CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. 209 
Sec. 14. Representation shall be apportioned according to population. 
Sec. 15. No person shall be imprisoned for debt, in any civil action on 
mesne or final process, unless in cases of fraud ; and no person shall be impri¬ 
soned for a militia fine in time of peace. 
Sec. 16. No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obliga¬ 
tion of contracts, shall ever be passed. 
Sec. 17. Foreigners who are, or who may hereafter become, bona fide resi¬ 
dents of this State, shall enjoy the same rights in respect to the possession, 
enjoyment and inheritance of property, as native born citizens. 
Sec. 18. Neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude , unless for the punishment 
of crimes , shall ever be tolerated in this State. 
Sec. 19. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, 
and effects, against unreasonable seizures and searches, shall not be violated; 
and now arrant shall issue but on probable cause, supported by oath or affirm¬ 
ation, particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons and 
things to be seized. 
Sec. 20. Treason against the State shall consist only in levying war against 
it, adhering to its enemies, or giving them aid and comfort. No person shall 
be convicted of treason, unless on the evidence of two witnesses to the same 
overt act, or confession in open court. 
Sec. 21. This enumeration of rights shall not be construed to impair or 
deny others retained by the people. 
ARTICLE II. 
RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE. 
Sec. 1. Every white male citizen of the United States, and every white 
male citizen of Mexico, who shall have elected to become a citizen of the 
United States, under the treaty of peace exchanged and ratified at Queretaro, 
on the 30th day of May, 1848, of the age of twenty-one years, who shall 
have been a resident of the State six months next preceding the election, and 
the county or district in which he claims his vote thirty days, shall be entitled 
to vote at all elections which are now or hereafter may be authorized by law: 
Provided, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the 
Legislature, by a two-thirds concurrent vote, from admitting to the right of 
suffrage, Indians or the descendants of Indians, in such special cases as such 
a proportion of the legislative body may deem just and proper. 
Sec. 2. Electors shall, on all cases except treason, felony, or breach of the 
peace, be privileged from arrest on the days of the election, during their 
attendance at such election, going to and returning therefrom. 
Sec. 3. No elector shall be obliged to perform militia duty on the day of 
election, except in time of war or public danger. 
Sec. 4. For the purpose of voting, no person shall be deemed to have gained 
or lost a residence by reason of his presence or absence while employed in 
the service of the United States; nor while engaged in the navigation of the 
waters of this State, or of the United States, or of the high seas; nor while 
a student of any seminary of learning; nor while kept at any almshouse, 
14 
