Privileges of elec SECTION 14. District election boards shall consist of a judge and Election boards.. two inspectors, who shall be chosen annually by the citizens. Each elector shall have the right to vote for the judge and one inspector, and each inspector shall appoint one clerk. The first election board Clerks. for any new district shall be selected, and vacancies in election Vacancies. boards filled, as shall be provided by law. Election officers shall be privileged from arrest upon days of election, and while engaged on officers. in making up and transmitting returns, except upon warrant of a court of record or judge thereof, for an election fraud, for felony, or for wanton breach of the peace. In cities they may claim exemption from jury duty during their terms of service. SECTION 15. No person shall be qualified to serve as an election Government offiofficer who shall hold, or shall within two months have held any office, disqualified to appointment or employment in or under the government of the serve as election United States or of this State, or of any city, or county, or of any municipal board, commission or trust in any city, save only justices of the peace and aldermen, notaries public and persons in the militia service of the State; nor shall any election officer be eligi- Ineligibility of ble to any civil office to be filled at an election at which he shall election officers. serve, save only to such subordinate municipal or local offices, below the grade of city or county offices, as shall be designated by general law. cers and employces officers. tions. SECTION 16. The courts of common pleas of the several counties Courts of common of the Commonwealth shall have power, within their respective ju- pleas may appoint risdictions, to appoint overseers of election to supervise the pro- overseers of elecceedings of election officers and to make report to the court as may be required; such appointments to be made for any district in a city or county upon petition of five citizens, lawful voters of such election district, setting forth that such appointment is a reasonable precaution to secure the purity and fairness of elections; overseers shall be two in number for an election district, shall be residents therein, and shall be persons qualified to serve upon election boards, and in each case members of different political parties; whenever Overseers may dethe members of an election board shall differ in opinion the over- cide questions of seers, if they shall be agreed thereon, shall decide the question of difference; in appointing overseers of election all the law judges of the proper court, able to act at the time, shall concur in the appointments made. difference. SECTION 17. The trial and determination of contested elections of Trial of contested electors of President and Vice-President, members of the General elections. Assembly, and of all public officers, whether State, judicial, municipal or local, shall be by the courts of law, or by one or more of the law judges thereof; the General Assembly shall, by general law, designate the courts and judges by whom the several classes of election contests shall be tried, and regulate the manner of trial and all matters incident thereto; but no such law assigning jurisdiction, or regulating its exercise, shall apply to any contest arising out of an election held before its passage. ARTICLE IX. Taxation and Finance. SECTION 1. All taxes shall be uniform, upon the same class of Taxes to be unisubjects, within the territorial limits of the authority levying the form. tax, and shall be levied and collected under general laws; but the General Assembly may, by general laws, exempt from taxation Exemptions. public property used for public purposes, actual places of religious worship, places of burial not used or held for private or corporate profit, and institutions of purely public charity. SECTION 2. All laws exempting property from taxation, other Limitation of than the property above enumerated, shall be void. power to exempt. SECTION 3. The power to tax corporations and corporate pro- Power to tax corperty shall not be surrendered or suspended by any contract or orations not to be grant to which the State shall be a party. surrendered. SECTION 4. No debt shall be created by or on behalf of the State, Tower to make except to supply casual deficiencies of revenue, repel invasions, debts. Moneys borrowed pose specified. suppress insurrection, defend the State in war, or to pay existing debt; and the debt created to supply deficiencies in revenue shall never exceed, in the aggregate at any one time, one million of dollars. SECTION 5. All laws, authorizing the borrowing of money by and to be used for pur- on behalf of the State, shall specify the purpose for which the money is to be used, and the money so borrowed shall be used for the purpose specified and no other. State eredit not to be loaned, &c. Municipalities not to become stockholders, &c. Municipal debts limited. No assumption of the State. SECTION 6. The credit of the Commonwealth shall not be pledged or loaned to any individual, company, corporation or association, nor shall the Commonwealth become a joint owner or stockholder in any company, association or corporation. SECTION 7. The General Assembly shall not authorize any county, city, borough, township or incorporated district to become a stockholder in any company, association or corporation, or to obtain or appropriate money for, or to loan its credit to, any corporation, association, institution or individual. SECTION 8. The debt of any county, city, borough, township, school district or other municipality or incorporated district, except as herein provided, shall never exceed seven per centum upon the assessed value of the taxable property therein, nor shall any such municipality or district incur any new debt, or increase its indebtedness to an amount exceeding two per centum upon such assessed valuation of property, without the assent of the electors thereof at a public election in such manner as shall be provided by law; but any city, the debt of which now exceeds seven per centum of such assessed valuation, may be authorized by law to increase the same three per centum, in the aggregate at any one time, upon such valuation. SECTION 9. The Commonwealth shall not assume the debt, or any municipal debts by part thereof, of any city, county, borough or township, unless such debt shall have been contracted to enable the State to repel invasion, suppress domestic insurrection, defend itself in time of war, or to assist the State in the discharge of any portion of its present indebtedness. Re-payment of be provided for. SECTION 10. Any county, township, school district or