house of the Legislature; but the cause for which such removal is required shall be stated at length in such resolution.

7. The Legislature shall provide by law for the removal of any officer elected by a county, township or school district, in such manner and for such cause as to them shall seem just and proper.

ARTICLE XIII.-Education.

SEC. 1. The superintendent of public instruction shall have the general supervision of public instruction, and his duties shall be prescribed by law.

2. The proceeds from the sales of all lands that have been or hereafter may be granted by the United States to the State for educational purposes, and the proceeds of all lands or other property given by individuals or appropriated by the State for like purposes, shall be and remain a perpetual fund, the interest and income of which, togegether with the rents of all such lands as may remain unsold, shall be inviolably appropriated and annually applied to the specific objects of the original gift, grant or appropriation.

3. All lands, the titles to which shall fail from a defect of heirs, shall escheat to the State; and the interest on the clear proceeds from the sales thereof, shall be appropriated exclusively to the support of primary schools.

4. The Legislature shall, within five years from the adoption of this constitution, provide for and establish a system of primary schools, whereby a school shall be kept, without charge for tuition, at least three months in each year, in every school district in the State, and all instruction in said schools shall be conducted in the English language.

5. A school shall be maintained in each school district at least three months in each year. Any school district neglecting to maintain such school, shall be deprived for the ensuing year of its proportion of the income of the primary school fund, and of all funds arising from taxes for the support of schools.

6. There shall be elected in each judicial circuit, at the time of the election of the judge of such circuit, a regent of the university, whose term of office shall be the same as that of such judge. The regents thus elected shall constitute the board of regents of the University of Michigan.

7. The regents of the university, and their successors in office, shall continue to constitute the body corporate, known by the name and title of "the Regents of the University of Michigan."

8. The regents of the university shall, at their first annual meeting, or as soon thereafter as may be, elect a president of the univer sity, who shall be ex-officio a member of their board, with the privilege of speaking, but not of voting. He shall preside at the meetings of the regents, and be the principal executive officer of the university. The board of regents shall have the general supervision of the uni

versity, and the direction and control of all expenditures from the university interest fund.

9. There shall be elected at the general election in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, three members of a state board of education, one for two years, one for four years, and one for six years; and at each succeeding biennial election there shall be elected one member of such board, who shall hold his office for six years. The superintendent of public instruction shall be ex-officio a member and secretary of such board. The board shall have the general supervision of the State Normal School, and their duties shall be prescribed by law.

10. Institutions for the benefit of those inhabitants who are deaf, dumb, blind or insane, shall always be fostered and supported.

11. The Legislature shall encourage the promotion of intellectual, scientific and agricultural improvement; and shall, as soon as practicable, provide for the establishment of an agricultural school. The Legislature may appropriate the twenty-two sections of salt spring lands now unappropriated, or the money arising from the sale of the same, where such lands have been already sold, and any land which may hereafter be granted or appropriated for such purpose, for the support and maintenance of such school, and may make the same a branch of the university for instruction in agriculture and the natural sciences connected therewith, and place the same under the supervision of the regents of the university.

12. The Legislature shall also provide for the establishment of at least one librarian in each township; and all fines assessed and collected in the several counties and townships for any breach of the penal laws, shall be exclusively applied to the support of such libraries.

ARTICLE XIV.-Finance and Taxation.

SEC. 1. All specific State taxes, except those received from the mining companies of the Upper Peninsula, shall be applied in paying the interest upon the primary school, university, and other educa tional funds, and the interest and principal of the State debt, in the order herein recited, until the extinguishment of the State debt, other than the amounts due to educational funds, when such specific taxes shall be added to, and constitute a part of the primary school interest fund. The Legislature shall provide for an annual tax, sufficient, with other resources, to pay the estimated expenses of the State gov ernment, the interest of the State debt, and such deficiency as may occur in the resources.

2. The Legislature shall provide by law a sinking fund of at least twenty thousand dollars a year, to commence in eighteen hundred and fifty-two, with compound interest at the rate of six per cent. per annum, and an annual increase of at least five per cent., to be applied solely to the payment and extinguishment of the principal of the State debt, other than the amounts due to educational funds, and shall be

continued until the extinguishment thereof. The unfunded debt shall not be funded or redeemed at a value exceeding that established by law in one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.

3. The State may contract debts to meet deficits in revenue. Such debts shall not in the aggregate at any one time exceed fifty thousand dollars. The moneys so raised shall be applied to the purposes for which they were obtained, or to the payment of the debts so contracted.

4. The State may contract debts to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or defend the State in time of war. The money arising from the contracting of such debts shall be applied to the purposes for which it was raised, or to repay such debts.

5. No money shall be paid out of the treasury except in pursuance of appropriations made by law.

6. The credit of the State shall not be granted to, or in aid of any person, association or corporation.

7. No scrip, certificate or other evidence of State, indebtedness shall be issued, except for the redemption of stock previously issued, or for such debts as are expressly authorized in this constitution.

