And no other oath, declaration, or test, shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust. ARTICLE VII. Sec. 1. 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. 2. The trial by jury, in all cases in which it has been heretofore used, shall remain inviolate forever; and no new court shall be instituted, but such as shall proceed according to the course of the common law; except such courts of equity, as the legislature is herein authorised to establish. 3. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed in this state, to all mankind; 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 this state. 4. And whereas the ministers of the gospel are, by their profession, dedicated to the service of God, and the care of souls, and ought not to be diverted from the great duties of their functions; therefore, no minister of the gospel, or priest of any denomination whatsoever, shall, at any time hereafter, under any pretense or description whatever, be eligible to, or capable of holding, any civil or military office or place within this state. 5. The militia of this state shall, at all times hereafter be armed and disciplined, and in readiness for service; but all such inhabitants of this state, of any religious denomination whatever, as from scruples of conscience, may be averse to bearing arms, shall be excused therefrom, by paying to the state an equivalent in money; and the legislature shall provide by law, for the collection of such equivalent, to be estimated according to the expense, in time and money, of an ordinary able bodied militia man. 6. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion, or invasion, the public safety may require its suspension. 7. No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or other infamous crime, (except in cases of impeachment, and in cases of the militia when in actual service; and the land and naval forces in time of war, or which this state may keep, with the consent of Congress, in time of peace, and in cases of petit larceny, under the regulation of the le gislature ;) unless on presentment or indictment of a grand jury; and in every trial on impeachment or indictment, the party accused shall be allowed counsel as in civil actions. No person shall be subject for the same offense, to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall he be compelled in any criminal case, to be a witness against himself; nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. 8. Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments, on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right; and no law shall be passed to restrain, or abridge, the liberty of speech, or of the press. In all prosecutions or indictments for libels, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury; and if it shall appear to the jury, that the matter charged as libelous, is true, and was published with good motives, and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted; and the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact. 9. The assent of two thirds of the members elected to each branch of the legislature, shall be requisite to every bill appropriating the public moneys or property for local or private purposes, or creating, continuing, altering, or renewing, any body politic or corporate. 10. The proceeds of all lands belonging to this state, except such parts thereof as may be reserved or appropriated to public use, or ceded to the United States, which shall hereafter be sold or disposed of, together with the fund denominated the common school fund, shall be and remain a perpetual Tund; the interest of which shall be inviolably appropriated ind applied to the support of common schools throughout his state. Rates of toll, not less than those agreed to by he canal commissioners, and set forth in their report to the egislature of the twelfth of March, one thousand eight hunred and twenty one, shall be imposed on, and collected from, ll parts of the navigable communication between the great vestern and northern lakes and the Atlantic ocean, which ow are or hereafter shall be made and completed: and the aid tolls, together with the duties on the manufacture of all alt, as established by the act of the fifteenth of April, one housand eight hundred and seventeen; and the duties on oods sold at auction, excepting therefrom the sum of thirty ree thousand five hundred dollars, otherwise appropriated y the said act; and the amount of the revenue established y the act of the legislature of the thirtieth of March, one housand eight hundred and twenty, in lieu of the tax upon team boat passengers; shall be, and remain inviolably ap propriated and applied to the completion of such navigable communications, and to the payment of the interest, and reimbursement of the capital, of the money already borrowed or which hereafter shall be borrowed, to make and complete the same. And neither the rates of toll on the said navigable communications; nor the duties on the manufacture of sal aforesaid; nor the duties on goods sold at auction, a established by the act of the fifteenth of April, one thou sand eight hundred and seventeen, nor the amount the revenue, established by the act of March the thir tieth, one thousand eighteen hundred and twenty, in lie of the tax upon steam boat passengers; shall be reduced c diverted, at any time before the full and complete payment the principal and interest of the money borrowed, or to b borrowed, as aforesaid. And the legislature shall never sel or dispose of the salt springs belonging to this state, nor th lands contiguous thereto, which may be necessary or conv nient for their use, nor the said navigable communication or any part or section thereof; but the same shall be an remain the property of this state. 