Of searches and seizures. Trial by jury. Rights of the accused. Presentment or indictment in criminal cases. Bailable before conviction, and privilege of writ ments 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 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 libellous 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. 8. The person, houses, papers and possessions of every individual shall be secure from unreasonable searches and seizures; and no warrant to search any place, or to seize any person or things, shall issue without describing them, nor without probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation. 9. The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate. 10. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall have the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the vicinage; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; to have the assistance of counsel for his defence; and in all civil cases, in which personal liberty may be involved, the trial by jury shall not be refused. 11. No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offence, unless on the presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases of impeachment, or in cases cognizable by justices of the peace, or arising in the army or militia when in actual service in time of war or public danger. 12. No person, for the same offence, shall be twice put in jeopardy of punishment. All persons shall, before conviction, be bailable by of habeas corpus sufficient sureties, except for capital offences, when the proof is evident or the presumption great; and the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it. Right to bear arms. Military subordi. nate to civil pow er. Quartering of soldiers. Treason. 13. Every person has a right to bear arms for the defence of himself and the state. 14. The military shall, in all cases and at all times, be in strict subordination to the civil power. 15. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner prescribed by law. 16. Treason against the state shall consist only in levying war against it, or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. 17. No bill of attainder, ex-post-facto law, or law impairing the Excessve bail, obligation of contracts, shall be passed. Attainder, &c. - find punishment, Taking of property for public use. Right of petition. Acta voi d. 18. Excessive bail shall not be required; excessive fines shall not be imposed; and cruel and unjust punishments shall not be inflicted. 19. The property of no person shall be taken for public use, without just compensation therefor. 20. The people shall have the right freely to assemble together, to consult for the common good, to instruct their representatives, and to petition the legislature for redress of grievances. 21. All acts of the legislature, contrary to this or any other article of this constitution, shall be void. ARTICLE II. ELECTORS. Qualifications of 1. In all elections, every white male citizen above the of age electors. twenty-one years, having resided in the state six months next preceding any election, shall be entitled to vote at such election; and every white male inhabitant of the age aforesaid, who may be a resident of this state at the time of the signing of this constitution, shall have the right of voting as aforesaid; but no such citizen or inhabitant shall be *See ameudment entitled to vote, except in the district, county, or township in which he shall actually reside at the time of such election. No. 1. 2. All votes shall be given by ballot, except for such township offi- Votes by ballot. cers as may, by law, be directed to be otherwise chosen. rest. 3. Electors shall in all cases, except treason, felony, or breach of Privilege from arthe peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at elections, and in going to and returning from the same. military duty. residence in this on account of United States, or absence. 4. No elector shall be obliged to do militia duty on the days of Exemption from election, except in time of war or public danger. 5. No person shall be deemed to have lost his state, by reason of his absence on business of the of this state. 6. No soldier, seaman or marine, in the army or navy of the Uni- Soldiers, seamen ted States, shall be deemed a resident of this state, in consequence of being stationed in any military or naval place within the same. ARTICLE III. DIVISION OF THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT. and marines. of gov. 1. The powers of the government shall be divided into three dis- Division of the tinct departments; the legislative, the executive, and the judicial; powers and one department shall never exercise the powers of another, except in such cases as are expressly provided for in this constitution. ARTICLE IV. LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. ernment. 1. The legislative power shall be vested in a senate and house of Legislative derepresentatives. partment. sentajivcs. 