# Constitution of the State of Minnesota (1898)

Adopted October 13, 1857. Amended November 8, 1898, when voters approved four amendments. The first of these amendments permitted women to vote for and serve on library boards; the second made it more difficult to amend the constitution; the third amended the municipal home rule section; and the fourth provided for the state road and bridge fund. Also previously amended in 1858, 1860, 1868, 1869, 1871, 1872, 1873, 1875, 1876, 1877, 1879, 1881, 1883, 1886, 1888, 1890, 1892, 1894 and 1896.

## PREAMBLE

We the people of the state of Minnesota grateful to God for our civil and religious liberty and desiring to perpetuate its blessings and secure the same to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution:

## ARTICLE I.—BILL OF RIGHTS

Section 1. Government is instituted for the security, benefit and protection of the people, in whom all political power is inherent, together with the right to alter, modify or reform such government whenever the public good may require it.
Sec. 2. No member of this state shall be disfranchised, or deprived of any of the rights or privileges secured to any citizen thereof, unless by the law of the land, or the judgment of his peers. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the state otherwise than in the punishment of crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.
Sec. 3. The liberty of the press shall forever remain inviolate, and all persons may freely speak, write, and publish their sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of such right.
Sec. 4. The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate, and shall extend to all cases at law without regard to the amount in controversy, but a jury trial may be waived by the parties in all cases in the manner prescribed by law.
And the legislature may provide that the agreement of five-sixth (5/6) of any jury in any civil action or proceeding, after not less than six (6) hours deliberation, shall be a sufficient verdict therein. [Amended, November 4, 1890]
Sec. 5. Excessive bail shall not be required; nor shall excessive fines be imposed; nor shall cruel or unusual punishments be inflicted.
Sec. 6. In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the county or district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which county or district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel in his defense.
Sec. 7. No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense unless on the presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases of impeachment or in cases cognizable by justices of the peace, or arising in the army or navy, or in the militia when in actual service in time of war or public danger, and no person for the same offense shall be put twice in jeopardy of punishment, nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. All persons shall before conviction be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses when the proof is evident or the presumption great; and the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require.
Sec. 8. Every person is entitled to a certain remedy in the laws for all injuries or wrongs which he may receive in his person, property or character; he ought to obtain justice freely and without purchase, completely and without denial, promptly and without delay, conformably to the laws.
Sec. 9. Treason against the state shall consist only in levying war against the same or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.
Sec. 10. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or things to be seized.
Sec. 11. No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, nor any law impairing the obligation of contracts shall ever be passed, and no conviction shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture of estate.
Sec. 12. No person shall be imprisoned for debt in this state, but this shall not prevent the legislature from providing for imprisonment or holding to bail persons charged with fraud in contracting said debt. A reasonable amount of property shall be exempt from seizure or sale, for the payment of any debt or liability; the amount of such exemption shall be determined by law.
Provided, however, that all property so exempted shall be liable to seizure and sale for any debts incurred to any person for work done or materials furnished in the construction, repair, or improvement of the same. and provided further, that such liability to seizure and sale shall also extend to all real property for any debt incurred to any laborer or servant for labor or service performed. [Amended, November 6, 1888]
Sec. 13. Private property shall not be taken, destroyed or damaged for public use, without just compensation therefor first paid or secured. [Amended, November 3, 1896]
Sec. 14. The military shall be subordinate to the civil power, and no standing army shall be kept up in this state in time of peace.
Sec. 15. All lands within this state are declared to be allodial, and feudal tenures of every description, with all their incidents, are prohibited. Leases and grants of agricultural land for a longer period than twenty-one years, hereafter made, in which shall be reserved any rent or service of any kind, shall be void.
Sec. 16. The enumeration of rights in this constitution shall not be construed to deny or impair others retained by and inherent in the people. The right of every man to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience shall never be infringed, nor shall any man be compelled to attend, erect or support any place of worship, or to maintain any religious or ecclesiastical ministry against his consent, nor shall any control of, or interference with the rights of conscience be permitted, or any preference be given by law to any religious establishment or mode of worship, 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 the state, nor shall any money be drawn from the treasury for the benefit of any religious societies, or religious or theological seminaries.
Sec. 17. No religious test or amount of property shall ever be required as a qualification for any office of public trust under the state. No religious test or amount of property shall ever be required as a qualification of any voter at any election in this state; nor shall any person be rendered incompetent to give evidence in any court of law or equity in consequence of his opinion upon the subject of religion.

## ARTICLE II.—ON NAME AND BOUNDARIES

Section 1. This state shall be called and known by the name of the “State of Minnesota,” and shall consist of and have jurisdiction over the territory embraced in the following boundaries, to wit: Beginning at the point in the center of the main channel of the Red river of the North, where the boundary line between the United States and the British possessions crosses the same; thence up the main channel of said river to that of the Bois des Sioux river; thence up the main channel of said river to Lake Traverse; thence up the center of said lake to the southern extremity thereof; thence in a direct line to the head of Big Stone Lake; thence through its center to its outlet; thence by a due south line to the north line of the state of Iowa; thence east along the northern boundary of said state to the main channel of the Mississippi river; thence up the main channel of said river, and following the boundary line of the state of Wisconsin, until the same intersects the St. Louis river; thence down the said river to and through Lake Superior, on the boundary line of Wisconsin and Michigan, until it intersects the dividing line between the United States and British possessions; thence up Pigeon river, and following said dividing line to the place of beginning.
Sec. 2. The state of Minnesota shall have concurrent jurisdiction on the Mississippi and all other rivers and waters bordering on the said state of Minnesota, so far as the same shall form a common boundary to said state and any other state or states now or hereafter to be formed by the same; and said river and waters, and navigable waters leading into the same, shall be common highways, and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of said state as to other citizens of the United States, without any tax, duty, impost, or toll, therefor.
Sec. 3. The propositions contained in the act of congress entitled “An act to authorize the people of the territory of Minnesota to form a constitution and state government preparatory to their admission into the union on an equal footing with the original states,” are hereby accepted, ratified, and confirmed, and shall remain irrevocable without the consent of the United States; and it is hereby ordained that this state shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil within the same by the United States, or with any regulations congress may find necessary for securing the title to said soil to bona fide purchasers thereof; and no tax shall be imposed on lands belonging to the United States, and in no case shall non-resident proprietors be taxed higher than residents.

## ARTICLE III.—DISTRIBUTION OF THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT

Section 1. The powers of the government shall be divided into three distinct departments, the legislative, executive and judicial; and no person or persons belonging to or constituting one of these departments, shall exercise any of the powers properly belonging to either of the others, except in the instances expressly provided in this constitution.

