a in the same manner; and the votes for Secretary shall be returned to, and counted, canvassed, and declared by the Treasurer and Comptroller. He shall have the safe keeping and custody of the public records and documents, and particularly of the acts, resolutions, and orders of the General Assembly, and record the same; and perform all such duties as shall be prescribed by law. He shall be the keeper of the seal of the State, which shall not be altered. SEC. 19. A Comptroller of the Public Accounts shall be annually. appointed by the General Assembly." He shall adjust and settle all public accounts and demands, except grants and orders of the General Assembly. He shall prescribe the mode of keeping and rendering all public accounts. He shall ex officio be one of the auditors of the accounts of the Treasurer. The General Assembly may assign to him other duties in relation to his office, and to that of the Treasurer, and shall prescribe the manner in which his duties shall be performed. SEC. 20. A sheriff shall be appointed in each county by the General Assembly, who shall hold his office for three years, removable by said Assembly, and shall become bound, with sufficient sureties to the Treasurer of the State, for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law. In case the sheriff of any county shall die or resign, the Governor may fill the vacancy occasioned thereby, until the same shall be filled by the General Assembly. SEC. 21. A statement of all receipts, payments, funds, and debts of the State, shall be published from time to time, in such manner and at such periods as shall be prescribed by law. ARTICLE FIFTH OF THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT SECTION 1. The judicial power of the State shall be vested in a Supreme Court of Errors, a Superior Court, and such inferior courts as the General Assembly shall, from time to time, ordain and establish; the powers and jurisdiction of which courts shall be defined by law. SEC. 2. There shall be appointed in each county a sufficient number of justices of the peace, with such jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases as the General Assembly may prescribe. SEC. 3. The Judges of the Supreme Court of Errors, of the Superior and inferior courts, and all justices of the peace, shall be appointed by the General Assembly, in such manner as shall by law be prescribed. The Judges of the Supreme Court and the Superior Court shall hold their offices during good behavior, but may be removed by impeachment; and the Governor shall also remove them on the address of twothirds of the members of each House of the General Assembly; all other judges and justices of the peace shall be appointed annually. No judge or justice of the peace shall be capable of holding his office after he shall arrive at the age of seventy years. "Altered by amendments of 1836 and 1875. Altered by amendment of 1886. dAltered by amendment of 1876. eAltered by amendments. ARTICLE SIXTH OF THE QUALIFICATIONS OF ELECTORS SECTION 1. All persons who have been, or shall hereafter, previous to the ratification of this Constitution, be admitted freemen, according to the existing laws of this State, shall be electors. SEC. 2. Every white male citizen of the United States, who shall have gained a settlement in this State, attained the age of twenty-one years, and resided in the town in which he may offer himself to be admitted to the privilege of an elector, at least six months preceding; and have a freehold estate of the yearly value of seven dollars in this State; or, having been enrolled in the militia, shall have performed military duty therein for the term of one year next preceding the time he shall offer himself for admission," or being liable thereto shall have been, by authority of law, excused therefrom; or shall have paid a State tax within the year next preceding the time he shall present himself for such admission; and shall sustain a good moral character, shall, on his taking such oath as may be prescribed by law, be an elector." SEC. 3. The privileges of an elector shall be forfeited by a conviction of bribery, forgery, perjury, duelling, fraudulent bankruptcy, theft, or other offense for which an infamous punishment is inflicted." SEC. 4. Every elector shall be eligible to any office in this State, except in cases provided for in this Constitution. SEC. 5. The selectmen and town clerk of the several towns shall decide on the qualifications of electors, at such times and in such manner as may be prescribed by law. SEC. 6. Laws shall be made to support the privilege of free suffrage, prescribing the manner of regulating and conducting meetings of the electors, and prohibiting, under adequate penalties, all undue influence therein, from power, bribery, tumult, and other improper conduct. SEC. 7. In all elections of officers of the State, or members of the General Assembly, the votes of the electors shall be by ballot. SEC. 8. At all elections of officers of the State, or members of the General Assembly, the electors shall be privileged from arrest during their attendance upon, and going to, and returning from the same, on any civil process. SEC. 9. The meetings of the electors for the election of the several State officers by law annually to be elected, and members of the General Assembly of this State, shall be holden on the first Monday of April in each year. ARTICLE SEVENTH OF RELIGION SECTION 1. It being the duty of all men to worship the Supreme Being, the Great Creator and Preserver of the Universe, and their right to render that worship in the mode most consistent with the a Altered by amendments. May be restored, amendment Art. xvii. d Altered by amendments of 1875 and 1884. dictates of their consciences, no person shall by law be compelled to join or support, nor be classed with, or associated to, any congregation, church, or religious association. But every person now belonging to such congregation, church, or religious association, shall remain a member thereof until he shall have separated himself there from in the manner hereinafter provided. And each and every society or denomination of Christians in this State shall have and enjoy the same and equal powers, rights, and privileges; and shall have power and authority to support and maintain the ministers or teachers of their respective denominations, and to build and repair houses for public worship by a tax on the members of any such society only, to be laid by a major vote of the legal voters assembled at any society meeting, warned and held according to law, or in any other manner. SEC. 2. If any person shall choose to separate himself from the society or denomination of Christians to which he may