of the change from a Territorial to a State form of government; but the same shall be deemed and taken to be an offense against the laws of the State, and the appropriate courts of the State shall have jurisdiction over and to hear and determine the same; Provided, that this section shall not in any wise be construed to change the law of the statute of limitations, or the due effect or application of the same.

SEC. 4. Except as herein otherwise provided, the word "district" shall be substituted and read in lieu of the word "probate" in the terms 'Probate Court" or "Probate Judge" whenever the same occur in the laws of the Territory of Montana, and all said laws which by their terms apply to Probate Courts or Probate Judges shall, except as in this Constitution otherwise provided, upon a change from Territorial to State government, be deemed and taken to apply to District Courts and District Judges; Provided, that all laws allowing fees to Probate Judges are hereby repealed.

SEC. 5. Clerks of District Courts, until otherwise provided by law, shall each perform the duties and be entitled to the same fees as now provided by law for Clerks of the District Courts of the Territory, and until otherwise provided by law shall also perform the services and be entitled to fees therefor that are now provided for Clerks of Probate Courts.

SEC. 6. Upon a change from Territorial to State government the seals in use by the Supreme Court and the Territorial District Courts in and for the several counties respectively, shall pass to and become, until otherwise provided by law, the seals respectively of the Supreme Court and of the District Courts of the State in such counties.

SEC. 7. Prosecutions for criminal offenses against the laws of the Territory of Montana pending at the time the State shall be admitted into the Union shall not abate; but the same shall continue and be prosecuted in the name of the State of Montana, and the title of every such action shall be changed to conform to this provision.

SEC. 8. Parties who, at the time of the admission of the State into the Union, may be confined under lawful commitments, or otherwise lawfully held to answer for alleged violations of any of the criminal laws of the Territory of Montana, shall continue to be so confined or held until discharged therefrom by the proper courts of the State.

SEC. 9. All writs, processes, prosecutions, actions, causes of action, defenses,

claims and rights of individuals, associations and bodies corporate existing at the time the State shall be admitted into the Union shall continue and be respectively executed, proceeded with, determined, enforced and protected under the laws of the State.

SEC. 10. All undertakings, bonds, obligations and recognizances in force at the time the State shall be admitted into the Union, which were executed to the Territory of Montana, or any officer thereof in his official capacity, or to any official board for the benefit of the Territory of Montana, are hereby respectively assigned and transferred to the State of Montana, to the State officer successor to said Territorial officer, or to the official board successor to the aforesaid official board, for the use of the State, as the case may be, and shall be as valid and binding as if executed under State law to the State, or State officer in his official capacity, or official board, for the benefit of the State; and all fines, taxes, penalties and forfeitures due or owing to the Territory of Montana or to any county, school district, or municipality therein, at the time the State shall be admitted into the Union, are hereby respectively assigned and transferred, and the same shall be payable to the State, county, school district or municipality, as the case may be, and payment thereof may be enforced under the laws of the State.

SEO. 11. All property, real and personal, and all moneys, credits, claims, demands and choses in action of every kind, belonging to the Territory of Montana at the time the State shall be admitted into the Union, are hereby assigned and transferred to, and shall be vested in, and become the property of the State of Montana.

SEC. 12. All obligations of the Territory of Montana, existing, in force and unpaid at the time of the admission of the State into the Union are hereby assumed by the State, which shall and will well and truly pay the same.

SEO. 13. All matters, cases and proceedings pending in any Probate Court in the Territory of Montana, at the time the State shall be admitted into the Union, and all official records, files, moneys, and other property of, or pertaining to such court, are hereby transferred to the District Court in and for the same county, and such District Court shall have full power and jurisdiction to hear, determine and dispose of all such matters, cases and proceedings.

SEC. 14. All actions, cases and proceedings, and matters which shall be pending in the Supreme and District Courts of Montana Territory at the time of the admission of the State into the Union whereof the United States Circuit or District Court might have had jurisdiction, had such court existed at the commencement of such actions, cases, proceedings and matters, respectively, shall be transferred to said United States Circuit and District Courts respectively; and all the files, records, indictments and proceedings relating to such actions, cases, proceedings and matters shall be transferred to said United States Courts; Provided, That no civil action, cause or proceeding to which the United States is not a party shall be transferred to either of said United States Courts except upon written request of one of the parties thereto, and in the absence of such request such case shall be proceeded with in the proper State Courts.

SEC. 15. All actions, cases, proceedings and matters pending in the Supreme and District Courts of the Territory of Montana at the time the State shall be admitted into the Union, and all files, records and indictments relating thereto, except as otherwise provided herein, shall be appropriately transferred,

as may be proper, to the Supreme and District Courts of the State, respectively, and all such actions, cases, and matters shall be proceeded with in the proper State Courts.

SEC. 16. Upon a change from a Territorial to a State government, and until otherwise provided by law, the Great Seal of the Territory shall be deemed and taken to be the Great Seal of the State of Montana.

SEC. 17. All Territorial, county and township officers now occupying their respective positions under the laws of the Territory of Montana, or of the United States of America, shall continue and remain in their respective official positions and perform the duties thereof as now provided by law after the State is admitted into the Union, and shall be considered State officers until their successors in office shall be duly elected and qualified, as provided by ordinance, notwithstanding any inconsistent provisions in this Constitution, and shall be entitled to the same compensation for their services as is now established by law; Provided, That the compensation for Justices of the Supreme Court, Governor and Secretary of the Territory shall be paid by the State of Montana.

Done in open convention at the city of Helena, in the Territory of Montana, this seventeenth day of August, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine.

ORDINANCE NO. I.

FEDERAL RELATIONS.

Be it OrdaineD: First. That perfect toleration of religious sentiment shall be secured, and that no inhabitant of the State of Montana shall ever be molested in person or property on account of his or her mode of religious worship.

Second. That the people inhabiting the said proposed State of Montana do agree and declare that they forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated public lands lying within the boundaries thereof, and to all lands lying within said limits owned or held by any Indian or Indian tribes, and that until the title thereto shall have been extinguished by the United States, the same shall be and remain subject to the disposition of the United States, and said Indian lands shall remain under the absolute jurisdiction and control of the Congress of the United States; that the lands belonging to citizens of the United States, residing without the said State of Montana, shall never be taxed at a higher rate than the lands belonging to residents thereof; that no taxes shall be imposed by the said State of Montana on lands or property therein belonging to, or which may hereafter be purchased by the United States or reserved for its use. But nothing herein contained shall preclude the said State of Montana from taxing as other lands are taxed any lands owned or held by any Indian who has severed his tribal relations and has obtained from the United States or from any person a title thereto by patent or other grant, save and except such lands as have been or may be granted to any Indian or Indians under any act of Congress containing a provision exempting the lands thus granted from taxation, but said last named lands shall be exempt from taxation by said State of Montana so long and to such extent as such act of Congress may prescribe.

Third. That the debts and liabilities of said Territory of Montana shall be assumed and paid by the said State of Montana.

Fourth. That provision shall be made for the establishment and maintenance of a uniform system of public schools, which shall be open to all the children of said State of Montana and free from sectarian control.

Fifth. That on behalf of the people of Montana, we in convention assembled do adopt the Constitution of the United States.

Sixth. That the Ordinances in this article shall be irrevocable without the consent of the United States and the people of said State of Montana.

Seventh. The State hereby accepts the several grants of land from the United States to the State of Montana, mentioned in an act of Congress, entitled "An act to provide for the division of Dakota into two States, and to enable the people of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington, to form Constitutions and State governments, and to be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, and to make donations of public lands to such States." Approved February 22d, 1889, upon the terms and conditions therein provided.