## ARTICLE IV.—THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT

Section 1. The legislature shall consist of the senate and house of representatives, which shall meet biennially at the seat of government of the state, at such time as shall be prescribed by law, but no session shall exceed the term of ninety (90) legislative days, and no new bill shall be introduced in either branch, except on the written request of the governor, during the last twenty (20) days of such sessions, except the attention of the legislature shall be called to some important matter of general interest by a special message from the governor. [Amended, November 6, 1860; November 6, 1877; November 6, 1888]
Sec. 2. The number of members who compose the senate and house of representatives shall be prescribed by law, but the representation in the senate shall never exceed one member for every five thousand inhabitants, and in the house of representatives one member for every two thousand inhabitants. The representation in both houses shall be apportioned equally throughout the different sections of the state in proportion to the population thereof, exclusive of Indians not taxable under the provisions of law.
Sec. 3. Each house shall be the judge of the election, returns, and eligibility of its own members; a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to transact business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and compel the attendance of absent members in such manner and under such penalties as it may provide.
Sec. 4. Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, sit upon its own adjournment, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and with the concurrence of two-thirds expel a member, but no member shall be expelled a second time for the same offense.
Sec. 5. The house of representatives shall elect its presiding officer; and the senate and house of representatives shall elect such other officers as may be provided by law; they shall keep journals of their proceedings, and from time to time publish the same; and the yeas and nays when taken on any question shall be entered on such journals.
Sec. 6. Neither house shall, during a session of the legislature, adjourn for more than three days, (Sundays excepted,) nor to any other place than that in which the two houses shall be assembled, without the consent of the other house.
Sec. 7. The compensation of senators and representatives shall be three dollars per diem during the first session, but may afterwards be prescribed by law. But no increase of compensation shall be prescribed which shall take effect during the period for which the members of the existing house of representatives may have been elected.
Sec. 8. The members of each house shall in all cases except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during the session of their respective houses, and in going to or returning from the same. For any speech or debate in either house they shall not be questioned in any other place.
Sec. 9. No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he is elected, hold any office under the authority of the United States, or the state of Minnesota, except that of postmaster; and no senator or representative shall hold an office under the state, which had been created, or the emoluments of which had been increased during the session of the legislature of which he was a member, until one year after the expiration of his term of office in the legislature.
Sec. 10. All bills for raising a revenue shall originate in the house of representatives, but the senate may propose and concur with amendments as on other bills.
Sec. 11. Every bill which shall have passed the senate and house of representatives, in conformity to the rules of each house and the joint rules of the two houses, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the governor of the state. If he approve, he shall sign and deposit it in the office of secretary of state for preservation, and notify the house where it originated of the fact. But if not, he shall return it with his objections to the house in which it shall have originated, when such objections shall be entered at large on the journal of the same, and the house shall proceed to reconsider the bill. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of that house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if it be approved by two-thirds of that house, it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for or against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the governor within three days (Sundays excepted,) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the legislature by adjournment within that time prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law. The governor may approve, sign, and file in the office of the secretary of state within three days after the adjournment of the legislature any act passed during the three last days of the session and the same shall become a law.
If any bill presented to the governor contain several items of appropriation of money, he may object to one or more of such items while approving of the other portion of the bill. In such case he shall append to the bill, at the time of signing it, a statement of the items to which he objects; and the appropriation so objected to shall not take effect. If the legislature be in session, he shall transmit to the house in which the bill originated a copy of such statement, and the items objected to shall be separately reconsidered. If, on reconsideration, one or more of such items be approved by two thirds of the members elected to each house, the same shall be a part of the law, notwithstanding the objections of the governor. All the provisions of this section, in relation to bills not approved by the governor, shall apply in cases in which he shall withhold his approval from any item or items contained in a bill appropriating money. [Amended, November 7, 1876]
Sec. 12. No money shall be appropriated except by bill. Every order, resolution or vote requiring the concurrence of the two houses, (except such as relate to the business or adjournment of the same,) shall be presented to the governor for his signature, and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or being returned by him with his objections, shall be repassed by two-thirds of the members of the two houses, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in case of a bill.
Sec. 13. The style of all laws of this state shall be: “Be it enacted by the legislature of the state of Minnesota.” No law shall be passed unless voted for by a majority of all the members elected to each branch of the legislature, and the vote entered upon the journal of each house.
Sec. 14. The house of representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment, through a concurrence of a majority of all the members elected to seats therein. All impeachments shall be tried by the senate, and when sitting for that purpose the senators shall be upon oath or affirmation to do justice according to law and evidence. No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present.
Sec. 15. The legislature shall have full power to exclude from the privilege of electing or being elected, any person convicted of bribery, perjury, or any other infamous crime.
Sec. 16. Two or more members of either house shall have liberty to dissent and protest against any act or resolution which they may think injurious to the public or to any individual, and have the reason of their dissent entered on the journal.
Sec. 17. The governor shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies as may occur in either house of the legislature. The legislature shall prescribe by law the manner in which evidence in cases of contested seats in either house shall be taken.
Sec. 18. Each house may punish by imprisonment, during its session, any person not a member who shall be guilty of any disorderly or contemptuous behavior in their presence, but no such imprisonment shall at any time exceed twenty-four hours.
Sec. 19. Each house shall be open to the public during the sessions thereof, except in such cases as in their opinion may require secrecy.
Sec. 20. Every bill shall be read on three different days in each separate house, unless, in case of urgency, two-thirds of the house where such bill is depending shall deem it expedient to dispense with this rule, and no bill shall be passed by either house until it shall have been previously read twice at length.
Sec. 21. Every bill, having passed both houses, shall be carefully enrolled, and shall be signed by the presiding officer of each house. Any presiding officer refusing to sign a bill which shall have previously passed both houses, shall thereafter be incapable of holding a seat in either branch of the legislature, or hold any other office of honor or profit in the state, and in case of such refusal, each house shall, by rule, provide the manner in which such bill shall be properly certified for presentation to the governor.
Sec. 22. No bill shall be passed by either house of the legislature upon the day prescribed for the adjournment of the two houses. But this section shall not be so construed as to preclude the enrollment of a bill, or the signature and passage from one house to the other, or the reports thereon from committees, or its transmission to the executive for his signature.
Sec. 23. The legislature shall provide by law for an enumeration of the inhabitants of this state in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and every tenth year thereafter. At their first session after each enumeration so made, and also at their first session after each enumeration made by the authority of the United States, the legislature shall have the power to prescribe the bounds of congressional, senatorial and representative districts, and to apportion anew the senators and representatives among the several districts according to the provisions of section second of this article.
Sec. 24. The senators shall be chosen by single districts of convenient contiguous territory at the same time that members of the house of representatives are required to be chosen and in the same manner, and no representative district shall be divided in the formation of a senate district. The senate districts shall be numbered in a regular series. The terms of office of senators and representatives shall be the same as now prescribed by law until the general election in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight at which time there shall be an entire new election of all the senators and representatives; representatives chosen at such election or at any election thereafter, shall hold their office for the term of two years, except it be to fill a vacancy, and the senators chosen at such election by districts designated as odd numbers, shall go out of office at the expiration of the second year and senators chosen by districts designated by even numbers, shall go out of office at the expiration of the fourth year, and thereafter senators shall be chosen for four years, except there shall be an entire new election of all the senators, at the election of representatives next succeeding each new apportionment provided for in this article. [Amended, November 6, 1877]
Sec. 25. Senators and representatives shall be qualified voters of the state, and shall have resided one year in the state and six months immediately preceding the election in the district from which they are elected.
Sec. 26. Members of the senate of the United States from this state shall be elected by the two houses of the legislature in joint convention at such times, in such manner as may be provided by law.
Sec. 27. No law shall embrace more than one subject, which shall be expressed in its title.
Sec. 28. Divorces shall not be granted by the legislature.
Sec. 29. All members and officers of both branches of the legislature shall, before entering upon the duties of their respective trusts, take and subscribe an oath or affirmation to support the constitution of the United States, the constitution of the state of Minnesota, and faithfully and impartially to discharge the duties devolving upon him as such member or officer.
Sec. 30. In all elections to be made by the legislature the members thereof shall vote viva voce, and their votes shall be entered on the journal.
Sec. 31. The legislature shall never authorize any lottery or the sale of lottery tickets.
Sec. 32(a). Any law providing for the repeal or amendment of any law, or laws, heretofore or hereafter enacted, which provides that any railroad company now existing in this state, or operating its road therein, or which may be hereafter organized shall in lieu of all other taxes and assessments upon their real estate, roads, rollingstock and other personal property at and during the time and periods therein specified, pay into the treasury of this state a certain percentage therein mentioned of the gross earnings of such railroad companies, now existing or hereafter organized, shall before the same shall take effect or be in force, be submitted to a vote of the people of the state and be adopted and ratified by a majority of the electors of the state voting at the election at which the same shall be submitted to them. [Adopted, November 8, 1871]
Sec. 32(b). All lands donated to the state of Minnesota for the purpose of internal improvement under the eighth section of the act of Congress approved September 4th 1841 being “an act to appropriate the proceeds of the sales of the public lands, and to grant preemption rights,” shall be appraised and sold in the same manner, and by the same officers, and the minimum price shall be the same as is provided by law, for the appraisement and sale of the school lands under the provisions of title one (1) of chapter thirty eight (38), of the General Statutes except the modifications hereinafter mentioned. All moneys derived from the sales of the said lands shall be invested in the bonds of the United States or of the state of Minnesota issued since 1860, and the money so invested shall constitute the Internal Improvement Land fund of the state. All moneys received by the county treasurer under the provisions of title one (1) chapter thirty eight aforesaid derived from the sale of the Internal Improvement Lands, shall be held at all times subject to the order and direction of the state treasurer, for the benefit of the fund to which it belongs, and on the fifteenth day of June in each year and at such other times as he may be requested so to do by the state treasurer, he shall pay over to the said state treasurer, all moneys received on account of such fund, the bonds purchased in accordance with this amendment shall be transferable only upon the order of the governor, and on each bond shall be written, “Minnesota Internal Improvement Land fund of the state Transferable only on the order of the governor.” The principal sum from all sales of Internal Improvement Lands shall not be reduced by any charges or costs of officers by fees or by any other means whatever, and section fifty (50), of title one (1), of chapter thirty eight (38), of the General Statutes shall not be applicable to the provisions of this amendment, and wherever the words “school lands” are used in said title it shall read as applicable to this amendment Internal Improvement Lands.
The moneys belonging to the Internal Improvement Land fund, shall not be appropriated for any purpose whatever until the enactment for that purpose, shall have been approved by a majority of the electors of the state voting at the annual general election following the passage of the act.
The force of this amendment shall be to authorize the sale of the Internal Improvement Lands without further legislative enactment. [Adopted, November 5, 1872]
Sec. 33. In all cases when a general law can be made applicable, no special law shall be enacted; and whether a general law could have been applicable in any case, is hereby declared a judicial question, and as such shall be judicially determined without regard to any legislative assertion on that subject. The legislature shall pass no local or special law; regulating the affairs of, or incorporating, erecting or changing the lines of any county, city, village, township, ward or school district, or creating the offices, or prescribing the powers and duties of the officers of or fixing or relating to the compensation, salary or fees of the same or the mode of election or appointment thereto; authorizing the laying out, opening, altering, vacating or maintaining roads, highways, streets or alleys; remitting fines, penalties or forfeitures; regulating the powers, duties and practice of justices of the peace, magistrates and constables; changing the names of persons, places, lakes or rivers; for opening and conducting of elections, or fixing or changing the places of voting; authorizing the adoption or legitimation of children; changing the law of descent or succession; conferring rights upon minors; declaring any named person of age; giving effect to informal or invalid wills or deeds, or affecting the estates of minors or persons under disability; locating or changing county seats; regulating the management of public schools, the building or repairing of school houses, and the raising of money for such purposes; exempting property from taxation, or regulating the rate of interest on money; creating corporations, or amending, renewing, extending or explaining the charters thereof; granting to any corporation, association or individual any special or exclusive privilege, immunity or franchise whatever, or authorizing public taxation for a private purpose. Provided, however, that the inhibitions of local or special laws in this section shall not be construed to prevent the passage of general laws on any of the subjects enumerated.
The legislature may repeal any existing special or local law but shall not amend, extend or modify any of the same. [Adopted, November 8, 1881; Amended, November 8, 1892]
Sec. 34. The legislature shall provide general laws for the transaction of any business that may be prohibited by section one (1) of this amendment, and all such laws shall be uniform in their operation throughout the state. [Adopted, November 8, 1881]
Sec. 35. Any combination of persons, either as individuals or as members or officers of any corporation, to monopolize the markets for food products in this state, or to interfere with, or restrict the freedom of such markets, is hereby declared to be a criminal conspiracy, and shall be punished in such manner as the legislature may provide. [Adopted, November 6, 1888]
Sec. 36. Any city or village in this state may frame a charter for its own government as a city consistent with and subject to the laws of this state as follows: The legislature shall provide, under such restrictions as it deems proper, for a board of fifteen freeholders, who shall be and for the past five years shall have been qualified voters thereof, to be appointed by the district judges of the judicial district in which the city or village is situated, as the legislature may determine, for a term in no event to exceed six years, which board shall within six months after its appointment return to the chief magistrate of said city or village a draft of said charter signed by the members of said board, or a majority thereof. Such charter shall be submitted to the qualified voters of such city or village at the next election thereafter, and if four-sevenths of the qualified voters voting at such election shall ratify the same, it shall at the end of thirty days thereafter, become the charter of such city or village as a city, and supersede any existing charter and amendments thereof; Provided, That in cities having patrol limits now established, such charter shall require a three-fourths majority vote of the qualified voters voting at such election to change the patrol limits now established. Before any city shall incorporate under this act, the legislature shall prescribe by law the general limits within which such charter shall be framed. Duplicate certificates shall be made setting forth the charter proposed and its ratification, which shall be signed by the chief magistrate of said city or village, and authenticated by its corporate seal. One of said certificates shall be deposited in the office of secretary of state, and the other, after being recorded in the office of the register of deeds for the county in which such city or village lies, shall be deposited among the archives of such city or village, and all courts shall take judicial notice thereof. Such charter so deposited may be amended by proposal therefor made by a board of fifteen commissioners aforesaid, published for at least thirty days in three newspapers of general circulation in such city or village, and accepted by three-fifths of the qualified voters of such city or village voting at the next election and not otherwise; but such charter shall always be in harmony with and subject to the constitution and laws of the state of Minnesota. The legislature may prescribe the duties of the commission relative to submitting amendments of charter to the vote of the people, and shall provide that upon application of five per cent of the legal voters of any such city or village, by written petition, such commission shall submit to the vote of the people, proposed amendments to such charter, set forth in said petition. The board of freeholders above provided for shall be permanent and all the vacancies by death, disability to perform duties, resignation or removal from the corporate limits, or expiration of term of office, shall be filled by appointment in the same manner as the original board was created and said board shall always contain its full complement of members. It shall be a feature of all such charters that there shall be provided, among other things, for a mayor or chief magistrate, and a legislative body of either one or two houses; if of two houses, at least one of them shall be elected by general vote of the electors. In submitting any such charter or amendment thereto to the qualified voters of such city or village any alternate section or article may be presented for the choice of the voters and may be voted on separately without prejudice to other articles or sections of the charter or any amendments thereto. The legislature may provide general laws relating to affairs of cities, the application of which may be limited to cities of over fifty thousand inhabitants, or to cities of fifty and not less than twenty thousand inhabitants, or to cities of twenty and not less than ten thousand inhabitants, or to cities of ten thousand inhabitants or less, which shall apply equally to all such cities of either class, and which shall be paramount while in force to the provisions relating to the same matter included in the local charter herein provided for. But no local charter, provision or ordinance passed thereunder shall supersede any general law of the state defining or punishing crimes or misdemeanors. [Adopted, November 3, 1896; Amended, November 8, 1898]

