Page:The Federal and state constitutions v2.djvu/599

1236 him or her owned, and any amount unpaid thereon, to a further sum at least equal in amount to such stock.

The property of corporations, except for charitable and religious purposes, now existing and to be hereafter created, shall be subject to taxation the same as the property of individuals.

All real estate or other property of religious corporations shall vest in trustees, whose election shall be by the members of such corporation.

The general assembly shall provide for the organization of cities and villages by general laws, and restrict their power of taxation, assessment, borrowing money, contracting debts, and loaning their credit, so as to prevent the abuses of such power.

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 the same as natural persons.

The general assembly, at its first session under this constitution, shall constitute a commission, to consist of three persons not members of the senate or house of representatives, whose duty it shall be to revise, reform, simplify, and abridge the rules of practice, pleading, and proceeding in the courts of record of this State, abolishing the forms of action known to the common law, and distinctions as to form between proceedings at law and in equity.

The proceedings or the commissioners shall be reported to and be subject to the action of the general assembly.

All the proceedings of the courts of this State shall be instituted and conducted in the English language, avoiding, as far as practicable, the use of technical terms.

No person shall be taken, imprisoned, or disseized of his freehold, outlawed, exiled, or in any manner deprived of his life, liberty, or property, but by the judgment of his peers and the law of the land.

The printing of the laws and journals, bills, legislative documents, and papers for each branch of the general assembly, and all printing for the executive and other departments of State, shall be let to the lowest responsible bidder by such officers, and in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.

The general assembly shall provide by law for the protection of the rights of women, married and single, in the acquiring and possessing of property, real, personal, and mixed, separate and apart from the husband or other person; and shall also provide for the equal rights of women in the protection, with the husband, of their children during their minority; also shall provide for the securing