SEC. 11. Counties, cities, towns and villages not to give money or property or loan their money or credit- Their power to contract debts limited.

ARTICLE IX.

SECTION 1. Common School, Literature and United States Deposit Funds.

ARTICLE X.

SECTION 1. Sheriffs, Clerks of counties, Register and Clerk of New York, Coroners and District Attorneys-Governor may remove.

SEC. 2. Officers, how chosen or appointed.

SEC. 3. Duration of office.

SEC. 4. Time of election.

SEC. 5. Vacancies in office, how filled.

SEC. 6. Political year.

SEC. 7. Removal from office.

SEC. 8. When office deemed vacant.

SEC. 9. Compensation of certain officers.

ARTICLE XI.

SECTION 1. Militia.

SEC. 2. Manner of choosing or appointing militia officers. SEC. 3. Officers to be appointed by Governor and Senate Commissary-General.

SEC. 4. Election of militia officers.

SEC. 5. Officers, how commissioned.

SEC. 6. Election of militia officers may be abolished.

ARTICLE XII.

SECTION 1. Oath of office prescribed.

ARTICLE XIII.

SECTION 1. Amendments.

SEC. 2. Future conventions, how called.

ARTICLE XIV.

SECTION 1. Election- -Term of office of Senators and Mem. bers of Assembly.

SEC. 2. First election of Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, when.

SEC. 3. State officers, and others, to remain in office till December 31, 1847.

SEC. 4. First election of Judicial officers, when.

SEC. 5. Jurisdiction of pending suits.

SEC. 6. Chancellor and Supreme Court-Masters in Chancery.

SEC. 7. Vacancy in office of Chancellor, or Justice of Supreme Court, how filled.

SEC. 8. Offices abolished.

SEC. 9. Chancellor and Justices of present Supreme Court, eligible.

SEC. 10. Officers to hold until expiration of term.

SEC. 11. Judicial officers may receive fees.

SEC. 12. Local courts to remain, etc.

SEC. 13. When, Constitution goes into operation.

ARTICLE XV.

SECTION 1. Bribery and official corruption.

SEC. 2. The same subject.

SEC. 3. Person offering or receiving bribe may be witness. SEC. 4. District Attorney may be removed for failure to prosecute violations- Expenses of prosecution, how chargeable.

ARTICLE XVI.

SECTION 1. Amendments, when to take effect.

WE THE PEOPLE of the State of New York, grateful to Almighty God for our Freedom, in order to secure its blessings, DO ESTABLISH THIS CONSTITUTION.

ARTICLE I.

SECTION 1. No member of this State shall be disfranchised, or deprived of any of the rights or privileges secured to any citizens thereof, unless by the law of the land, or the judgment of his peers.

SEC. 2. The trial by jury in all cases in which it has been heretofore used, shall remain inviolate forever; but

a jury trial may be waived by the parties in all civil cases in the manner to be prescribed by law.

SEC. 3. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed in this State to all mankind; and no person shall be rendered incompetent to be a witness on account of his opinions on matters of religious belief; but the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness, or justify practices inconsistent with the peace or safety of this State.

SEC. 4. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require its suspension.

SEC. 5. Excessive bail shall not be required nor excess ive fines imposed, nor shall cruel and unusual punishments be inflicted, nor shall witnesses be unreasonably detained.

SEC. 6. No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime (except in cases of impeachment, and in cases of militia when in actual service; and the land and naval forces in time of war, or which this State may keep, with the consent of Congress in time of peace; and in cases of petit larceny, under the regulation of the Legislature,) unless on presentment or indictment of a grand jury; and in any trial in any court whatever the party accused shall be allowed to appear and defend in person and with counsel as in civil actions. No person shall be subject to be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense; nor shall he be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself; nor be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

SEC. 7. When private property shall be taken for any public use, the compensation to be made therefor, when such compensation is not made by the State, shall be ascertained by a jury or by not less than three commissioners appointed by a court of record, as shall be prescribed by law. Private roads may be opened in the manner to be prescribed by law; but in every case the necessity of the road, and the amount of all damage to be sustained by the opening thereof, shall be first determined by a jury of freeholders, and such amount, together with the expenses of the proceeding, shall be paid by the person to be benefited.

SEC. 8. Every citizen may freely speak, write and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right; and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. In all criminal prosecutions or indictments for libels, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury; and if it shall appear to the jury, that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives, and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted; and the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact.

SEC. 9. The assent of two-thirds of the members elected to each branch of the Legislature, shall be requisite to every bill appropriating the public moneys or property for local or private purposes.

Sec. 10. No law shall be passed abridging the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government, or any department thereof, nor shall any divorce be granted, otherwise than by due judicial proceedings; nor shall any lottery hereafter be authorized or any sale of lottery tickets allowed within this State.

SEC. 11. The people of this State, in their right of sovereignty are deemed to possess the original and ulti mate property in and to all lands within the jurisdiction of the State; and all lands the title to which shall fail, from a defect of heirs, shall revert, or escheat to the people.

SEC. 12. All feudal tenures of every description, with all their incidents are declared to be abolished, saving however all rents and services certain which at any time heretofore have been lawfully created or reserved.

SEC. 13. All lands within this State are declared to be allodial, so that, subject only to the liability to escheat, the entire and absolute property is vested in the owners, according to the nature of their respective estates.

SEC. 14. No lease or grant of agricultural land, for a longer period than twelve years, hereafter made, in which shall be reserved any rent or service of any kind, shall be valid.

SEC. 15. All fines, quarter sales, or other like restraints upon alienation reserved in any grant of land, hereafter to be made, shall be void.

SEC. 16. No purchase or contract for the sale of lands in this State made since the fourteenth day of October, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five; or which may hereafter be made, of, or with the Indians, shall be valid, unless made under the authority, and with the consent of the Legislature.

SEC. 17. Such parts of the common law, and of the acts of the Legislature of the Colony of New York, as together did form the law of the said Colony, on the nineteenth day of April, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, and the resolutions of the Congress of the said Colony, and of the convention of the State of New York, in force on the twentieth day of April,