## ARTICLE V.—THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT

Section 1. The executive department shall consist of a governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, and attorney general, who shall be chosen by the electors of the state.
Sec. 2. The returns of every election for the officers named in the foregoing section shall be made to the secretary of state who shall call to his assistance two or more of the judges of the supreme court, and two disinterested judges of the district courts of the state who shall constitute a board of canvassers who shall open and canvass said returns and declare the result within three days after such canvass. [Amended, November 6, 1877]
Sec. 3. The term of office for the governor and lieutenant governor shall be two years, and until their successors are chosen and qualified. Each shall have attained the age of twenty-five (25) years, and shall have been a bona fide resident of the state for one year next preceding his election. Both shall be citizens of the United States.
Sec. 4. The governor shall communicate by message to each session of the legislature, such information touching the state and condition of the country as he may deem expedient. He shall be commander-in-chief of the military and naval forces, and may call out such forces to execute the laws, to suppress insurrection and to repel invasion. He may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power in conjunction with the board of pardons of which the governor shall be ex officio a member, and the other members of which shall consist of the attorney-general of the state of Minnesota and the chief justice of the supreme court of the state of Minnesota and whose powers and duties shall be defined and regulated by law to grant reprieves and pardons after convictions for offences against the state, except in cases of impeachment. He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, to appoint a state librarian and notaries public, and such other officers as may be provided by law; he shall have power to appoint commissioners to take the acknowledgment of deeds or other instruments in writing, to be used in the state. He shall have a negative upon all laws passed by the legislature under such rules and limitations as are in this constitution prescribed. He may on extraordinary occasions convene both houses of the legislature. He shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, fill any vacancy that may occur in the office of secretary of state, treasurer, auditor, attorney general, and such other state and district offices as may be hereafter created by law, until the next annual election, and until their successors are chosen and qualified. [Amended, November 3, 1896]
Sec. 5. The official term of the secretary of state, treasurer and attorney general, shall be two years. The official term of the state auditor shall be four years and each shall continue in office until his successor shall have been elected and qualified. The further duties and the salaries of said executive officers shall each be prescribed by law. [Amended, November 6, 1883]
Sec. 6. The lieutenant governor shall be ex-officio president of the senate, and in case a vacancy should occur, from any cause whatever, in the office of governor, he shall be governor during such vacancy. The compensation of lieutenant governor shall be double the compensation of a state senator. Before the close of each session of the senate, they shall elect a president pro tempore, who shall be lieutenant governor in case a vacancy should occur in that office.
Sec. 7. The term of each of the executive officers named in this article, shall commence on taking the oath of office on or after the first day of May, 1858, and continue until the first Monday of January, 1860, except the auditor, who shall continue in office till the first Monday of January, 1861, and until their successors shall have been duly elected and qualified; and the same above-mentioned time for qualification and entry upon the duties of their respective offices shall extend and apply to all other officers elected under the state constitution, who have not already taken the oath of office and commenced the performance of their official duties. [Amended, April 15, 1858]
Sec. 8. Each officer created by this article shall, before entering upon his duties, take an oath or affirmation to support the constitution of the United States, and of this state, and faithfully discharge the duties of his office to the best of his judgment and ability.
Sec. 9. Laws shall be passed at the first session of the legislature after the state is admitted into the union to carry out the provisions of this article.