11. No lottery shall hereafter be authorized in this stat and the legislature shall pass laws to prevent the sale of lottery tickets within this state, except in lotteries alrea provided for by law. 12. No purchase or contract for the sale of lands in th state, made since the fourteenth day of October, one thousa seven hundred and seventy five, or which may hereafter made, of or with the Indians in this state, shall be valid, unla made under the authority and with the consent of the lega lature. 13. Such parts of the common law, and of the acts of the gislature of the colony of New York, as together did form law of the said colony on the nineteenth day of April, one the sand seven hundred and seventy five, and the resolutions the congress of the said colony, and of the convention of state of New York, in force on the twentieth day of Ag one thousand seven hundred and seventy seven, which h not since expired, or been repealed, or altered; and such of the legislature of this state, as are now in force, shall and continue the law of this state, subject to such alterat as the legislature shall make concerning the same. such parts of the common law, and such of the said acts parts thereof, as are repugnant to this constitution, are her abrogated. Bu 14. All grants of land within this state made by the k of Great Britain, or persons acting under his authority, af the fourteenth day of October, one thousand seven hundred and seventy five, shall be null and void: but nothing contained in this constitution, shall affect any grants of land within this state, made by the authority of the said king or his predecessors, or shall annul any charters to bodies politic and corporate, by him or them made, before that day; or shall affect any such grants or charters since made by this state, or by persons acting under its authority; or shall impair the obligation of any debts contracted by the state, or individuals, or bodies corporate, or any other rights of property, or any suits, actions, rights of actions, or other proceedings in courts of justice. ARTICLE VIII. Sec. 1. Any amendment, or amendments, to this constitution, may be proposed in the senate or assembly, and if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each of the two houses, such proposed amendment, or amendments, shali be entered on their journals, with the yeas and nays taken thereon, and referred to the legislature then next to be chosen; and shall be published, for three months previous to the time of making such choice; and, if in the legislature next chosen as aforesaid, such proposed amendment, or amendments, shall be agreed to by two thirds of all the members elected to each house, then it shall be the duty of the legislature to submit such proposed amendment, or amendments, to the people, in such manner, and at such time, as the legislature shall prescribe; and if the people shall approve and ratify such amendment, or amendments, by a majority of the electors qualified to vote for members of the legislature, voting thereon, such amendment or amendments, shall become part of the constitution. ARTICLE IX. Sec. 1. This constitution shall be in force from the last day of December, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty two. But all those parts of the same, which relate to the right of suffrage; the division of the state into senate districts; the number of members of the assembly to be elected in pursuance of this constitution; the apportionment of members of assembly; the elections hereby directed to commence on the first Monday of November, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty two; the continuance of the members of the present legislature in office, until the first day of January, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty three; and the prohibition against authorizing lotteries; the prohibition against appropriating the public moneys or property for local or private purposes, or creating, continuing, altering, or renewing, any body politic, or corporate, without the assent of two thirds of the members elected to each branch of the legislature, shall be in force, and take effect from the last day of February next. The members of the present legislature, shall, on the first Monday of March next, take and subscribe an oath, or affirmation, to support the constitution, so far as the same shall then be in force. Sheriffs, clerks of counties, and coroners, shall be elected at the election hereby directed to commence on the first Monday of November, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty two; but they shall not enter on the duties of their offices before the first day of January then next following. The commissions of all persons holding civil offices on the last day of December, one thousand eight hundred and twenty two, shall expire on that day; but the officers then in commission, may respectively continue to hold their said offices until new appointments or elections shall take place under this constitution. 2. The existing laws, relative to the manner of notifying, holding, and conducting elections, making returns, and canvassing votes, shall be in force, and observed, in respect to the elections hereby directed to commence on the first Mon day of November, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty two, so far as the same are applicable. And the present legislature shall pass such other and further laws, as may be requisite for the execution of the provisions of this constitution, in respect to elections. Done in Convention, at the Capitol, in the city of Albany, the tenth day of November, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty one, and of the independence of the United States of America, the forty sixth. DANIEL D. TOMPKINS, |