2. The number of the members of the house of representatives House of represhall never be less than forty-eight, nor more than one hundred; and the senate shall at all times equal in number one-third of the house of representatives, as nearly as may be. inhabitants; ap 3. The legislature shall provide by law for an enumeration of the Enumeration of inhabitants of this state in the years one thousand eight hundred and thir- portionment of ty-seven, and one thousand eight hundred and forty-five, and every ten representatives. years after the said last-mentioned time; and at their first session after each enumeration so made as aforesaid, and also after each enumeration made by the authority of the United States, the legislature shall apportion anew the representatives and senators among the several counties and districts, according to the number of white inhabitants. tion. 4. The representatives shall be chosen annually on the first Mon- When to be choday of November, and on the following day,* by the electors of the representa several counties or districts into which the state shall be divided for *Sceamendmont that purpose. Each organized county shall be entitled to at least one representative; but no county hereafter organized shall be entitled to a separate representative, until it shall have attained a population equal to the ratio of representation hereafter established. Senate, when chosen and peri. od of service: one-half the seats vacated every year. 5. The senators shall be chosen for two years, at the same time and in the same manner as the representatives are required to be senators classed; chosen. At the first session of the legislature under this constitution, they shall be divided by lot from their respective districts, as nearly as may be, into two equal classes. The seats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the first year, and of the second class at the expiration of the second year, so that one-half thereof, as nearly as may be, shall be chosen annually thereafter. Senatorial districts. 6. The state shall be divided, at each new apportionment, into a number of not less than four, nor more than eight, senatorial districts, to be always composed of contiguous territory; so that each district shall elect an equal number of senators annually, as nearly as may be; and no county shall be divided in the formation of such districts. Qualifications of 7. Senators and representatives shall be citizens of the United States resentatives and be qualified electors in the respective counties and districts which they represent; and a removal from their respective counties or districts shall be deemed a vacation of their seats. United States of ficers inelligible. Privilege from arrest. Quorum; officers Rules;each house to judge of the election of its members. Journals. Elections, viva voce. Adjournment. 8. No person holding any office under the United States, or of this state, officers of the militia, justices of the peace, associate judges of the circuit and county courts, and postmasters excepted, shall be eligible to either house of the legislature. 9. Senators and representatives shall, in all cases except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest, nor shall they be subject to any civil process, during the session of the legisla ture, nor for fifteen days next before the commencement and after the termination of each session. 10. A majority of each house shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a similar number may adjourn from day to day, and may compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each house may provide. Each house shall choose its own officers. 11. Each house shall determine the rules of its proceedings, and judge of the qualifications, elections and returns of its own members; and may, with the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members elected, expel a member; but no member shall be expelled a second time for the same cause, nor for any cause known to his constituents antecedent to his election. 12. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and publish the same, cxcept such parts as may require secrecy and the yeas and nays of the members of either house, on any question, shall, at the request of one-fifth of the members present, be entered on the journal. Any member of either house shall have liberty to dissent from, and protest against, any act or resolution which he may think injurious to the public or an individual, and have the reasons of his dissent entered on the journal. 13. In all elections by either or both houses, the votes shall be given viva voce; and all votes on nominations made to the senate shall be taken by yeas and nays, and published with the journal of its proceedings. 14. The doors of each house shall be open, except when the public welfare shall require secrecy. Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that where the legislature may then be in session. 15. Any bill may originate in either house of the legislature. Bills. Power and duty of the governor bills returned by 16. Every bill passed by the legislature shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the governor; if he approve, he shall sign it; but in relation to bills; if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to that house in which it proceedings on originated, who shall enter the objections at large upon their journal, governor. and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of all the members present agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, with the objections, to the other house, by whom it shall likewise be reconsidered; and if approved also by two-thirds of all the members present in that house, it shall become a law; but in such cases, the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the members voting for or against the bill shall be entered on the journals of each house respectively and if any bill be not returned by the governor within ten days, Sundays excepted, after it has been presented to him, the same shall become a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the legislature by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not become a law. to receive same 17. Every resolution to which the concurrence of the senate and Joint resolutions house of representatives may be nccessary, except in cases of adjourn- sanction as bills. ment, shall be presented to the governor, and before the same shall take effect, shall be proceeded upon in the same manner as in the case of a bill. members. 