## ARTICLE VI.—THE JUDICIARY

Section 1. The judicial power of the state shall be vested in a supreme court, district courts, courts of probate, justices of the peace, and such other courts, inferior to the supreme court, as the legislature may from time to time establish by a two-thirds vote.
Sec. 2. The supreme court shall consist of one chief justice and two associate justices, but the number of associate justices may be increased to a number not exceeding four, by the legislature, by a two-thirds vote, when it shall be deemed necessary. It shall have original jurisdiction in such remedial cases as may be prescribed by law, and appellate jurisdiction in all cases, both in law and equity, but there shall be no trial by jury in said court. It shall hold one or more terms in each year, as the legislature may direct, at the seat of government, and the legislature may provide by a two-thirds vote, that one term in each year shall be held in each or any judicial district. It shall be the duty of such court to appoint a reporter of its decisions. There shall be chosen by the qualified electors of the state one clerk of the supreme court, who shall hold his office for the term of four years, and until his successor is duly elected and qualified; and the judges of the supreme court, or a majority of them, shall have the power to fill any vacancy in the office of clerk of the supreme court until an election can be regularly had. [Amended, November 6, 1883]
Sec. 3. The judges of the supreme court shall be elected by the electors of the state at large, and their term of office shall be six years and until their successors are elected and qualified.
Whenever all or a majority of the judges of the supreme court shall from any cause, be disqualified from sitting in any case in the said court the governor, or, if he shall be interested in the result of such case, then the lieutenant governor, shall assign judges of the district court of the state, who shall sit in such case, in place of such disqualified judges with all the powers and duties of judges of the supreme court. [Amended, November 7, 1876; November 6, 1883]
Sec. 4. The state shall be divided by the legislature into judicial districts which shall be composed of contiguous territory, be bounded by county lines, and contain a population as nearly equal as may be practicable. In each judicial district one or more judges as the legislature may prescribe shall be elected by the electors thereof, whose term of office shall be six years and each of said judges shall severally have and exercise the powers of the court under such limitations as may be prescribed by law. Every district judge shall at the time of his election be a resident of the district for which he shall be elected, and shall reside therein during his continuance in office. In case any court of common pleas heretofore established shall be abolished the judge of Such court may be constituted by the legislature one of the judges of the district court of the district wherein such court has been so established for a period not exceeding the unexpired term for which he was elected. [Amended, November 2, 1875; November 6, 1883]
Sec. 5. The district courts shall have original jurisdiction in all civil cases, both in law and equity, where the amount in controversy exceeds one hundred dollars, and in all criminal cases where the punishment shall exceed three months imprisonment or a fine of more than one hundred dollars, and shall have such appellate jurisdiction as may be prescribed by law. The legislature may provide by law that the judge of one district may discharge the duties of the judge of any other district not his own, when convenience or the public interest may require it.
Sec. 6. The judges of the supreme and district courts shall be men learned in the law, and shall receive such compensation, at stated times, as may be prescribed by the legislature, which compensation shall not be diminished during their continuance in office, but they shall receive no other fee or reward for their services.
Sec. 7. There shall be established in each organized county in the state a probate court, which shall be a court of record, and be held at such times and places as may be prescribed by law. It shall be held by one judge, who shall be elected by the voters of the county, for the term of two years. He shall be a resident of such county at the time of his election, and reside therein during his continuance in office, and his compensation shall be provided by law. He may appoint his own clerk, where none has been elected, but the legislature may authorize the election by the electors of any county, of one clerk or register of probate for such county, whose powers, duties, term of office and compensation shall be prescribed by law. A probate court shall have jurisdiction over the estates of deceased persons and persons under guardianship, but no other jurisdiction, except as prescribed by this constitution.
Sec. 8. The legislature shall provide for the election of a sufficient number of justices of the peace in each county, whose term of office shall be two years, and whose duties and compensation shall be prescribed by law; provided, that no justice of the peace shall have jurisdiction of any civil cause where the amount in controversy shall exceed one hundred dollars, nor in a criminal cause where the punishment shall exceed three months imprisonment, or a fine of over one hundred dollars, nor in any cause involving the title to real estate.
Sec. 9. All judges other than those provided for in this constitution shall be elected by the electors of the judicial district, county or city, for which they shall be created, not for a longer term than seven years.
Sec. 10. In case the office of any judge shall become vacant before the expiration of the regular term for which he was elected, the vacancy shall be filled by appointment by the governor until a successor is elected and qualified, and such successor shall be elected at the first annual election that occurs more than thirty days after the vacancy shall have happened.
Sec. 11. The justices of the supreme court and the district courts shall hold no office under the United States nor any other office under this state. And all votes for either of them for any elective office under this constitution, except a judicial office, given by the legislature or the people, during their continuance in office, shall be void.
Sec. 12. The legislature may at any time change the number of judicial districts or their boundaries, when it shall be deemed expedient, but no such change shall vacate the office of any judge.
Sec. 13. There shall be elected in each county where a district court shall be held, one clerk of said court, whose qualifications, duties and compensation shall be prescribed by law, and whose term of office shall be four years.
Sec. 14. Legal pleadings and proceedings in the courts of this state shall be under the direction of the legislature. The style of all process shall be “The State of Minnesota,” and all indictments shall conclude “against the peace and dignity of the state of Minnesota.”
Sec. 15. The legislature may provide for the election of one person in each organized county in this state, to be called a court commissioner, with judicial power and jurisdiction not exceeding the power and jurisdiction of a judge of the district court at chambers, or the legislature may instead of such election confer such power and jurisdiction upon judges of probate in the state.

## ARTICLE VII.—THE ELECTIVE FRANCHISE

Section 1. What persons are entitled to vote:
Every male person of the age of twenty-one (21) years or upwards belonging to either of the following classes who has resided in this state six (6) months next preceding any election shall be entitled to vote at such election in the election district of which he shall at the time have been for thirty (30) days a resident, for all officers that now are, or hereafter may be, elective by the people.
First. Citizens of the United States who have been such for the period of three (3) months next preceding any election.
Second. Persons of mixed white and Indian blood, who have adopted the customs and habits of civilization.
Third. Persons of Indian blood residing in this state, who have adopted the language, customs and habits of civilization, after an examination before any district court of the state, in such manner as may be provided by law, and shall have been pronounced by said court capable of enjoying the rights of citizenship within the state. [Amended, November 3, 1868; November 3, 1896]
Sec. 2. No person not belonging to one of the classes specified in the preceding section; no person who has been convicted of treason or any felony, unless restored to civil rights, and no person under guardianship, or who may be non compos mentis, or insane, shall be entitled or permitted to vote at any election in this state.
Sec. 3. For the purpose of voting, no person shall be deemed to have lost a residence by reason of his absence while employed in the service of the United States; nor while engaged upon the waters of this state or of the United States; nor while a student of any seminary of learning; nor while kept at any alms-house or other asylum; nor while confined in any public prison.
Sec. 4. No soldier, seaman or marine in the army or navy of the United States shall be deemed a resident of this state in consequence of being stationed within the same.
Sec. 5. During the day on which any election shall be held, no person shall be arrested by virtue of any civil process.
Sec. 6. All elections shall be by ballot, except for such town officers as may be directed by law to be otherwise chosen.
Sec. 7. Every person who by the provisions of this article shall be entitled to vote at any election shall be eligible to any office which now is, or hereafter shall be, elective by the people in the district wherein he shall have resided thirty days previous to such election; except as otherwise provided in this constitution, or the constitution and laws of the United States.
Sec. 8. Women may vote for school officers, and members of library boards, and shall be eligible to hold any office pertaining to the management of schools or libraries. Any woman of the age of twenty-one (21) years and upward, and possessing the qualifications requisite to a male voter, may vote at any election held for the purpose of choosing any officer of schools, or any members of library boards, or upon any measure relating to schools or libraries, and shall be eligible to hold any office pertaining to the management of schools and libraries. [Adopted, November 2, 1875; Amended, November 8, 1898]
Sec. 9. The official year for the state of Minnesota, shall commence on the first Monday in January in each year and all terms of office shall terminate at that time, and the general election shall be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November. The first general election for state and county officers, except judicial officers, after the adoption of this amendment, shall be held in the year A. D. one thousand eight hundred and eighty-four and thereafter the general election shall be held biennially. All state, county or other officers elected at any general election whose terms of office would otherwise expire on the first Monday of January, A. D. one thousand eight hundred and eighty-six, shall hold and continue in such offices respectively until the first Monday in January, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven. [Adopted, November 6, 1883]

