NEW YORK. 



615 



hereafter granted for such corporations shall 

 be made to conform to such general law. And 

 it is provided that no such corporation shall 

 have any capital stock, nor shall the trustees 

 thereof, or uny of them, have any interest 

 whatever, diivrt or indirect, in the profits of 

 such corporation ; and no director or trustee 

 of any Huch bank or institution shall ho inter- 

 ested in any loan or use of any money or 

 property of such bank or institution for sav- 

 1 IK- Legislature is prohibited from pass- 

 ing any act granting any special charter for 

 bunking purposes ; bnt corporations or associ- 

 ations may be formed for such purposes under 

 general laws. The following now sections arc 

 added : 



See. 10. Neither the credit nor the money of the 

 State shall be given or loaned to or in aid ot any as- 

 Bociation, corporation, or private undertaking. This 

 section shall not, however, prevent the Legislature 

 from making such provision for the education and 



may hereafter be held, by the State for educational 

 purposes. 



See. 11. No county, city, town, or village shall 

 hereafter give any money or property, or loan its 

 money or credit, to or in aid of any individual, as- 

 sociation, or corporation, or become, directly or in- 

 directly, the owner of stock in or bonds of any asso- 

 ciation or corporation, nor shall any such county, 

 city, town, or village be allowed to incur any indebt- 

 edness, except for county, city, town, or village pur- 

 poses. This action shall not prevent such county, 

 city, town, or village from making such provision 

 for the aid or support of its poor aa may be author- 

 ized by law. 



An additional section was made to Article 

 X., providing that " no officer whose salary is 

 fixed by the constitution shall receive any ad- 

 ditional compensation. Each of the other 

 State officers named in the constitution shall, 

 during his continuance in office, receive a com- 

 pensation, 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 per- 

 quisites of office or other compensation." 



Besides the ordinary oath prescribed in sec- 

 tion 1 of Article XII. for members of the Legis- 

 lature (and all officers, executive and judicial, 

 except such inferior officers as may be ex- 

 empted by law), all such officers who have 

 been chosen at any election are required to 

 take the following oath or affirmation : " 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 

 valuable 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 withholding any such vote," and no other 

 oath, declaration, or test shall be required as a 

 qualification for any office of public trust. 



The constitution was further amended by 

 adding the following new articles : 



Amen XV., Station I. Any person holding of- 

 fice under the law* of thin Mute, who, exc< j.t in puy- 

 iii. -ni !' liia legal salary, fi-rf., .,r pi-njuisiti < 

 ' or coiihont to receive, directly or inu. 

 any tiling of value or of pernonul advantage, r tiiu 

 proiniiM- thereof, for performing or omitting to per- 

 form uny olllciul act. or with tin- <-x|>re.ii> or implied 

 understanding thai iiis oilk'iul uctioii or orni 

 ii'-t i> t'i IM- in any dc^r.-i- inllu.-ii. , uliull 



.med guilty of a felony. This neeii-u. 

 not affect the validity of any existing statute in re- 

 lation to the offense of bribery. 



titc. 2. Any person who snail offer or promise a 

 bribe to any officer, if it ahull be received, shall be 

 deemed guilty of a felonv and liable to pmusbmrat, 

 ii* h.Ti-iii provided. No person ottering a 

 bribe shall, upon any prosecution of the officer for 

 receiving suou bribe, be privileged from testifying 

 in relation tlu-n-to, and he shall not be liable to civil 

 or criminal prosecution therefor, if lie shall testify to 

 giving or offering of such bribe. Any person who 

 shall offer or promise a bribe, if it be rejected by 

 the officer to whom it is tendered, shall be >i< 

 guilty of an attempt to bribe, which is hereby de- 

 clared to be a felony. 



Sec. 3. Any person charged with receiving a bribe, 

 or with offering or promising a bribe, shall be per- 

 mitted to testify in his own behalf in any civil or 

 criminal prosecution therefor. 



6V. 4. Any district attorney who shall fail faith- 

 fully to prosecute a person charged with the viola- 

 tion in his county of any provision of this article 

 which may come to his knowledge, shall be removed 

 from office by the Governor, after a due notice and tin 

 opportunity of being heard in bis defense. The ex- 

 penses which shall be incurred by any county in in- 

 vestigating and prosecuting any charge of bribery, 

 or attempting to bribe any person holding office un- 

 der the laws of this State, within such county, or of 

 receiving bribes by any such person in said county, 

 shall bo a charge against the State, and their pay- 

 ment by the State shall be provided for by law. 



ARTICLE XVI., Section 1. All amendments to the 

 constitution shall be in force from and including the 

 first day of January succeeding the election at which 

 the same were adopted, except when otherwise pro- 

 vided by such amendment. 



An important decision was rendered in June 

 by the Court of Appeals, in what is known as 

 the " Ring suits," brought in the name of the 

 people of the State against James II. Ingersoll 

 and others, for the recovery of certain moneys, 

 " alleged to have been obtained by the respond- 

 ent and the other persons named in the com- 

 plaint, his associates and confederates, by false 

 and fraudulent means and devices." The cru- 

 cial question was whether the State or the 

 county of New York had the right to bring 

 the action. This question was presented by 

 demurrer in the case of W. M. Tweed, one of 

 the defendants, but the demurrer was over- 

 ruled at the trial by the Special Term, and this 

 decision was affirmed by the General Term, 

 thus upholding the right of the people of the 

 State to maintain the action. This result was 

 acquiesced in by Tweed, who answered o\ \T. 

 and the action stood for trial upon the issues 

 of fact joined. Subsequently, upon the motion 

 of Ingersoll, about one-third of the complaint 

 was, by orde- of another judge, stricken out 

 as "irrelevant and redundant," the court hold- 

 ing that the allegations were not essential 

 either to the right of the plaintiffs or the lia- 

 bility of the defendants, in respect to the cause 



