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.

SEC. 1. No person to be disfranchised. 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. Trial by jury.-The trial by jury, in all cases in which it has been heretofore used, shall remain inviolate for ever; but a jury trial may be waived by the parties in all civil cases in the manner to be prescribed by law.

SEC. 3. Religious liberty.—The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall for ever 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. Writ of habeas corpus.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. Bail, fines.-Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor shall cruel and unusual punishments be inflicted, nor shall witnesses be unreasonably detained.

SEC. 6. Grand jury-bill of rights. -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 de

fend in person and with counsel as in civil actions. No person shall be subject to be twice put in jeopardy for the same offence; 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. Private property-private roads. 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. Freedom of speech and of the press. 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 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.

SEC. 9. Two-third bills.-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. Right of petition-divorces -lotteries.-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 authorised, or any sale of lottery tickets allowed within this state.

SEC. 11. Right of property in lands escheats.-The people of this state, in their right of sovereignty, are deemed to possess the original and ultimate 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. Feudal tenures abolished. -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. Allodial tenure. 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. Certain leases invalid.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. Fines and quarter sales abolished.-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. Sale of lands.-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. Old colony laws and Acts of the legislature common law ·

- commissioners to be appointed · their duties.-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, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven, which have not since expired, or been repealed or altered, and such acts of the legislature of this state as are now in force, shall be and continue the law of this state, subject to such alterations as the legislature shall make concerning the same. But all

such parts of the common law, and such of the said acts, or parts thereof, as are repugnant to this constitution, are hereby abrogated; and the legislature, at its first session after the adoption of this constitution, shall appoint three commissioners, whose duty it shall be to reduce into a written and systematic code the whole body of the law of this state, or so much and such parts thereof as to the said commissioners shall seem practicable and expedient. And the said commissioners shall specify such alterations and amendments therein as they shall deem proper, and they shall at all times make reports of their proceedings to the legislature, when called upon to do so; and the legislature shall pass laws regulating the tenure of office, the filling of vacancies therein, and the compensation of the said commis

| sioners, and shall also provide for the publication of the said code, prior to its being presented to the legislature for adoption.

SEC. 18. Grants of land since 1775 -prior grants.—All grants of land within the state, made by the King of Great Britain or persons acting under his authority, after the fourteenth day of October, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, shall be null and void; but nothing contained in this constitution shall affect any grants of lands within this state, made by the authority of the said king or his predecessors, or shall annul any charters to bodies politic or corporate, by him or them made, before that day; or shall affect any such grants or charters since made by this state, or by persons acting under its authority; or shall impair the obligation of any debts contracted by the state, or individuals, or bodies corporate, or any other rights of property, or any suits, actions, rights of action, or other proceedings in courts of justice.

ARTICLE II.

SEC. 1. Qualification of voters. Every male citizen of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been a citizen for ten days and an inhabitant of this state one year next preceding an election, and for the last four months a resident of the county and for the last thirty days a resident of the election district in which he may offer his vote, shall be entitled to vote at such election in the election district of which he shall at the time be a resident, and not elsewhere, for all officers that now are or hereafter may be elective by the people, and upon all questions which may be submitted to the vote of the people, provided that in time of war no elector in the actual military service of the state,

or of the United States, in the Army or Navy thereof, shall be deprived of his vote by reason of his absence from such election district; and the legislature shall have power to provide the manner in which, and the time and place at which, such absent electors may vote, and for the return and canvass of their votes in the election districts in which they respectively reside.