## ARTICLE VIII.—SCHOOL FUNDS, EDUCATION AND SCIENCE

Section 1. The stability of a republican form of government depending mainly upon the intelligence of the people, it shall be the duty of the legislature to establish a general and uniform system of public schools.
Sec. 2. The proceeds of such lands as are or hereafter may be granted by the United States for the use of schools within each township in this state, shall remain a perpetual school fund to the state and not more than one-third (1/3) of said lands may be sold in two (2) years, one-third (1/3) in five 5 years, and one-third (1/3) in ten (10) years; but the lands of the greatest valuation shall be sold first; provided that no portion of said lands shall be sold otherwise than at public sale. The principal of all funds arising from sales, or other disposition of lands, or other property, granted or entrusted to this state in each township for educational purposes, shall forever be preserved inviolate and undiminished; and the income arising from the lease or sale of said school lands shall be distributed to the different townships throughout the state in proportion to the number of scholars in each township between the ages of five and twenty-one years, and shall be faithfully applied to the specific objects of the original grants or appropriations.
Suitable laws shall be enacted by the legislature for the safe investment of the principal of all funds which have heretofore arisen or which may hereafter arise from the sale or other dispositions of such lands, or the income from such lands, accruing in any way before the sale or disposition thereof, in interest bearing bonds of the United States or of the state of Minnesota issued after the year eighteen hundred and sixty, or of such other states as the legislature may by law from time to time direct.
All swamp lands now held by the state, or that may hereafter accrue to the state, shall be appraised and sold in the same manner and by the same officers, and the minimum price shall be the same less one third, as is provided by law for the appraisement and sale of the school lands under the provisions of title one, chapter thirty-eight of the general statutes. The principal of all funds derived from sales of swamp lands as aforesaid shall forever be preserved inviolate and undiminished. One-half of the proceeds of said principal shall be appropriated to the common school fund of the state, the remaining one-half shall be appropriated to the educational and charitable institutions of the state in the relative ratio of cost to support said institutions. [Amended, November 2, 1875; November 8, 1881]
Sec. 3. The legislature shall make such provisions, by taxation or otherwise, as, with the income arising from the school fund, will secure a thorough and efficient system of public schools in each township in the state.
But in no case shall the moneys derived as aforesaid or any portion thereof, or any public moneys or property be appropriated or used for the support of schools wherein the distinctive doctrines, creed or tenets of any particular Christian or other religious sect, are promulgated or taught. [Amended, November 6, 1877]
Sec. 4. The location of the University of Minnesota, as established by existing laws, is hereby confirmed, and said institution is hereby declared to be the University of the state of Minnesota. All the rights, immunities, franchises and endowments heretofore granted or conferred, are hereby perpetuated unto the said University, and all lands which may be granted hereafter by congress, or other donations for said University purposes, shall vest in the institution referred to in this section.
Sec. 5. The permanent school funds of the state may be loaned upon interest at the rate of five (5) per cent per annum to the several counties or school districts of the state, to be used in the erection of county or school buildings. No such loan shall be made until approved by a board consisting of the governor, the state auditor and the state treasurer who are hereby constituted an investment board for the purpose of the loans hereby authorized, nor shall any such loan be for an amount exceeding three per cent of the last preceding assessed valuation of the real estate of the county or school district receiving the same. The state auditor shall annually at the time of certifying the state tax to the several county auditors, also certify to each auditor to whose county or to any of the school districts of whose county any such loan shall have been made. The tax necessary to be levied to meet the accruing interest or principal of any such loan, and it shall be the duty of every such county auditor forthwith to levy and extend such tax upon all the taxable property of his county, or of the several school districts respectively, liable for such loans, as the case may be, and in all such cases the tax so assessed shall be fifty (50) per cent in excess of the amount actually necessary to be raised on account of such accruing principal or interest. It shall be levied, collected and paid into the county and state treasuries in the same manner as state taxes and any excess collected over the amount of such principal or interest accruing in any given year shall be credited to the general funds of the respective counties or school district, no change of the boundaries of any school district after the making of any such loan shall operate to withdraw any property from the taxation herein provided for—nor shall any law be passed extending the time of payment of any such principal or interest or reducing the rate of such interest or in any manner waiving or impairing any rights of the state in connection with any such loan, suitable laws not inconsistent with this amendment may be passed by the legislature for the purpose of carrying the same into effect. [Adopted, November 2, 1886]
Sec. 6. The permanent school and university fund of this state may be invested in the purchase of bonds of any county, school district, city, town or village of this state, but no such investment shall be made until approved by the board of commissioners designated by law to regulate the investment of the permanent school fund and the permanent university fund of this state; nor shall such loan or investment be made when the issue of which the same in part would make the entire bonded indebtedness exceed seven per cent of the assessed valuation of the taxable real property of the county, school district, city, town or village issuing such bonds; nor shall such loans or indebtedness be made at a lower rate of interest than three per cent per annum nor for a shorter period than five (5) years nor for a longer period than twenty (20) years and no change of the town, school district, village, city or county lines shall relieve the real property in such town, school district, county, village or city in this state at the time of the issuing of such bonds from any liability for taxation to pay such bonds. [Adopted, November 3, 1896]

