District Courts, and such inferior courts, as the General Assembly may from time to time establish.

2. The Supreme Court shall consist of a Chief Justice and two Associates, two of whom shall be a quorum to hold

court.

3. The Judges of the Supreme Court shall be elected by joint vote of both branches of the General Assembly, and shall hold their courts at such time and place as the General Assembly may direct, and hold their offices for six years, and until their successors are elected and qualified, and shall be ineligible to any other office during the term for which they may be elected. The Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction only in all cases in chancery, and shall constitute a court for the correction of errors at law, under such restrictions as the General Assembly may by law prescribe. The Supreme Court shall have power to issue all writs and process necessary to do justice to parties, and exercise a supervisory control over all inferior judicial tribunals, and the Judges of the Supreme Court shall be conservators of the peace throughout the State.

4. The District Court shall consist of a Judge who shall be elected by the qualified voters of the district in which he resides, at the township election, and hold his office for the term of five years, and until his successor is duly elected and qualified, and shall be ineligible to any other office during the term for which he may be elected. The District Court shall be a court of law and equity, and have jurisdiction in all civil and criminal matters arising in their respective districts, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law. The Judges of the District Courts shall be conservators of the peace in their respective districts. The first session of the General Assembly shall divide the State into four districts, which may be increased as the exigencies require.

5. The qualified voters of each county, shall at the general election, elect one Prosecuting Attorney and one Clerk of the District Court, who shall be residents therein, and who

shall hold their several offices for the term of two years and until their successors are elected and qualified.

6. The style of all process shall be "the State of Iowa" and all prosecutions shall be conducted in the name and by the authority of the same.

ARTICLE 7.

MILITIA.

I. The Militia of this State shall be composed of all able bodied white male citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, except such as are or may hereafter be exempt by the laws of the United States or of this State, and shall be armed, equipped, and trained, as the General Assembly may provide by law.

2. No person or persons conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms, shall be compelled to do militia duty in time of peace; provided, that such person or persons shall pay an equivalent for such exemption in the same manner as other citizens.

3. All commissioned officers of the militia, (staff officers excepted,) shall be elected by the persons liable to perform military duty, and shall be commissioned by the Governor.

I.

ARTICLE 8.

STATE DEBTS.

1. The General Assembly shall not in any manner create any debt or debts, liability or liabilities, which shall singly or in the aggregate, with any previous debts or liabilities, exceed the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, except in case of war, to repel invasion, or suppress insurrection, unless the same shall be authorized by some law for some single object, or work to be distinctly specified therein, which law shall provide ways and means, exclusive of loans, for the payment of the interest of such debt or liability as it falls due, and also to pay and discharge the principal of such debt or liability

within twenty years from the the time of the contracting thereof, and shall be irrepealable until the principal and the interest thereon shall be paid and discharged; but no such law shall take effect until at a general election it shall have been submitted to the people, and have received a majority of all the votes cast for and against it at such election, and all money raised by authority of such law, shall be applied only to the specific object therein stated, or to the payment of the debt thereby created, and such law shall be published in at least one newspaper in each judical district, if one is published therein, throughout the State, for three months preceding the election at which it is submitted to the people.

ARTICLE 9.

INCORPORATIONS.

I. No corporate body shall hereafter be created, renewed, or extended, with the privilege of making, issuing, or putting in circulation, any bill, check, ticket, certificate, promissory note, or other paper, or the paper of any bank, to circulate ast money. The General Assembly of this State shall prohibit, by law, any person or persons, association, company or corporation, from exercising the privileges of banking, or creating paper to circulate as money.

2. Corporations shall not be created in this State by special laws, except for political or municipal purposes, but the General Assembly shall provide, by general laws, for the organization of all other corporations, except corporations with banking privileges, the creation of which is prohibited. The stockholders shall be subject to such liabilities and restrictions as shall be provided by law. The State shall not directly or indirectly, become a stockholder in any corporation.

ARTICLE 10.

EDUCATION AND SCHOOL LANDS.

I. The General Assembly shall provide for the election, by the people, of a Superintendent of Public Instruction, who

LIBRARY

OF THE

UNIVER I

OF CALIFOR

shall hold his office for three years, and whose duties shall be prescribed by law, and who shall receive such compensation as the General Assembly may direct.

2. The General Assembly shall encourage, by all suitable means, the promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral and agricultural improvement. The proceeds of all lands that have been or hereafter may be granted by the United States to this State, for the support of schools, which shall hereafter be sold or disposed of, and the five hundred thousand acres of land granted to the new states, under an act of Congress, distributing the proceeds of the public lands among the several States of the Union, approved, A. D. 1841, and all estates of deceased persons, who may have died without leaving a will, or heir; and also such per cent. as may be granted by Congress on the sale of lands in this State, shall be and remain a perpetual fund, the interest of which, together with all the rents of the unsold lands, and such other means as the General Assembly may provide, shall be inviolably appropriated to the support of common schools throughout the State.

3. The General Assembly shall provide for a system of common schools, by which a school shall be kept up and supported in each school district, at least three months in every year; and any school district neglecting to keep up and support such a school may be deprived of its proportion of the interest of the public fund during such neglect.

4. The money which shall be paid by persons as an equivalent for exemption from military duty, and the clear proceeds of all fines collected in the several counties for any breach of the penal laws, shall be exclusively applied, in the several counties in which such money is paid or fine collected, among the several school districts of said counties, in the proportion to the number of inhabitants in such districts, to the support of common schools, or the establishment of libraries, as the General Assembly shall, from time to time, provide by law.

· 5. The General Assembly shall take measures for the

protection, improvement, or other disposition of such lands as have been or may hereafter be reserved or granted by the United States, or any person or persons, to this State, for the use of a University; and the funds accruing from the rents or sale of such lands, or from any other source, for the purpose aforesaid, shall be and remain a permanent fund, the interest of which shall be applied to the support of said University, with such branches as the public convenience may hereafter demand, for the promotion of literature, the arts and sciences, as may be authorized by the terms of such grant. And it shall be the duty of the General Assembly, as soon as may be, to provide effectual means for the improvement and permanent security of the funds of said University.

ARTICLE II.

AMENDMENTS OF THE CONSTITUTION.

I. If at any time, the General Assembly shall think it necessary to revise or amend this constitution, they shall provide by law for a vote of the people for or against a convention, at the next ensuing election for members of the General Assembly, in case a majority of the people vote in favor of a convention, said General Assembly shall provide for an election of Delegates to a convention, to be held within six months after the vote of the people in favor thereof.

ARTICLE 12.

MISCELLANEOUS.

I. The jurisdiction of Justices of the Peace shall extend to all civil cases, (except cases in chancery and cases where the question of title to any real estate may arise,) where the amount in controversy does not exceed one hundred dollars, and by the consent of parties may be extended to any amount not exceeding five hundred dollars.

2. No new county shall be laid off hereafter, nor old county reduced, to less contents than four hundred and thirtytwo square miles.