belong, and shall leave a written notice thereof with the clerk of such society, he shall thereupon be no longer liable for any future expenses which may be incurred by said society. ARTICLE EIGHTH OF EDUCATION SECTION 1. The charter of Yale College, as modified by agreement with the corporation thereof, in pursuance of an Act of the General Assembly, passed in May, 1792, is hereby confirmed. SEC. 2. The fund called the SCHOOL FUND shall remain a perpetual fund, the interest of which shall be inviolably appropriated to the support and encouragement of the public or common schools throughout the State, and for the equal benefit of all the people thereof. The value and amount of said fund shall, as soon as practicable, be ascertained in such manner as the General Assembly may prescribe, published, and recorded in the Comptroller's office, and no law shall ever be made authorizing said fund to be diverted to any other use than the encouragement and support of public or common schools, among the several school societies, as justice and equity shall require. ARTICLE NINTH OF IMPEACHMENTS SECTION 1. The House of Representatives shall have the sole power of impeaching. SEC. 2. All impeachments shall be tried by the Senate. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present. When the Governor is impeached, the Chief Justice shall preside. SEC. 3. The Governor, and all other executive and judicial officers, shall be liable to impeachment; but judgments in such cases shall not extend further than to removal from office and disqualification. to hold any office of honor, trust, or profit under this State. The party convicted shall, nevertheless, be liable and subject to indictment, trial, and punishment according to law. SEC. 4. Treason against the State shall consist only in levying war against it, or 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. No conviction of treason or attainder shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture. ARTICLE TENTH GENERAL PROVISIONS SECTION 1. Members of the General Assembly, and all officers, executive and judicial, shall, before they enter on the duties of their respective offices, take the following oath or affirmation, to wit: You do solemnly swear, or affirm (as the case may be), that you will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Connecticut, so long as you continue a citizen thereof; and that you will faithfully discharge, according to law, the duties of the office of to the best of your abilities. So help you God. a SEC. 2. Each town shall annually elect selectmen, and such officers of local police as the laws may prescribe. SEC. 3. The rights and duties of all corporations shall remain as if this Constitution had not been adopted; with the exception of such regulations and restrictions as are contained in this Constitution. All judicial and civil officers now in office, who have been appointed by the General Assembly, and commissioned according to law, and all such officers as shall be appointed by the said Assembly, and commissioned as aforesaid, before the first Wednesday of May next, shall continue to hold their offices until the first day of June next, unless they shall before that time resign, or be removed from office according to law. The Treasurer and Secretary shall continue in office until a Treasurer and Secretary shall be appointed under this Constitution. All military officers shall continue to hold and exercise their respective offices until they shall resign or be removed according to law. All laws not contrary to, or inconsistent with, the provisions of this Constitution shall remain in force until they shall expire by their own limitation, or shall be altered or repealed by the General Assembly, in pursuance of this Constitution. The validity of all bonds, debts, contracts, as well of individuals as of bodies corporate, or the State, of all suits, actions, or rights of action, both in law and equity, shall continue as if no change had taken place. The Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and General Assembly which is to be formed in October next, shall have and possess all the powers and authorities not repugnant to, or inconsistent with, this Constitution, which they now have and possess, until the first Wednesday of May next. SEC. 4. No judge of the Superior Court, or of the Supreme Court of Errors; no member of Congress; no person holding any office under the authority of the United States; no person holding the office of Treasurer, Secretary, or Comptroller; no sheriff or sheriff's deputy shall be a member of the General Assembly. a Altered by amendment of 1905. ARTICLE ELEVENTH OF AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION Whenever a majority of the House of Representatives shall deem it necessary to alter or amend this Constitution, they may propose such alteration and amendments; which proposed amendments shall be continued to the next General Assembly, and be published with the laws which may have been passed at the same session; and if two-thirds of each House, at the next session of said Assembly, shall approve the amendments proposed by yeas and nays, said amendments shall, by the Secretary, be transmitted to the town clerk in each town in the State, whose duty it shall be to present the same to the inhabitants thereof, for their consideration, at a town meeting, legally warned and held for that purpose; and if it shall appear, in a manner to be provided by law, that a majority of the electors present at such meetings shall have approved such amendments, the same shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of this Consti tution. Done in Convention, on the fifteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, and of the Independence of the United States the forty-third. By order of the Convention, From and after the first Wednesday of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty, the Senate of this State shall consist of not less than eighteen nor more than twenty-four members," and be chosen by districts. ARTICLE II (Adopted November, 1828) The General Assembly, which shall be holden on the first Wednesday of May, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine, shall divide the State into districts for the choice of Senators, and shall determine what number shall be elected in each; which districts shall not be less than eight nor more than twenty-four in number, and shall always be composed of contiguous territory, and in forming them no town shall be divided, nor shall the whole or part of one county be joined to the whole or part of another county to form a district: regard being had to the population in said apportion "Altered by amendment of 1901. |