The Legislature may at any time, after the approval of such law by the people, if no debt shall have been contracted in pursuance thereof, repeal the same; and may at any time, by law, forbid the contracting of any further debt or liability under such law; but the tax imposed by such act, in proportion to the debt and liability which may have been contracted, in pursuance of such law, shall remain in force and be irrepealable, and be annually collected, until the proceeds thereof shall have made the provision herein before specified to pay and discharge the interest and principal of such debt and liability. The money arising from any loan or stock creating such debt or liability shall be applied to the work or object specified in the act authorizing such debt or liability, or for the payment of such debt or liability, and for no other purpose whatever. No such law shall be submitted to be voted on, within three months after its passage or at any general election when any other law, or any bill shall be submitted to be voted for or against. The Legislature may provide for the issue of bonds of the state to run for a period not exceeding fifty years in lieu of bonds heretofore authorized but not issued and shall impose and provide for the collection of a direct annual tax for the payment of the same as hereinbefore required. When any sinking fund created under this section shall equal in amount the debt for which it was created, no further direct tax shall be levied on account of said sinking fund and the Legislature shall reduce the tax to an amount equal to the accruing interest on such debt. The Legislature may from time to time alter the rate of interest to be paid upon any State debt, which has been or may be authorized pursuant to the provisions of this section, or upon any part of such debt, provided, however, that the rate of interest shall not be altered upon any part of such debt or upon any bond or other evidence thereof, which has been, or shall be created or issued before such alteration. In case the Legislature increase the rate of interest upon any such debt, or part thereof, it shall impose and provide for the collection of a direct annual tax to pay and sufficient to pay the increased or altered interest on such debt as it falls due and also to pay and discharge the principal of such debt within fifty years from the time of the contracting thereof, and shall appropriate annually to the sinking fund moneys in amount sufficient to pay such interest and pay and discharge the principal of such debt when it shall become due and payable. Const. 1846, art. VII, § 12, amended in 1905 and 1909.

§ 5. Sinking fund, how kept and invested.

The sinking funds provided for the payment of interest and the extinguishment of the principal of the debts of the State shall be separately kept and safely invested, and neither of them shall be appropriated or used in any manner other than for the specific purpose for which it shall have been provided.

Const. 1846, art. VII, § 13, amended in 1874.

§ 6. Claims barred by statute of limitations.

Neither the Legislature, canal board, nor any person or persons acting in behalf of the State, shall audit, allow or pay any claim which, as between citizens of the State, would be barred by lapse of time. This provision shall not be construed to repeal

any statute fixing the time within which claims shall be presented or allowed, nor shall it extend to any claim duly presented within the time allowed by law, and prosecuted with due diligence from the time of such presentment. But if the claimant shall be under legal disability, the claim may be presented within two years after such disability is removed.

Const. 1846, art. VII, § 14, amended in 1874.

7. Forest preserve.

The lands of the State, now owned or hereafter acquired, constituting the forest preserve as now fixed by law, shall be forever kept as wild forest lands. They shall not be leased, sold or exchanged, or be taken by any corporation, public or private, nor shall the timber thereon be sold, removed or destroyed. New.

8. Canals, not to be sold; not applied to certain canals; disposition of funds.

The Legislature shall not sell, lease or otherwise dispose of the Erie canal, the Oswego canal, the Champlain canal, the Cayuga and Seneca canal, or the Black River canal; but they shall remain the property of the State and under its management forever. The prohibition of lease, sale or other disposition herein contained, shall not apply to the canal known as the Main and Hamburg street canal, situated in the city of Buffalo, and which extends easterly from the westerly line of Main street to the westerly line of Hamburg street. All funds that may be derived from any lease, sale or other disposition of any canal shall be applied to the improvement, superintendence or repair of the remaining portion of the canals.

Const. 1846, art. VII, § 6, amended in 1882.

9. No tolls to be imposed; contracts for work and materials; no extra compensation.

No tolls shall hereafter be imposed on persons or property transported on the canals, but all boats navigating the canals, and the owners and masters thereof, shall be subject to such laws and regulations as have been or may hereafter be enacted concerning the navigation of the canals. The Legislature shall annually, by equitable taxes, make provision for the expenses of the superintendence and repairs of the canals. All contracts for work or materials on any canal shall be made with the persons who shall offer to do or provide the same at the lowest price, with adequate security for their performance. No extra compensation shall be made to any contractor; but if, from any unforeseen cause, the terms of any contract shall prove to be unjust and oppressive, the cannal board may, upon the application of the Contractor, cancel such contract.

Const. 1846, art. VII, § 3, amended in 1882.

10. Canal improvement, and cost thereof.

The canals may be improved in such manner as the Legislature shall provide by law. A debt may be authorized for that purpose in the mode prescribed by section four of this article, or the cost of such improvement may be defrayed by the appropriation of funds from the state treasury, or by equitable annual tax. New.

§ 11. Payment of debts of the state.