## ARTICLE IX.—FINANCES OF THE STATE AND BANKS AND BANKING

Section 1. All taxes to be raised in this state shall be as nearly equal as may be, and all property on which taxes are to be levied shall have a cash valuation, and be equalized and uniform throughout the state: Provided: that the legislature may by general law or special act, authorize municipal corporations to levy assessments for local improvements upon the property fronting upon such improvements, or upon the property to be benefited by such improvements or both, without regard to a cash valuation, and in such manner as the legislature may prescribe; and provided further, that for the purpose of defraying the expenses of laying water pipes and supplying any city or municipality with water, the legislature may by general or special law authorize any such city or municipality, having a population of five thousand (5,000) or more to levy an annual tax or assessment upon the lineal foot of all lands fronting on any water main or water pipe laid by such city or municipality within corporate limits of said city for supplying water to the citizens thereof without regard to the cash value of such property and to empower such city to collect any such tax assessments or fines, or penalties for failure to pay the same or any fine or penalty for any violation of the rules of such city or municipality in regard to the use of water, or for any water rate due for the same.
And provided further, that there may be by law levied and collected a tax upon all inheritances, devises, bequests, legacies and gifts of every kind and description above a fixed and specified sum, of any and all natural persons and corporations. Such tax above such exempted sum may be uniform, or it may be graded or progressive, but shall not exceed a maximum tax of five (5) per cent. [Amended, November 2, 1869; November 8, 1881; November 6, 1894]
Sec. 2. The legislature shall provide for an annual tax sufficient to defray the estimated ordinary expenses of the state for each year and whenever it shall happen that such ordinary expenses of the state for any year shall exceed the income of the state for such year the legislature shall provide for levying a tax for the ensuing year sufficient with other sources of income to pay the deficiency of the preceding year together with the estimated expenses of such ensuing year. But no law levying a tax, or making other provisions for the payment of interest or principal of the bonds denominated Minnesota State Railroad Bonds shall take effect or be in force until such law shall have been submitted to a vote of the people of the state and adopted by a majority of the electors of the state voting upon the same. [Amended, November 6, 1860]
Sec. 3. Laws shall be passed taxing all moneys, credits, investments in bonds, stocks, joint stock companies, or otherwise, and also all real and personal property, according to its true value in money; but public burying-grounds, public school houses, public hospitals, academies, colleges, universities, and all seminaries of learning, all churches, church property used for religious purposes and houses of worship, institutions of purely public charity, public property used exclusively for any public purpose, and personal property to an amount not exceeding in value two hundred dollars for each individual, shall, by general laws, be exempt from taxation.
Sec. 4. Laws shall be passed for taxing the notes and bills discounted, or purchased, moneys loaned, and all other property, effects, or dues of every description; of all banks, and of all bankers; so that all property employed in banking shall always be subject to a taxation equal to that imposed on the property of individuals.
Sec. 5. For the purpose of defraying extraordinary expenditures, the state may contract public debts, but such debts shall never in the aggregate exceed two hundred and fifty thousand dollars; every such debt shall be authorized by law, for some single object to be distinctly specified therein; and no such law shall take effect until it shall have been passed by the vote of two-thirds of the members of each branch of the legislature, to be recorded by yeas and nays on the journals of each house respectively; and every such law shall levy a tax annually sufficient to pay the annual interest of such debt, and also a tax sufficient to pay the principal of such debt within ten years from the final passage of such law, and shall specially appropriate the proceeds of such taxes to the payment of such principal and interest; and such appropriation and taxes shall not be repealed, postponed, or diminished until the principal and interest of such debt shall have been wholly paid. The state shall never contract any debts for works of internal improvement or be a party in carrying on such works, except in cases where grants of land or other property shall have been made to the state, especially dedicated by the grant to specific purposes, and in such cases the state shall devote thereto the avails of such grants, and may pledge or appropriate the revenues derived from such works in aid of their completion.
Sec. 6. All debts authorized by the preceding section shall be contracted by loan on state bonds of amounts not less than five hundred dollars each, on interest, payable within ten years after the final passage of the law authorizing such debt; and such bonds shall not be sold by the state under par. A correct registry of all such bonds shall be kept by the treasurer, in numerical order, so as always to exhibit the number and amount unpaid and to whom severally made payable.
Sec. 7. The state shall never contract any public debt, unless in time of war, to repel invasion or suppress insurrection, except in the cases and in the manner provided in the fifth and sixth sections of this article.
Sec. 8. The money arising from any loan made or debt or liability contracted, shall be applied to the object specified in the act authorizing such debt or liability, or to the repayment of such debt or liability, and to no other purpose whatever.
Sec. 9. No money shall ever be paid out of the treasury of this state, except in pursuance of an appropriation by law.
Sec. 10. The credit of the state shall never be given or loaned in aid of any individual association or corporation, nor shall there be any further issue of bonds denominated Minnesota State Railroad Bonds under what purports to be an amendment to section ten of Article nine of the constitution adopted April fifteenth eighteen hundred and fifty eight, which is hereby expunged from the constitution, saving, excepting and reserving to the state nevertheless all rights, remedies and forfeitures accruing under said amendment. [Amended, April 15, 1858; November 6, 1860]
Sec. 11. There shall be published by the treasurer, in at least one newspaper printed at the seat of government, during the first week in January of each year, and in the next volume of the acts of the legislature, detailed statements of all moneys drawn from the treasury during the preceding year, for what purposes, and to whom paid, and by what law authorized, and also of all moneys received, and by what authority, and from whom.
Sec. 12. Suitable laws shall be passed by the legislature for the safe-keeping, transfer and disbursement of the state and school funds, and all officers and other persons charged with the same, or any part of the same, or the safe-keeping thereof shall be required to give ample security for all moneys and funds of any kind received by them to make forthwith and keep an accurate entry of each sum received, and of each payment and transfer: and if any of said officers or other persons shall convert to his own use in any manner or form, or shall loan with or without interest, or shall deposit in his own name or otherwise than in the name of the state of Minnesota, or shall deposit in banks or with any person or persons, or exchange for funds or property any portion of the funds of the state or of the school funds aforesaid, except in the manner prescribed by law, every such act shall be and constitute an embezzlement of so much of the aforesaid state and school funds, or either of the same as shall be thus taken, or loaned, or deposited, or exchanged, and shall be a felony: and any failure to pay over or produce, or account for, the state or school funds, or any part of the same intrusted to such officer or person as by law required on demand, shall be held and taken to be prima facie evidence of such embezzlement. [Amended, November 4, 1873]
Sec. 13. The legislature may, by a two-thirds vote, pass a general banking law, with the following restrictions and requirements, viz.:
First, The legislature shall have no power to pass any law sanctioning in any manner, directly or indirectly, the suspension of specie payments by any person, association or corporation issuing bank notes of any description.
Second, The legislature shall provide by law for the registry of all bills or notes issued or put in circulation as money, and shall require ample security in United States stock, or state stocks for the redemption of the same in specie, and in case of a depreciation of said stocks, or any part thereof, to the amount of ten per cent., or more, on the dollar, the bank or banks owning said stocks shall be required to make up said deficiency by additional stocks.
Third, The stockholders in any corporation and joint association for banking purposes issuing bank notes, shall be individually liable in an amount equal to double the amount of stock owned by them for all the debts of such corporation or association, and such individual liability shall continue for one year after any transfer or sale of stock by any stockholder or stockholders.
Fourth, In case of the insolvency of any bank or banking association, the bill holders thereof shall be entitled to preference in payment over all other creditors of such bank or association.
Fifth, Any general banking law which may be passed in accordance with this article shall provide for recording the names of all stockholders in such corporations, the amount of stock held by each, the time of transfer, and to whom transferred.
Sec. 14(a). For the purpose of erecting and completing buildings for a hospital for the insane; a deaf dumb and blind asylum—and state prison, the legislature may by law increase the public debt of the state to an amount not exceeding two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in addition to the public debt already heretofore authorized by the constitution, and for that purpose may provide by law for issuing and negotiating the bonds of the State and appropriate the money only for the purpose aforesaid, which bonds shall be payable in not less than ten nor more than thirty years from the date of the same at the option of the state. [Adopted, November 5, 1872]
Sec. 14(b). The legislature shall not authorize any county, township, city or other municipal corporation to issue bonds or to become indebted in any manner to aid in the construction or equipment of any or all railroads to any amount that shall exceed ten per centum of the value of the taxable property within such county, township, city or other municipal corporation, the amount of such taxable property to be ascertained and determined by the last assessment of said property made for the purpose of state and county taxation previous to the incurring of such indebtedness. [Adopted, November 5, 1872]
Sec. 15. The legislature shall not authorize any county, township, city or other municipal corporation to issue bonds, or to become indebted in any manner to aid in the construction or equipment of any or all railroads to any amount that shall exceed five (5) per centum of the value of the taxable property within such county, township, city or other municipal corporation. The amount of such taxable property to be ascertained and determined by the last assessment of said property made, for the purpose of state and county taxation, previous to the incurring of such indebtedness. [Adopted, November 4, 1879]
Sec. 16. For the purpose of lending aid in the construction and improvement of public highways and bridges, there is hereby created a fund to be known as the “State Road and Bridge Fund.” Said fund shall include all moneys accruing from the income derived from investments in the Internal Improvement Land Fund, or that may hereafter accrue to said fund, and shall also include all funds, accruing to any state road and bridge fund however provided. The legislature is authorized to add to such fund for the purpose of constructing or improving roads and bridges of this state, by providing, in its discretion, for an annual tax levy upon the property of this state of not to exceed in any year one-twentieth (1/20) of one (1) mill on all the taxable property within the state. The legislature is also authorized to provide for the appointment by the governor of the state, of a board to be known as the “State Highway Commission,” consisting of three (3) members who shall perform such duties as shall be prescribed by law without salary or compensation other than personal expenses. Such commission shall have general superintendence of the construction of state roads and bridges and shall use such fund in the construction thereof and distribute the same in the several counties in the state upon an equitable basis. Provided further, That no county shall receive in any year more than three (3) per cent or less than one-half (1/2) of one (1) per cent of the total fund thus provided and expended during such year; and Provided further, that no more than one-third (1/3) of such fund accruing in any year shall be expended for bridges, and in no case, shall more than one-third (1/3) of the cost of constructing or improving any road or bridge be paid by the state from such fund. [Adopted, November 8, 1898]
Sec. 17. The legislature may impose, or provide for the imposition of, upon the property within this state of any and all owners or operators, whether corporate or individual, or otherwise, or any and all sleeping, parlor, and drawing room cars, or any or either of the same, which run in, into, or through this state; also upon the property within this state of any and all telegraph and telephone companies, or owners, whose lines are in, or extend in, into or through this state, also upon the property within this state of all express companies, or owners, or any or either of the same, doing business in this state; also upon the property within this state of all domestic insurance companies of this state of any kind; also upon the property within this state of any and all foreign insurance companies doing business in this state, of any kind; also upon the property within this state of all owners or operators of any and all mines or of mineral ores situated in this state; also upon the property within this state of all boom companies or owners, and of all ship builders or owners, doing business in this state or having a port therein; provided, that this act shall not apply to property owned by railroad companies, their lands and other property; and upon the property of either or any of such companies or owners a tax, as uniform as reasonably may be with the taxes imposed upon similar property in said state or upon the earnings thereof within this state, but may be graded or progressive, or both, and in providing for such tax, or in providing for ascertaining the just and true value of such property, it shall be competent for the legislature, in either or all of such cases, to impose such tax, upon any or all property thereof within this state, and in either case by taking as the basis of such imposition the proportionate business earnings mileage, or quantity of production or property now or hereafter existing of any such companies, persons, or owners, transacted or existing in this state in relation to the entire business, mileage, or quantity of production or property of such companies, persons, or owners as aforesaid; or in such other manner, or by such other method, as the legislature may determine; but the proceeds of such taxes upon mining property shall be distributed between the state and the various political subdivisions thereof wherein the same is situated in the same proportion as the proceeds of taxes upon real property are distributed: Provided further that nothing in this act contained shall operate to authorize the assessment or taxation of any farm land or ordinary business blocks, or property owned by any such corporation, person, firm or company, except in the manner provided by the ordinary methods of taxation. [Adopted, November 3, 1896]

