CHAPTER III.

JUDICIARY POWER.

Art. I. THE tenure that all commiffion officers shall by law have in their offices shall be expressed in their respective commiffions. All judicial officers, duly appointed, commiffioned and fworn, shall hold their offices during good behaviour, excepting such concerning whom there is different provision made in this constitution: provided, nevertheless, the governor, with confent of the council, may remove them upon the address of both houses of the legislature.

Il. Each branch of the legislature, as well as the governor and council, shall have authority to require the opinions of the justices of the supreme judicial court, upon important questions of law, and upon folemn occafions.

III. In order that the people may not fuffer from the long continuance in place of any justice of the peace who shall fail of discharging the important duties of his office with ability or fidelity, all commiffions of justices of the peace shall expire and become void in the term of seven years from their respective dates; and upon the expiration of any commission, the same may, if necessary, be renewed, or another person appointed, as shall most conduce to the well-being of the commonwealth.

IV. The judges of probate of wills, and for granting letters of administration, shall hold their courts at such place or places, on fixed days, as the convenience of the people shall require. And the legiflature shall, from time to time, hereafter appoint such times and places; until which appointments, the faid courts shall be holden at the times and places which the respective judges shall direct.

V. All causes of marriage, divorce and alimony, and all appeals from the judges of probate shall be heard and determined by the governor and council, until the legislature shall by law make other provision.

CHAPTER IV.

DELEGATES to CONGRESS.

THE delegates of this commonwealth to the Congress of the United States shall, some time in the month of June annually,

be

be elected by the joint ballot of the senate and house of reprefentatives, assembled together in one room, to serve in Congress for one year, to commence on the first Monday in November then next ensuing. They shall have commiffions under the hand of the governor, and the great feal of the commonwealth; but may be recalled at any time within the year, and others chosen and commiffioned, in the fame manner, in their stead.

CHAPTER V.

The University at Cambridge, and Encouragement of Literature,

छ..

Art. I. WHEREAS our wife and pious ancestors, so early as the year one thousand fix hundred and thirty-fix, laid the foundation of Harvard College, in which university many perfons of great eminence have, by the blessing of God, been initiated in those arts and sciences which qualified them for public employments, both in church and state: And whereas the encouragement of arts and sciences, and all good literature, tends to the honour of God, the advantage of the Christian religion, and the great benefit of this and the other United States of America: -It is declared, that the Prefident and Fellows of Harvard College, in their corporate capacity, and their successors in that capacity, their officers and servants, shall have, hold, use, exercise and enjoy all the powers, authorities, rights, liberties, privileges, immunities and franchises, which they now have, or are entitled to have, hold, use, exercise and enjoy: And the fame are hereby ratified and confirmed unto them, the said prefident and fellows of Harvard College, and to their successors, and to their officers and servants, respectively, forever.

II. And whereas there have been at sundry times, by divers persons, gifts, grants, devises of houses, lands, tenements, goods, chattels, legacies and conveyances, heretofore made, either to Harvard College, in Cambridge, in New-England, or to the president and fellows of Harvard College, or to the faid college, by some other description, under several charters successively: It is declared, that all the said gifts, grants, devises, legacies, and conveyances, are hereby forever confirmed unto the prefident

and

and fellows of Harvard College, and to their successors in the capacity aforesaid, according to the true intent and meaning of the donor or donors, grantor or grantors, devisor or devisors..

III. And whereas, by an act of the general court of the colony of Maffachusetts-Bay, passed in the year one thousand fix hundred and forty-two, the governor and deputy-governor for the time being, and all the magiftrates of that jurisdiction, were, with the prefident, and a number of the clergy in the faid act described, conftituted the overseers of Harvard College: And it being neceffary, in this new conftitution of government, to ascertain who fhall be deemed successors to the said governor, deputy-governor, and magiftrates: It is declared, that the governor, lieutenant-governor, council, and fenate of this commonwealth, are, and shall be deemed their successors; who, with the president of Harvard College for the time being, together with the minifters of the congregational churches in the towns of Cambridge, Watertown, Charlestown, Boston, Roxbury, and Dorchester, mentioned in the said act, shall be, and hereby are, vested with all the powers and authority belonging, or in any way appertaining, to the overseers of Harvard College; provided, that nothing herein shall be construed to prevent the legislature of this commonwealth from making such alterations in the government of the said university, as shall be conducive to its advantage, and the interest of the republic of letters, in as full a manner as might have been done by the legiflature of the late province of the Massachusetts-Bay.