The Legislature may appropriate out of any funds in the treasury, moneys to pay the accruing interest and principal of any debt heretofore or hereafter created, or any part thereof and may set apart in each fiscal year, moneys in the state treasury as a sinking fund to pay the interest as it falls due and to pay and discharge the principal of any debt heretofore or hereafter created under section four of article seven of the constitution until the same shall be wholly paid, and the principal and income of such sinking fund shall be applied to the purpose for which said sinking fund is created and to no other purpose whatever; and, in the event such moneys so set apart in any fiscal year be sufficient to provide such sinking fund, a direct annual tax for such year need not be imposed and collected, as required by the provisions of said section four of article seven, or of any law enacted in pursuance thereof.

Added in 1905.

§ 12. Improvement of highways.

A debt or debts of the state may be authorized by law for the improvement of highways. Such highways shall be determined under general laws, which shall also provide for the equitable apportionment thereof among the counties. The aggregate of the debts authorized by this section shall not at any one time exceed the sum of fifty millions of dollars. The payment of the annual interest on such debt and the creation of a sinking fund of at least two per centum per annum to discharge the principal at maturity shall be provided by general laws whose force and effect shall not be diminished during the existence of any debt created thereunder. The Legislature may by general law's require the county or town or both to pay to the sinking fund the proportionate part of the cost of any such highway within the boundaries of such county or town and the proportionate part of the interest thereon, but no county shall at any time for any highway be required to pay more than thirty-five hundredths of the cost of such highway, and no town more than fifteen hundredths. None of the provisions of the fourth section of this article shall apply to debts for the improvement of highways hereby authorized.

Added in 1905.

38b

ARTICLE EIGHTH.

Sec.

1. Corporations, formation of.

2. Dues of corporations.

3. Corporation, definition of term.

4. Savings bank charters; restrictions upon trustees; special charters not to be granted.

5. Specie payment.

6. Registry of bills or notes.

7. Liability of stockholders of banks.

8. Billholders of insolvent bank, preferred creditors.

9. Credit or money of the state not to be given.

10. Counties, cities and towns not to give or loan money or credit; limitation of indebtedness.

11. State board of charities; state commission in lunacy; state com. mission of prisons.

12. Boards appointed by governor.

13. Existing laws to remain in force.

14. Maintenance and support of inmates of charitable institutions.
15. Commissioners continued in office.

1. Corporations, formation of.

Corporations may be formed under general laws; but shall not be created by special act, except for municipal purposes, and in eases where, in the judgment of the Legislature, the objects of the corporation cannot be attained under general laws. All gen

eral laws and special acts passed pursuant to this section may be altered from time to time or repealed.

Const. 1816, art. VIII, § 1.

Į 2. Dues of corporations.

Dnes from corporations shall be secured by such individual liability of the corporators and other means as may be prescribed by law.

Const. 1846, art. VIII, § 2.

3. Corporation, definition of term.

The term corporations as used in this article shall be construed to include all associations and joint-stock companies having any of the powers or privileges of corporations not possessed by individuals or partnerships. And all corporations shall have the right to sue and shall be subject to be sued in all courts in like cases as natural persons.

Coast. 1846, art. VIII, § 3.

4. Savings bank charters; restrictions upon trustees; special charters not to be granted.

The Legislature shall, by general law, conform all charters of savings banks, or institutions for savings, to a uniformity of powers, rights and liabilities, and all charters hereafter granted for such corporations shall be made to conform to such general law, and to such amendments as may be made thereto. And no such corporation shall have any capital stock, nor shall the trustees thereof, or any of them, have any interest whatever, direct or indirect, in the profits of such corporation; and no director or trustee of any such bank or institution shall be interested in any loan or use of any money or property of such bank or institution for savings. The Legislature shall have no power to

pass any act granting any special charter for banking purposes; but corporations or associations may be formed for such purposes under general laws.

Const. 1846, art. VIII, § 4, amended in 1874.

§ 5. Specie payment.

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.

Const. 1846, art. VIII, § 5.

§ 6. Registry of bills or notes.

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 for the redemption of the same in specie. Const. 1846, art. VIII, § 6.

§ 7. Liability of stockholders of banks.

The stockholders of every corporation and joint-stock association for banking purposes, shall be individually responsible to the amount of their respective share or shares of stock in any such corporation or association, for all its debts and liabilities of every kind.

Const. 1846, art. VIII, § 7.

§ 8. Billholders of insolvent bank, preferred creditors. In case of the insolvency of any bank or banking association, the billholders thereof shall be entitled to preference in payment, over all other creditors of such bank or association.

Const. 1846, art. VIII, § 8.

§ 9. Credit or money of the state not to be given. Neither the credit nor the money of the State shall be given or loaned to or in aid of any association, corporation or private undertaking. This section shall not, however, prevent the Legislature from making such provision for the education and support of the blind, the deaf and dumb, and juvenile delinquents, as to it may seem proper. Nor shall it apply to any fund or property now held, or which may hereafter be held, by the State for educational purposes.

Const. 1846, art. VIII, 10, added in 1874.

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