## ARTICLE X.—OF CORPORATIONS HAVING NO BANKING PRIVILEGES

Section 1. The term “corporations” as used in this article shall be construed to include all associations and joint stock companies having any of the powers and privileges not possessed by individuals or partnerships except such as embrace banking privileges, and all corporations shall have the right to sue, and shall be liable to be sued in all courts in like manner as natural persons.
Sec. 2. No corporation shall be formed under special acts except for municipal purposes.
Sec. 3. Each stockholder in any corporation (excepting those organized for the purpose of carrying on any kind of manufacturing or mechanical business) shall be liable to the amount of the stock held or owned by him. [Amended, November 5, 1872]
Sec. 4. Lands may be taken for public way, for the purpose of granting to any corporation the franchise of way for public use. In all cases however, a fair and equitable compensation shall be paid for such land and the damages arising from the taking of the same; but all corporations being common carriers, enjoying the right of way in pursuance of the provisions of this section, shall be bound to carry the mineral, agricultural and other productions or manufactures on equal and reasonable terms.

## ARTICLE XI.—COUNTIES AND TOWNSHIPS

Section 1. The legislature may, from time to time, establish and organize new counties, but no new county shall contain less than four hundred square miles; nor shall any county be reduced below that amount; and all laws changing county lines in counties already organized, or for removing county seats shall, before taking effect be submitted to the electors of the county or counties to be affected thereby, at the next general election after the passage thereof, and be adopted by a majority of such electors. Counties now established may be enlarged, but not reduced below four hundred (400) square miles.
Sec. 2. The legislature may organize any city into a separate county when it has attained a population of twenty thousand inhabitants, without reference to geographical extent, when a majority of the electors of the county in which such city may be situated, voting thereon, shall be in favor of a separate organization.
Sec. 3. Laws may be passed providing for the organization, for municipal and other town purposes, of any congressional or fractional townships in the several counties in the state, provided that when a township is divided by county lines, or does not contain one hundred inhabitants, it may be attached to one or more adjoining townships or parts of townships, for the purposes aforesaid.
Sec. 4. Provision shall be made by law for the election of such county or township officers as may be necessary.
Sec. 5. Any county and township organization shall have such powers of local taxation as may be prescribed by law.
Sec. 6. No money shall be drawn from any county or township treasury except by authority of law.
Sec. 7. That the county of Manomin is hereby abolished and that the territory heretofore comprising the same shall constitute and be a part of the county of Anoka. [Adopted, November 2, 1869]

## ARTICLE XII.—OF THE MILITIA

Section 1. It shall be the duty of the legislature to pass such laws for the organization, discipline and service of the militia of the state, as may be deemed necessary.

## ARTICLE XIII.—IMPEACHMENT AND REMOVAL FROM OFFICE

Section 1. The governor, secretary of state, treasurer, auditor, attorney general, and the judges of the supreme and district courts, may be impeached for corrupt conduct in office, or for crimes and misdemeanors; but judgment in such cases shall not extend further than to removal from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit, in this state. The party convicted thereof shall nevertheless be liable, and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment according to law.
Sec. 2. The legislature of this state may provide for the removal of inferior officers from office, for malfeasance or nonfeasance in the performance of their duties.
Sec. 3. No officer shall exercise the duties of his office after he shall have been impeached and before his acquittal.
Sec. 4. On the trial of an impeachment against the governor, the lieutenant governor shall not act as a member of the court.
Sec. 5. No person shall be tried on impeachment before he shall have been served with a copy thereof at least twenty days previous to the day set for trial.

## ARTICLE XIV.—AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION

Section 1. Whenever a majority of both houses of the legislature shall deem it necessary to alter or amend this constitution, they may propose such alterations or amendments, which proposed amendments shall be published with the laws which have been passed at the same session, and said amendments shall be submitted to the people for their approval or rejection, at any general election, and if it shall appear in a manner to be provided by law, that a majority of all the electors voting at said election, shall have voted for and ratified such alterations or amendments, the same shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as a part of this constitution. If two or more alterations or amendments shall be submitted at the same time, it shall be so regulated that the voters shall vote for or against each separately. [Amended, November 8, 1898]
Sec. 2. Whenever two-thirds of the members elected to each branch of the legislature shall think it necessary to call a convention to revise this constitution, they shall recommend to the electors to vote, at the next election for members of the legislature, for or against a convention; and if a majority of all the electors voting at said election, shall have voted for a convention, the legislature shall, at their next session, provide by law for calling the same. The convention shall consist of as many members as the house of representatives, who shall be chosen in the same manner, and shall meet within three months after their election for the purpose aforesaid.

## ARTICLE XV.—MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS

Section 1. The seat of government of the state shall be at the city of St. Paul, but the legislature at their first, or any future session, may provide by law for a change of the seat of government by a vote of the people, or may locate the same upon the land granted by congress for a seat of government for the state; and in the event of the seat of government being removed from the city of St. Paul to any other place in the state, the capitol building and grounds shall be dedicated to an institution for the promotion of science, literature and the arts, to be organized by the legislature of the state, and of which institution the Minnesota Historical Society shall always be a department.
Sec. 2. Persons residing on Indian lands within the state shall enjoy all the rights and privileges of citizens as though they lived in any other portion of the state, and shall be subject to taxation.
Sec. 3. The legislature shall provide for a uniform oath or affirmation to be administered at elections, and no person shall be compelled to take any other or different form of oath to entitle him to vote.
Sec. 4. There shall be a seal of the state, which shall be kept by the secretary of state, and be used by him officially, and shall be called the Great Seal of the State of Minnesota and shall be attached to all official acts of the governor (his signature to acts and resolves of the legislature excepted) requiring authentication. The legislature shall provide for an appropriate device and motto for said seal.
Sec. 5. The territorial prison as located under existing laws shall, after the adoption of this constitution, be and remain one of the state prisons of the state of Minnesota.

