104 



CALIFOENIA. 



of a jury may render a verdict in civil ac- 

 tions. 



The section regulating the right of suffrage 

 closes with the following provision : " No na- 

 tive of China, no idiot, insane person, or per- 

 son convicted of any infamous crime, and no 

 person hereafter convicted of the embezzle- 

 ment or misappropriation of public money, 

 shall ever exercise the privileges of an elector 

 in this State." 



The sessions of the Legislature after 1880 

 commence on the first Monday after the first 

 day of January, and are biennial. The elec- 

 tion of members of the Legislature after 1879 

 will be held on the first Tuesday after the first 

 Monday in November. Senators are chosen 

 for four years and Eepresentatives for two 

 years. There are forty of the former and 

 eighty of the latter. In adjusting the represen- 

 tation of districts, no persons who are not eligi- 

 ble to become citizens of the United States, un- 

 der the naturalization laws, shall be counted as 

 forming a part of the population of any district. 

 No pay shall be allowed to members after sixty 

 days ; and no bill shall be introduced in either 

 House after fifty days except on the consent of 

 two thirds of the members. On the final pas- 

 sage of all bills they shall be read at length 

 and receive the vote of a majority of the mem- 

 bers of each House to become laws. The Gov- 

 ernor may veto some items of appropriation 

 bills and approve of others. No person hold- 

 ing any lucrative office under the United States 

 or any other power shall be eligible to any 

 civil office of profit under the State. Local 

 officers or postmasters with a salary less than 

 five hundred dollars and militia officers are ex- 

 cepted. " No person convicted of the embez- 

 zlement or defalcation of the public funds of 

 the United States, or of any State, or of any 

 county or municipality therein, shall ever be 

 eligible to any office of honor, trust, or profit 

 under the State ; and the Legislature shall 

 provide by law for the punishment of embez- 

 zlement or defalcation as a felony." 



" No money shall ever be appropriated or 

 drawn from the State Treasury for the use or 

 benefit of any corporation, association, asylum, 

 hospital, or any other institution not under 

 the exclusive management and control of the 

 State as a State institution; nor shall any 

 grant or donation of property ever be made 

 thereto by the State; provided, that notwith- 

 standing anything contained in any section of 

 the Constitution, the Legislature shall have the 

 power to grant aid to institutions conducted 

 for the support and maintenance of minor 

 orphans or half orphans, or abandoned chil- 

 dren, or aged persons in indigent circum- 

 stances such aid to be granted by a uniform 

 rule, and proportioned to the number of in- 

 | mates of such respective institutions ; provided 

 further, that the State shall have at any time 

 the right to inquire into the management of 

 such institutions; provided further, that when- 

 ever any county, or city and county, or city, 



or town shall provide for the support of minor 

 orphans, or half orphans, or abandoned chil- 

 dren, or aged persons in indigent circumstances, 

 such county, city and county, city, or town 

 shall be entitled to receive the same pro rata 

 appropriations as may be granted to such in- 

 stitutions under church or other control. An 

 accurate statement of the receipts and expen- 

 ditures of public moneys shall be attached to 

 and published with the laws at every regular 

 session of the Legislature." 



"Every act shall embrace but one subject, 

 which subject shall be expressed in its title. 

 But if any subject shall be embraced in an act 

 which shall not be expressed in its title, such 

 act shall be void only as to so much thereof as 

 shall not be expressed in its title. No law 

 shall be revised or amended by reference to 

 its title ; but in such case the act revised or 

 section amended shall be reenacted and pub- 

 lished at length as revised or amended." 



" The Legislature shall have no power to 

 authorize lotteries or gift enterprises for any 

 purpose, and shall pass laws to prohibit the 

 sale in this State of lottery or gift-enterprise 

 tickets, or tickets in any scheme in the nature 

 of a lottery. The Legislature shall pass laws 

 to regulate or prohibit the buying and selling 

 of the shares of the capital stock of corpora- 

 tions in any stock board, stock exchange, or 

 stock market under the control of any associa- 

 tion. All contracts for the sale of shares of 

 the capital stock of any corporation or associa- 

 tion, on margin or to be delivered at a future 

 day, shall be void, and any money paid on such 

 contracts may be recovered by the party pay- 

 ing it by suit in any court of competent juris- 

 diction." 



In nil elections by the Legislature the mem- 

 bers shall vote viva voce. 



" Neither the Legislature, nor any county, 

 city and county, township, school district, or 

 other municipal corporation, shall ever make 

 an appropriation, or pay from any public fund 

 whatever, or grant anything to or in aid of any 

 religious sect, church, creed, or sectarian pur- 

 pose, or help to support or sustain any school, 

 college, university, hospital, or other institu- 

 tion controlled by any religious creed, church, 

 or sectarian denomination whatever ; nor shall 

 any grant or donation of personal property or 

 real estate ever be made by the State, or any 

 city, city and county, town, or other municipal 

 corporation, for any religious creed, church, or 

 sectarian purpose whatever." The Legisla- 

 ture, however, is not to be prevented from 

 granting aid in the manner above mentioned. 



" The Legislature shall have no power to 

 give or to lend, or to authorize the giving or 

 lending, of the credit of the State, or of any 

 county, city and county, city, township, or 

 other political corporation or subdivision of 

 the State now existing, or that may be here- 

 after established, in aid of or to any person, 

 association, or corporation, whether municipal 

 or otherwise, or to pledge the credit thereof, 



