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Cal 110

902

119122

Copyright, 1902,
By

Bancroft-Whitney Company.

10/14/42

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INTRODUCTION.

PREFATORY NOTE.-It is unnecessary to make any extended explanation in laying before the Bar of California a work upon the constitution of California. The edition published by Mr. Robert Desty in 1879 was excellent in its time, but has long ceased to be of practical aid to the profession. In preparing this volume, the aim has been to present in the most convenient form. the decisions of our own courts, only referring to the decisions of other courts on subjects which our own have left untouched. While the main subject is the present constitution of this state, the book also contains the former constitution, the constitution of the United States, and the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

New features. Some new and important features are the following: (1) A table showing all statutes of this state which have been declared unconstitutional in whole or in part. There are over one hundred and thirty such statutes scattered through the statute books, and this is the

first time any table of them has been made.

(2) A table of all California citations to either of the California constitutions. This will permit a hasty examination of all decisions citing any particular section of the constitution. (3) A table of parallel sections in the constitutions of 1849 and 1879, which will also prove a useful feature.

Annotations.-As to the form of the annotations, the aim has been to present in the most condensed form the principles of the decisions, rather than any statement of the facts of the cases. In other words, we have attempted something more than a mere digest, or a hotchpotch of the syllabi of the decisions.

HISTORY OF THE CONSTITUTION.-California was admitted into the Union of states September 9, 1850. The first constitution was adopted in convention October 10, 1849, ratified by the people November 13, 1849, proclaimed December 20, 1849. This constitution was amended in 1857 and 1871, and the article on the judicial department was revised in 1862.

The present constitution was adopted in convention March 3, 1879, ratified by the people May 7, 1879, and went into effect July 4, 1879, so far as it related to election of officers, etc., and January 1, 1880, for all other purposes. Various amendments have been made to it from time to time, but no radical revision of it has been effected.

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