Page:California State Constitution of 1879.djvu/11

Rh. 24. No Judge of a Superior Court nor of the Supreme Court shall, after the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and eighty, be allowed to draw or receive any monthly salary unless he shall take and subscribe an affidavit before an officer entitled to administer oaths, that no cause in his Court remains undecided that has been submitted for decision for the period of ninety days.

1. The Governor shall have the power to grant reprieves, pardons, and commutations of sentence, after conviction, for all offenses except treason and cases of impeachment, upon such conditions, and with such restrictions and limitations, as he may think proper, subject to such regulations as may be provided by law relative to the manner of applying for pardons. Upon conviction for treason, the Governor shall have power to suspend the execution of the sentence until the case shall be reported to the Legislature at its next meeting, when the Legislature shall either pardon, direct the execution of the sentence, or grant a further reprieve. The Governor shall communicate to the Legislature, at the beginning of every session, every case of reprieve or pardon granted, stating the name of the convict, the crime of which he was convicted, the sentence, its date, the date of the pardon or reprieve, and the reasons for granting the same. Neither the Governor nor the Legislature shall have power to grant pardons, or commutations of sentence, in any case where the convict has been twice convicted of felony, unless upon the written recommendation of a majority of the Judges of the Supreme Court.

1. The Legislature shall provide, by law, for organizing and disciplining the militia in such manner as it may deem expedient, not incompatible with the United States. Officers of the militia shall be elected or appointed in such manner as the Legislature shall from time to time direct, and shall be commissioned by the Governor. The Governor shall have power to call forth the militia to execute the laws of the State, to suppress insurrections, and repel invasions.

. 2. All military organizations provided for by this Constitution, or any law of this State, and receiving State support, shall, while under arms either for ceremony or duty, carry no device, banner, or flag of any State or nation, except that of the United States or the State of California.

1. A general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, the Legislature shall encourage by all suitable means the promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral, and agricultural improvement.

. 2. A Superintendent of Public Instruction shall, at each gubernatorial election after the adoption of this Constitution, be elected by the qualified electors of the State. He shall receive a salary equal to that of the Secretary of State, and Shall enter upon the duties of his office on the first Monday after the first day of January next succeeding his election.

. 3. A Superintendent of Schools for each county shall be elected by the qualified electors thereof at each gubernatorial election; provided, that the Legislature may authorize two or more counties to unite and elect one Superintendent for the counties so uniting.

. 4. The proceeds of all lands that have been or may be granted by the United States to this State for the support of common schools which may be, or may have been, sold or disposed of, and the five hundred thousand acres of land granted to the new States under an Act of Congress distributing the proceeds of the public lands among the several States of the Union, approved A. D. one thousand eight hundred and forty-one, and all estates of deceased persons who my have died without leaving a will or heir, and also such per cent. as may be granted, or may have been granted, by Congress on the sale of lands in this State, shall be and remain a perpetual fund, the interest of which, together with all the rents of the unsold lands, and such other means as the Legislature may provide, shall be inviolably appropriated to the support of common schools throughout the State.

. 5. The Legislature shall provide for a system of common schools by which a free school shall be kept up and supported in each district at least six months in every year, after the first year in which a school has been established.

. 6. The public school system shall include primary and grammar schools, and such high schools, evening schools, normal schools, and technical schools as may be established by the Legislature, or by municipal or district authority; but the entire revenue, derived from the State School Fund, and the State school tax, shall be applied exclusively to the support of primary and grammar schools.

. 7. The local Boards of Education, and the Boards of Supervisors, and County Superintendents of the several counties which may not have County Boards of Education, shall adopt