CHẠP. V. SECT. II.

The Encouragement of Literature.

WISDOM and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffufed generally among the body of the people, being necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties; and as these depend on spreading the opportunities and advantages of education, in the various parts of the country, and among the different orders of the people, it shall be the duty of the legislatures and magistrates, in all future periods of this commonwealth, to cherish the interefts of literature and the sciences, and all feminaries of them; ef pecially the university at Cambridge, public schools, and grammar schools in the towns; to encourage private societies and public institutions, rewards and immunities, for the promotion of agriculture, arts, sciences, commerce, trades, manufactures, and a natural history of the country; to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and private charity, industry and frugality, honesty and punctuality in their dealings; fincerity, good humour, and all focial affections, and generous sentiments among the people.

CHAP

Oaths and Subscriptions; Incompatibility of and Exclufion from Offices; Pecuniary Qualifications; Commissions; Writs; Confirmation of Laws; Habeas Corpus; The Enatting Style; Continuance of Officer's; Provision for a future Revifal of the Constitution, &c.

Art. I. Any person chosen governor, or lieutenant-governor, councillor, senator, or representative, and accepting the trust; shall, before he proceed to execute the duties of his place or office, make and subscribe the following declaration, viz.

"I, A. B. do declare, that I believe the Christian religion, and have a firm perfuafion of its truth; and that I am feized and possessed, in my own right, of the property required by the constitution as one qualification for the office or place to which I am

elected."

And the governor, lieutenant-governor, and councillors, shall make and subscribe the said declaration in the presence of the two houses of affembly; and the senators and representatives fiuft elected under this constitution, before the prefident and five of the council of the former constitution, and forever afterwards before the governor and council for the time being.

And every person chosen to either of the places or offices aforesaid, as also any person appointed or commissioned to any judicial, executive, military, or other office under the government, shall, before he enters on the discharge of the business of his place or office, take and subscribe the following declaration, and oaths or affirmations, viz.

" I, A. B. do truly and fincerely acknowledge, profess, teftify and declare, that the commonwealth of Maffachusetts is, and of right ought to be, a free, sovereign, and independent state; and I do swear, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the faid commonwealth, and that I will defend the fame against traitorous confpiracies and all hoftile attempts whatsoever: And that I do renounce and abjure all allegiance, subjection, and obedi-. ence, to the king, queen, or government of Great Britain (as the cafe may be), and every other foreign power whatsoever : And that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state or potentate, hath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction, superiority, pre-emi

G

Bence,

nence, authority, dispensing or other power, in any matter, civil, ecclefiaftical or spiritual, within this commonwealth, except the authority or power which is or may be vested by their constituents in the Congress of the United States. And I do fur. ther testify and declare, that no man or body of men hath or can have any right to absolve or discharge me from the obligation of this oath, declaration or affirmation; and that I do make this acknowledgement, profession, testimony, declaration, denial, renunciation and abjuration, heartily and truly, according to the common meaning and acceptation of the foregoing words, without any equivocation, mental evasion, or secret reservation, whatfoover. So help me God."

on me as

" I, A. B. do folemnly swear and affirm, that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent according to the best of my abilities and understanding, agreeably to the rules and regulations of the constitution, and the laws of this commonwealth. So help me God."

Provided always, that when any any person chofen or appointed as aforesaid shall be of the denomination of the people called Quakers, and shall decline taking the said oaths, he shall make his affirmation in the foregoing form, and subscribe the same, omitting the words, " I do swear," " and abjure," " oath or," " and abjuration," in the first oath; and in the second oath, the words, " fwear and;" and in each of them the words, " So help me God;" fubjoining instead thereof, "This I do under the pains and penalties of perjury."

And the faid oaths or affirmations shall be taken and fubscribed by the governor, lieutenant-governor, and councillors, before the prefident of the senate, in the presence of the two houses of affembly; and by the senators and representatives first elected under this constitution, before the president and five of the council of the former conftitution; and forever afterwards before the governor and council for the time being: and by the refidue of the officers aforesaid, before such persons and in such manner as from time to time shall be prescribed by the legislature.

II. No governor, lieutenant-governor, or judge of the fupreme judicial court, shall hold any other office or place under the authority of this commonwealth, except fuch as by this constitution they are admitted to hold; faving that the judges of the faid court may hold the offices of justices of the peace through the state; nor shall they hold any other place or office, or receive any pension or falary from any other state or government or power whatever.

No person shall be capable of holding or exercising at the same time more than one of the following offices within this state,

viz.

2