SEC. 2. Persons excluded from the right of suffrage, &c. - No person who shall receive, expect, or offer to receive, or pay, offer or promise to pay, contribute, offer or promise to contribute to another, to be paid or used, any money or other valuable thing as a compensation or reward for the giving or withholding a vote at an election, or who shall make any promise to influence the giving or withholding any such vote, or who shall make or become directly or indirectly interested in any bet or wager depending upon the result of any election, shall vote at such election; and upon challenge for such cause, the person so challenged, before the officers authorised for that purpose shall receive his vote, shall swear or affirm before such officers that he has not received or offered, does not expect to receive, has not paid, offered or promised to pay, contributed, offered or promised to contribute to another, to be paid or used, any money or other valuable thing as a compensation or reward for the giving or withholding a vote at such election, and has not made any promise to influence the giving or withholding of any such vote, nor made or become directly or indirectly interested in any bet or wager depending upon the result of such election. The legislature, at the session thereof next after the adoption of this section, shall, and from time to time thereafter may, enact laws excluding from the right

of suffrage all persons convicted of bribery or of any infamous crime.

SEC. 3. Certain employments not to affect residence of voters. 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 alms-house, or other asylum, at public expense; nor while confined in any public prison.

SEC. 4. Laws to be passed.-Laws shall be made for ascertaining by proper proofs the citizens who shall be entitled to the right of suffrage hereby established.

SEC. 5. Election to be by ballot.— All elections by the citizens shall be by ballot, except for such town officers as may by law be directed to be otherwise chosen.

and Queens.

District No. Two (2) shall consist of the county of Kings.

District No. Three (3), No. Four (4), No. Five (5), and No. Six (6) shall consist of the city and county of New York. And the board of supervisors of said city and county shall, on or before the first day of May, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, divide the said city and county into the number of senate districts to which it is entitled, as near as may be of an equal number of inhabitants, excluding aliens and persons of colour not taxed, and consisting of convenient and contiguous territory; and no assembly district shall be divided in the formation of a senate district. The board of supervisors, when they shall have completed such division, shall cause certificates thereof, stating the number and boundaries of each district and the population thereof, to be filed in the office of the secretary of state, and of the clerk of said city and county.

District No. Seven (7) shall consist of the counties of Westchester, Putnam, and Rockland.

District No. Eight (8) shall consist of the counties of Dutchess and Columbia.

District No. Nine (9) shall consist of the counties of Orange and Sullivan.

District No. Ten (10) shall consist of the counties of Ulster and Greene.

District No. Eleven (11) shall consist of the counties of Albany and Schenectady.

District No. Twelve (12) shall consist of the county of Rensselaer.

District No. Thirteen (13) shall consist of the counties of Washington and Saratoga.

District No. Fourteen (14) shall consist of the counties of Warren, Essex, and Clinton.

District No. Fifteen (15) shall con

District No. Sixteen (16) shall consist of the counties of Herkimer, Hamilton, Fulton, and Montgomery.

District No. Seventeen (17) shall consist of the counties of Schoharie and Delaware.

District No. Eighteen (18) shall consist of the counties of Otsego and Chenango.

District No. Nineteen (19) shall consist of the county of Oneida.

District No. Twenty (20) shall consist of the counties of Madison and Oswego.

District No. Twenty-one (21) shall consist of the counties of Jefferson and Lewis.

District No. Twenty-two (22) shall consist of the county of Onondaga.

District No. Twenty-three (23) shall consist of the counties of Cortland, Broome, and Tioga.

District No. Twenty-four (24) shall consist of the counties of Cayuga and Wayne.

District No. Twenty-five (25) shall consist of the counties of Tompkins, Seneca, and Yates.

District No. Twenty-six (26) shall consist of the counties of Steuben and Chemung.

District No. Twenty-s y-seven (27) shall consist of the county of Monroe. District No. Twenty-eight (28) shall consist of the counties of Orleans, Genesee, and Niagara.

District No. Twenty-nine (29) shall consist of the counties of Ontario and Livingston.

District No. Thirty (30) shall consist of the counties of Allegany and Wyoming.

District No. Thirty-one (31) shall consist of the county of Erie.

District No. Thirty-two (32) shall consist of the counties of Chautauqua and Cattaraugus.

SEC. 4. Census to be taken in 1855, and every ten years-senate districts,