other munimunicipal debt to cipality incurring any indebtedness shall, at or before the time of so doing, provide for the collection of an annual tax sufficient to pay the interest and also the principal thereof within thirty years. Sinking fund. Reserve in the treasury. Reserve not to be SECTION 11. To provide for the payment of the present State debt, and any additional debt contracted as aforesaid, the General Assembly shall continue and maintain the sinking fund, sufficient to pay the accruing interest on such debt, and annually to reduce the principal thereof by a sum not less than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars; the said sinking fund shall consist of the proceeds of the sales of the public works or any part thereof, and of the income or proceeds of the sale of any stocks owned by the Commonwealth, together with other funds and resources that may be designated by law, and shall be increased from time to time by assigning to it any part of the taxes or other revenues of the State not required for the ordinary and current expenses of government: and unless in case of war, invasion or insurrection, no part of the said sinking fund shall be used or applied otherwise than in the extinguishment of the public debt. SECTION 12. The moneys of the State, over and above the necessary reserve, shall be used in the payment of the debt of the State, either directly or through the sinking fund, and the moneys of the sinking fund shall never be invested in or loaned upon the security of anything, except the bonds of the United States or of this State. SECTION 13. The moneys held as necessary reserve shall be limited by law to the amount required for current expenses, and shall be secured and kept as may be provided by law. Monthly statements shall be published showing the amount of such moneys, where the same are deposited, and how secured. SECTION 14. The making of profit out of the public moneys or converted to pri- using the same for any purpose not authorized by law by any officer vate use. of the State, or member or officer of the General Assembly, shall ARTICLE X. Education. SECTION 1. The General Assembly shall provide for the mainte- Public schools to nance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public be maintained. schools, wherein all the children of this Commonwealth above the priated. age of six years may be educated, and shall appropriate at least mount approone million dollars each year for that purpose. SECTION 2. No money raised for the support of the public No appropriation schools of the Commonwealth shall be appropriated to or used for to sectarian schools the support of any sectarian school. SECTION 3. Women twenty-one years of age and upwards, shall Women eligibe to be eligible to any office of control or management under the school school offices. laws of this State. ARTICLE XI. militia. SECTION 1. The freemen of this Commonwealth shall be armed, organization of organized and disciplined for its defence when and in such manner as may be directed by law. The General Assembly shall provide for maintaining the militia by appropriations from the Treasury of the Commonwealth, and may exempt from military service persons thorized. having conscientious scruples against bearing arms. ARTICLE XII. Public Officers. Exemption au SECTION 1. All officers, whose selection is not provided for in Selection of public this Constitution, shall be elected or appointed as may be directed officers. by law. State office. SECTION 2. No member of Congress from this State, nor any Federal officers person holding or exercising any office or appointment of trust or disqualified for profit under the United States, shall at the same time hold or exercise any office in this State to which a salary, fees or perquisites shall be attached. The General Assembly may by law declare what offices are incompatible. Dueling disqualifi SECTION 3. Any person who shall fight a duel or send a challenge for that purpose, or be aider or abettor in fighting a duel, shall cation for office. be deprived of the right of holding any office of honor or profit in this State, and may be otherwise punished as shall be prescribed by law. ARTICLE XIII. counties. SECTION 1. No new county shall be established which shall re- Limitation o duce any county to less than four hundred square miles, or to less power to creat than twenty thousand inhabitants; nor shall any county be formed of less area, or containing a less population; nor shall any line thereof pass within ten miles of the county seat of any county proposed to be divided. ARTICLE XIV. County Officers. SECTION 1. County officers shall consist of sheriffs, coroners, County officers, prothonotaries, registers of wills, recorders of deeds, commissioners, treasurers, surveyors, auditors or controllers, clerks of the courts, district attorneys and such others as may from time to time E'ection and tenure. Vacancies. Residence of county officers. Offices to be kept in county town. Compensation. Accountability of municipal officers. County commissioners and auditors to be chosen by limited vote. Vacancies -how filled. General laws to establish cities. Municipal com be established by law; and no sheriff or treasurer shall be eligible 'for the term next succeeding the one for which he may be elected. SECTION 2. County officers shall be elected at the general elections and shall hold their offices for the term of three years, beginning on the first Monday of January next after their election, and until their successors shall be duly qualified; all vacancies not otherwise provided for shall be filled in such manner as may be provided by law. SECTION 3. No person shall be appointed to any office within any county who shall not have been a citizen and an inhabitant therein one year next before his appointment, if the county shall have been so long erected, but if it shall not have been so long erected, then within the limits of the county or counties out of which it shall have been taken. SECTION 4. Prothonotaries, clerks of the courts, recorders of deeds, registers of wills, county surveyors and sheriffs, shall keep their offices in the county town of the county in which they respectively shall be officers. SECTION 5. The compensation of county officers shall be regulated by law, and all county officers who are or may be salaried shall pay all fees which they may be authorized to receive, into the treasury of the county or State, as may be directed by law. In counties containing over one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants all county officers shall be paid by salary, and the salary of any such officer and his clerks, heretofore paid by fees, shall not exceed the aggregate amount of fees