## SCHEDULE

Section 1. That no inconvenience may arise by reason of a change from a territorial to a permanent state government, it is declared that all rights, actions, prosecutions, judgments, claims and contracts, as well of individuals as of bodies corporate, shall continue as if no change had taken place; and all process which may be issued under the authority of the territory of Minnesota previous to its admission into the union of the United States, shall be as valid as if issued in the name of the state.
Sec. 2. All laws now in force in the territory of Minnesota not repugnant to this constitution shall remain in force until they expire by their own limitation or be altered or repealed by the legislature.
Sec. 3. All fines, penalties, or forfeitures accruing to the territory of Minnesota shall inure to the state.
Sec. 4. All recognizances heretofore taken, or which may be taken before the change from a territorial to a permanent state government shall remain valid, and shall pass to, and may be prosecuted in the name of the state, and all bonds executed to the governor of the territory or to any other officer or court in his or their official capacity, shall pass to the governor or state authority and their successors in office, for the uses therein respectively expressed; and may be sued for and recovered accordingly; and all the estate of property, real, personal, or mixed, and all judgments, bonds, specialties, choses in action, and claims and debts of whatsoever description, of the territory of Minnesota, shall inure to and vest in the state of Minnesota, and may be sued for and recovered in the same manner and to the same extent by the state of Minnesota as the same could have been by the territory of Minnesota. All criminal prosecutions and penal actions which may have arisen or which may arise before the change from a territorial to a state government, and which shall then be pending, shall be prosecuted to judgment and execution in the name of the state. All offenses committed against the laws of the territory of Minnesota before the change from a territorial to a state government, and which shall not be prosecuted before such change, may be prosecuted in the name and by the authority of the state of Minnesota with like effect as though such change had not taken place, and all penalties incurred shall remain the same as if this constitution had not been adopted. All actions at law and suits in equity which may be pending in any of the courts of the territory of Minnesota at the time of the change from a territorial to a state government may be continued and transferred to any court of the state which shall have jurisdiction of the subject matter thereof.
Sec. 5. All territorial officers, civil and military now holding their offices under the authority of the United States or of the territory of Minnesota shall continue to hold and exercise their respective offices until they shall be superseded by the authority of the state.
Sec. 6. The first session of the legislature of the state of Minnesota shall commence on the first Wednesday of December next, and shall be held at the capitol in the city of St. Paul.
Sec. 7. The laws regulating the election and qualification of all district, county and precinct officers shall continue and be in force until the legislature shall otherwise provide by law.
Sec. 8. The president of this convention shall, immediately after the adjournment thereof, cause this constitution to be deposited in the office of the governor of the territory, and if after the submission of the same to a vote of the people as hereinafter provided, it shall appear that it has been adopted by a vote of the people of the state, then the governor shall forward a certified copy of the same, together with an abstract of the votes polled for and against said constitution to the president of the United States, to be by him laid before the congress of the United States.
Sec. 9. For the purposes of the first election the state shall constitute one district, and shall elect three members to the house of representatives of the United States.
Sec. 10. For the purposes of the first election for members of the state senate and house of representatives, the state shall be divided into senatorial and representative districts as follows, viz: 1st district, Washington County; 2d district, Ramsey County; 3d district, Dakota County; 4th district, so much of Hennepin County as lies west of the Mississippi; 5th district, Rice County; 6th district, Goodhue County; 7th district, Scott County; 8th district, Olmsted County; 9th district, Fillmore County; 10th district, Houston County; 11th district, Winona County; 12th district, Wabashaw County; 13th district, Mower and Dodge Counties; 14th district, Freeborn and Faribault Counties; 15th district, Steele and Waseca Counties; 16th district, Blue Earth and Le Sueur Counties; 17th district, Nicollet and Brown Counties; 18th district, Sibley, Renville and McLeod Counties; 19th district, Carver and Wright Counties; 20th district, Benton, Stearns and Meeker Counties; 21st district, Morrison, Crow Wing and Mille Lac Counties; 22d district, Cass, Pembina and Todd Counties; 23d district, so much of Hennepin County as lies east of the Mississippi; 24th district, Sherburne, Anoka and Manomin Counties; 25th district, Chisago, Pine and Isanti Counties; 26th district, Buchanan, Carlton, St. Louis, Lake and Itasca Counties.
Sec. 11. The counties of Brown, Stearns, Todd, Cass, Pembina and Renville as applied in the preceding section, shall not be deemed to include any territory west of the state line, but shall be deemed to include all counties and parts of counties east of said line as were created out of the territory of either at the last session of the legislature.
Sec. 12. The senators and representatives at the first election shall be apportioned among the several senatorial and representative districts as follows to wit:
| 1st | district | . . . . . . | 2 | senators | . . . . . . | 3 | representatives |
| 2d | ” | . . . . . . | 3 | ” | . . . . . . | 6 | ” |
| 3d | ” | . . . . . . | 2 | ” | . . . . . . | 5 | ” |
| 4th | ” | . . . . . . | 2 | ” | . . . . . . | 4 | ” |
| 5th | ” | . . . . . . | 2 | ” | . . . . . . | 3 | ” |
| 6th | ” | . . . . . . | 1 | ” | . . . . . . | 4 | ” |
| 7th | ” | . . . . . . | 1 | ” | . . . . . . | 3 | ” |
| 8th | ” | . . . . . . | 2 | ” | . . . . . . | 4 | ” |
| 9th | ” | . . . . . . | 2 | ” | . . . . . . | 6 | ” |
| 10th | ” | . . . . . . | 2 | ” | . . . . . . | 3 | ” |
| 11th | ” | . . . . . . | 2 | ” | . . . . . . | 4 | ” |
| 12th | ” | . . . . . . | 1 | ” | . . . . . . | 3 | ” |
| 13th | ” | . . . . . . | 2 | ” | . . . . . . | 3 | ” |
| 14th | ” | . . . . . . | 1 | ” | . . . . . . | 3 | ” |
| 15th | ” | . . . . . . | 1 | ” | . . . . . . | 4 | ” |
| 16th | ” | . . . . . . | 1 | ” | . . . . . . | 3 | ” |
| 17th | ” | . . . . . . | 1 | ” | . . . . . . | 3 | ” |
| 18th | ” | . . . . . . | 1 | ” | . . . . . . | 3 | ” |
| 19th | ” | . . . . . . | 1 | ” | . . . . . . | 3 | ” |
| 20th | ” | . . . . . . | 1 | ” | . . . . . . | 3 | ” |
| 21st | ” | . . . . . . | 1 | ” | . . . . . . | 1 | ” |
| 22d | ” | . . . . . . | 1 | ” | . . . . . . | 1 | ” |
| 23d | ” | . . . . . . | 1 | ” | . . . . . . | 2 | ” |
| 24th | ” | . . . . . . | 1 | ” | . . . . . . | 1 | ” |
| 25th | ” | . . . . . . | 1 | ” | . . . . . . | 1 | ” |
| 26th | ” | . . . . . . | 1 | ” | . . . . . . | 1 | ” |
Sec. 13. The returns from the 22d district shall be made to and canvassed by the judges of election at the precinct of Otter Tail city.
Sec. 14. Until the legislature shall otherwise providee, the state shall be divided into judicial districts as follows, viz:
    The counties of Washington, Chisago, Manomin, Anoka, Isanti, Pine, Buchanan, Carlton, St. Louis and Lake shall constitute the first judicial district.
    The county of Ramsey shall constitute the second judicial district.
    The counties of Houston, Winona, Fillmore, Olmsted and Wabashaw shall constitute the third judicial district.
    The counties of Hennepin, Carver, Wright, Meeker, Sherburne, Benton, Stearns, Morrison, Crow Wing, Mille Lac, Itasca, Pembina, Todd and Cass shall constitute the fourth judicial district.
    The counties of Dakota, Goodhue, Scott, Rice, Steele, Waseca, Dodge, Mower and Freeborn shall constitute the fifth judicial district.
    The counties of Le Sueur, Sibley, Nicollet, Blue Earth, Faribault, McLeod, Renville, Brown and all other counties in the state not included within the other districts shall constitute the sixth judicial district.
Sec. 15. Each of the foregoing enumerated judicial districts may, at the first election, elect one prosecuting attorney for the district.
Sec. 16. Upon the second Tuesday, the 13th day of October 1857, an election shall be held for members of the house of representatives of the United States, governor, lieutenant governor, supreme and district judges, members of the legislature, and all other officers designated in this constitution, and also for the submission of this constitution to the people for their adoption or rejection.
Sec. 17. Upon the day so designated as aforesaid, every free white male inhabitant over the age of twenty-one years, who shall have resided within the limits of the state for ten days previous to the day of said election may vote for all officers to be elected under this constitution at such election, and also for or against the adoption of this constitution.
Sec. 18. In voting for or against the adoption of this constitution, the words “For Constitution,” or “Against Constitution” may be written or printed on the ticket of each voter, but no voter shall vote for or against this constitution on a separate ballot from that cast by him for officers to be elected at said election under this constitution: and if upon the canvass of the votes so polled it shall appear that there was a greater number of votes polled for than against said constitution, then this constitution shall be deemed to be adopted as the constitution of the state of Minnesota, and all the provisions and obligations of this constitution and of the schedule thereunto attached shall thereafter be valid to all intents and purposes as the constitution of said state.
Sec. 19. At said election the polls shall be opened, the election held, returns made and certificates issued in all respects as provided by law for opening, closing and conducting elections and making returns of the same except as hereinbefore specified, and excepting also that polls may be opened and elections held at any point or points in any of the counties where precincts may be established as provided by law ten days previous to the day of election, not less than ten miles from the place of voting in any established precinct.
Sec. 20. It shall be the duty of the judges and clerks of election in addition to the returns required by law from each precinct, to forward to the secretary of the territory by mail immediately after the close of the election a certified copy of the poll book containing the name of each person who has voted in the precinct, and the number of votes polled for each person for any office, and the votes polled for and against the adoption of this constitution.
Sec. 21. The returns of said election for and against this constitution and for all state officers and members of the house of representatives of the United States shall be made and certificates issued in the manner now prescribed by law for returning votes given for delegate to congress, and the returns for all district officers, judicial, legislative or otherwise shall be made to the register of deeds of the senior county in each district in the manner prescribed by law, except as otherwise provided. The returns for all officers elected at large shall be canvassed by the governor of the territory, assisted by Joseph R. Brown and Thomas J. Galbraith, at the time designated by law for canvassing the vote for delegate to congress.
Sec. 22. If, upon canvassing the votes for and against the adoption of this constitution, it shall appear that there has been polled a greater number of votes against than for it, then no certificates of election shall be issued for any state or district officer provided for in this constitution; and no state organization shall have validity within the limits of the territory until otherwise provided for, and until a constitution for a state government shall have been adopted by the people.