18. The members of the legislature shall receive for their services, Compensation of a compensation to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the public treasury; but no increase of the compensation shall take effect during the term for which the members of either house shall have been elected; and such compensation shall never exceed three dollars a day. 19. No member of the legislature shall receive any civil appoint- receive a civil ment from the governor and senate, or from the legislature, during the appointment. term for which he is elected. No member to 20. The governor shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies Writs of election. as may occur in the senate and house of representatives. 21. The legislature shall meet on the first Monday in January, in Meetings of the legislature. every year, and at no other period, unless otherwise directed by law, or provided for in this constitution. 22. The style of the laws of this state shall be: "Be it enacted by Style of the laws. the senate and house of representatives of the state of Michigan." ARTICLE V. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 1. The supreme executive power shall be vested in a governor, who Governor and shall hold his office for two years; and a lieutenant governor shall be lieutenant gover chosen at the same time and for the same term. nor. 2. No person shall be eligible to the office of governor or lieutenant Eligibility. governor, who shall not have been five years a citizen of the United States, and a resident of this state two years next preceding the election. 3. The governor and lieutenant governor shall be elected by the electors at the times and places of choosing members of the legislature. The persons having the highest number of votes for governor and lieutenant governor shall be elected; but in case two or more have an equal and the highest number of votes for governor or lieutenant ernor, the legislature shall, by joint vote, choose one of the said persons so having an equal and the highest number of votes, for governor or lieutenant governor. gov How chosen. Returns of elec tion. Power of the go vernor. Executive busi ness. Execution of the laws. Convening of the legislature. Adjonrnment. Place of meeting. Reprieves and pardons. Appointments in 4. The returns of every election for governor and lieutenant governor, shall be sealed up and transmitted to the seat of government, by the returning officers, directed to the president of the senate, who shall open and publish them in the presence of the members of both houses. 5. The governor shall be commander-in-chief of the militia, and of the army and navy of this state. 6. He shall transact all executive business with the officers of government, civil and military; and may require information, in writing, from the officers in the executive department, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices. 7. He shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed. 8. He shall have power to convene the legislature on extraordinary occasions. He shall communicate by message to the legislature, at every session, the condition of the state, and recommend such matters to them as he shall deem expedient. 9. He shall have power to adjourn the legislature to such time as he may think proper, in case of a disagreement between the two houses with respect to the time of adjournment, but not to a period beyond the next annual meeting. 10. He may direct the legislature to meet at some other place than the seat of government, if that shall become, after its adjournment, dangerous from a common enemy or a contagious disease. 11. He shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons after conviction, except in cases of impeachment. 12. When any office, the appointment to which is vested in the cases of vacancy. governor and senate, or in the legislature, becomes vacant during the recess of the legislature, the governor shall have power to fill such vacancy by granting a commission, which shall expire at the end of the succeeding session of the legislature. If the office become vacant, 13. In case of the impeachment of the governor, his removal from office, death, resignation, or absence from the state, the powers and lieutenant gover duties of the office shall devolve upon the lieutenant governor until such disability shall cease, or the vacancy be filled. nor to act. When president pro tem te alt as governor. Lieutenant gov 14. If, during the vacancy of the office of governor, the lieutenant governor shall be impeached, displaced, resign, die, or be absent from the state, the president of the senate, pro tempore, shall act as governor, until the vacancy be filled. 15. The lieutenant governor shall, by virtue of his office, be presernor to be president of the senate; in committee of the whole, he may debate on all questions; and when there is an equal division, he shall give the casting vote. ident of the senate. Who shall not execute the of 16. No member of congress, nor any other person holding office fice of governor. under the United States, or this state, shall execute the office of Provisions for governor. 17. Whenever the office of governor or lieutenant governor becomes vacant, the person exercising the powers of governor for the filling vacancies. time being shall give notice thereof, and the electors shall, at the next succeeding annual election for members of the legislature, choose a person to fill such vacancy. governor, Compensation of 18. The governor shall, at stated times, receive for his services a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the term for which he has been elected. Compensation of lieutenant gov. ernor. 19. The lieutenant governor, except when acting as governor, |