8. The State shall not subscribe to, or be interested in, the stock of any company, association or corporation.

9. The State shall not be a party to, or interested in, any work of internal improvement, nor engaged in carrying on any such work, except in the expenditure of grants to the State of land or other property.

10. The State may continue to collect all specific taxes accruing to the treasury under existing laws. The Legislature may provide for the collection of specific taxes, from banking, railroad, plank road, and other corporations hereafter created.

11. The Legislature shall provide an uniform rule of taxation, except on property paying specific taxes, and taxes shall be levied on such property as shall be prescribed by law.

12. All assessments hereafter authorized shall be on property at its cash value.

13. The Legislature shall provide for an equalization by a State board, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, and every fifth year thereafter, of assessments on all taxable property, except that paying specific taxes.

14. Every law which imposes, continues or revives a tax, shall distinctly state the tax, and the object to which it is to be applied; and it shall not be sufficient to refer to any other law to fix such tax or object.

ARTICLE XV.-Corporations.

SEC. 1. Corporations may be formed under general laws, but shall not be created by special act, except for municipal purposes. All laws passed pursuant to this section may be altered, amended, or repealed.

2. No banking law, or law for banking purposes, or amendments thereof, shall have effect until the same shall, after its passage, be submitted to a vote of the electors of the State, at a general elec tion, and be approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon at such election.

3. The officers and stockholders of every corporation or association for banking purposes, issuing bank notes or paper credits to circulate as money, shall be individually liable for all debts contracted during the time of their being officers or stockholders of such corporation or association.

4. The Legislature shall provide by law for the registry of all bills or notes issued or put in circulation as money, and shall require security to the full amount of notes and bills so registered in State or United States stocks, bearing interest, which shall be deposited with the state treasurer, for the redemption of such bills or notes in specie.

5. 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.

6. The Legislature shall pass no law authorizing or sanctioning the suspension of specie payments by any person, association or corporation.

7. The stockholders of all corporations and joint stock associations shall be individually liable for all labor performed for such corporation or association.

8. The Legislature shall pass no law altering or amending any act of incorporation heretofore granted, without the assent of twothirds of the members elected to each house; nor shall any such act be renewed or extended. This restriction shall not apply to municipal corporations.

9. The property of no person shall be taken by any corporation for public use without compensation being first made or secured, in such manner as may be prescribed by law.

10. No corporation, except for municipal purposes, or for the construction of railroads, plank roads and canals, shall be created for a longer time than thirty years.

11. The term "corporations," as used in the preceding sections of 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. All corporations shall have the right to sue, and be subject to be sued, in all courts, like cases as natural persons.

12. No corporation shall hold any real estate hereafter acquired for a longer period than ten years, except such real estate as shall be actually occupied by such corporation in the exercise of its franchises.

13. The Legislature shall provide for the incorporation and organ

ization of cities and villages, and shall restrict their powers of taxation, borrowing money, contracting debts, and loaning their credit.

14. Judicial officers of cities and villages shall be elected, and all other officers shall be elected or appointed at such time and in such manner as the Legislature may direct.

15. Private property shall not be taken for public improvements in cities and villages without the consent of the owner, unless the compensation therefor shall first be determined by a jury of freeholders, and actually paid or secured in the manner provided by law.

16. Previous notice of any application for an alteration of the charter of any corporation shall be given in such manner as may be prescribed by law.

ARTICLE XVI.-Exemptions.

SEC. 1. The personal property of every resident of this State, to consist of such property only as shall be designated by law, shall be exempted to the amount of not less than five hundred dollars from sale on execution, or other final process of any court, issued for the collection of any debt contracted after the adoption of this constitution.

2. Every homestead of not exceeding forty acres of land, and the dwelling-house thereon, and the appurtenances to be selected by the owner thereof, and not included in any town plat, city or village; or instead thereof, at the option of the owner, any lot in any city, village, or recorded town plat, or such parts of lots as shall be equal thereto, and the dwelling-house thereon and its appurtenances, owned and occupied by any resident of the State, not exceeding in value fifteen hundred dollars, shall be exempt from forced sale on execution, or any other final process from a court, for any debt contracted after the adoption of this constitution. Such exemption shall not extend to any mortgage thereon lawfully obtained; but such mortgage, or other alienation of such land, by the owner thereof, if a married man, shall not be valid without the signature of the wife to the same.

3. The homestead of a family, after the death of the owner thereof, shall be exempt from the payment of his debts, contracted after the adoption of this constitution, in all cases, during the minority of his children.

4. If the owner of a homestead die, leaving a widow, but no children, the same shall be exempt, and the rents and profits thereof shall accrue to her benefit during the time of her widowhood, unless she be the owner of a homestead in her own right.

5. The real and personal estate of every female, acquired before marriage, and all property to which she may afterwards become entitled, by gift, grant, inheritance or devise, shall be and remain the estate and property of such female, and shall not be liable for the