earned during his term and collected by or for him. SECTION 6. The General Assembly shall provide by law for the strict accountability of all county, township and borough officers, as well for the fees which may be collected by them, as for all public or municipal moneys which may be paid to them. SECTION 7. Three county commissioners and three county auditors shall be elected in each county where such officers are chosen, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five and every third year thereafter; and in the election of said officers each qualified elector shall vote for no more than two persons, and the three persons having the highest number of votes shall be elected; any casual vacancy in the office of county commissioner or county auditor shall be filled by the court of common pleas of the county in which such vacancy shall occur, by the appointment of an elector of the proper county who shall have voted for the commissioner or auditor whose place is to be filled. ARTICLE XV. Cities and City Charters. SECTION 1. Cities may be chartered whenever a majority of the electors of any town or borough having a population of at least ten thousand shall vote at any general election in favor of the same. SECTION 2. No debt shall be contracted or liability incurred by cur debts except on any municipal commission, except in pursuance of an appropriation previously made therefor by the municipal government. SECTION 3. Every city shall create a sinking fund, which shall be inviolably pledged for the payment of its funded debt. missions not to in appropriations. Sinking funds in cities. Unused charters to be void. No charter to be validated or mended except on condition. ARTICLE XVI. SECTION 1. All existing charters, or grants of special or exclusive privileges, under which a bona fide organization shall not have taken place and business been commenced in good faith, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall thereafter have no validity. SECTION 2. The General Assembly shall not remit the forfeiture of the charter of any corporation now existing, or alter or amend the same, or pass any other general or special law for the benefit of such corporation, except upon the condition that such corporation shall thereafter hold its charter subject to the provisions of this Constitution. domain not to be SECTION 3. The exercise of the right of eminent domain shall Right of eminent never be abridged or so construed as to prevent the General As- abridged or police sembly from taking the property and franchises of incorporated com- power to be limited panies, and subjecting them to public use, the same as the property of individuals; and the exercise of the police power of the State shall never be abridged or so construed as to permit corporations to conduct their business in such manner as to infringe the equal rights of individuals or the general well-being of the State. in stockholder SECTION 4. In all elections for directors or managers of a cor- Cumulative voting poration each member or shareholder may cast the whole number elections. of his votes for one candidate, or distribute them upon two or more candidates, as he may prefer. tions to have places SECTION 5. No foreign corporation shall do any business in this Foreign corporaState without having one or more known places of business and of business in State an authorized agent or agents in the same upon whom process may be served. SECTION 6. No corporation shall engage in any business other Corporations not than that expressly authorized in its charter, nor shall it take or ness unauthorized to engage in busihold any real estate except such as may be necessary and proper by their charters. for its legitimate business. bonds forbidden. SECTION 7. No corporation shall issue stocks or bonds except for The fictitious inmoney, labor done, or money or property actually received; and all crease of stocks or fictitious increase of stock or indebtedness shall be void. The stock and indebtedness of corporations shall not be increased except in pursuance of general law, nor without the consent of the persons holding the larger amount in value of the stock, first obtained at a meeting to be held after sixty days notice given in pursuance of law. pensated. SECTION 8. Municipal and other corporations and individuals in- The taking and invested with the privilege of taking private property for public use jury of private proshall make just compensation for property taken, injured or de- perty to be comstroyed by the construction or enlargement of their works, highways or improvements, which compensation shall be paid or secured before such taking, injury or destruction. The General Assembly is hereby prohibited from depriving any person of an appeal from any preliminary assessment of damages against any such corporations or individuals made by viewers or otherwise; and the amount of Appeals from assuch damages in all cases of appeal shall on the demand of either sessment of daruparty be determined by a jury according to the course of the common law. ages. SECTION 9. Every banking law shall provide for the registry and Bank notes or bills countersigning, by an officer of the State, of all notes or bills de- to be secured. signed for circulation, and that ample security to the full amount thereof shall be deposited with the Auditor General for the re demption of such notes or bills. SECTION 10. The General Assembly shall have the power to alter, Repeal of charter revoke or annul any charter of incorporation now existing and re- authorized. Vocable at the adoption of this Constitution, or any that may hereafter be created, whenever in their opinion it may be injurious to the citizens of this Commonwealth, in such manner, however, that &c., more than no injustice shall be done to the corporators. No law hereafter No law to create, enacted shall create, renew or extend the charter of more than one one charter. corporation. SECTION 11. No corporate body to possess banking and discount- Notice of bills to ing privileges shall be created or organized in pursuance of any law create banks, without three months' previous public notice, at the place of the years. intended location, of the intention to apply for such privileges, in Bank charters limsuch manner as shall be prescribed by law, nor shall a charter for ited to twenty such privilege be granted for a longer period than twenty years. SECTION 12. Any association or corporation organized for the purpose, or any individual, shall have the right to construct and maintain lines of telegraph within this State, and to connect the same with other lines, and the General Assembly shall, by general law of uniform operation, provide reasonable regulations to give |