as follows: Governor, six thousand dollars per annum; Lieutenant-Governor, the same per diem as may be provided by law for the Speaker of the Assembly, to be allowed only during the session of the Legislature; the Secretary of State, Controller, Treasurer, Attorney-General, and Surveyor-General, three thousand dollars each per annum, such compensation to be in full for all services by them respectively rendered in any official capacity or employment whatsoever during their respective terms of office; provided, however, that the Legislature, after the expiration of the terms herein before mentioned, may, by law, diminish the compensation of any or all of such officers, but in no case shall have the power to increase the same above the sums hereby fixed by this Constitution. No salary shall be authorized by law for clerical service, in any office provided for in this article, exceeding sixteen hundred dollars per annum for each clerk employed. The Legislature may, in its discretion, abolish the office of Surveyor-General;1 and none of the officers herein before named shall receive for their own use any fees or perquisites for the performance of any official duty.2 1 Ala. V, 19; Ark. VI, 1; Conn. IV, 4; Md. IX. 1; N. Y. IV, 8; N. C. III, 15; Ohio, III, 19; R. I. VII, 2; S. C. III, 13; Wis. IV, 26. 2 Pa. III, 7. Compensation applies only to those officers who receive a fixed salary from the State. An act may postpone its operation until the expiration of the term of the incumbent.2 These clauses should be construed together, and be interpreted to mean that until the legislature shall fix the salary, the fees of the office are not to be paid into the county treasury.3 The right to enact laws fixing the salaries or compensation of public officers and to modify them in all cases is not prohibited by the Constitution of the United States.4 1 Milwaukee Co. v. Hackett, 21 Wis. 613. 2 Perot's Case, 86 Pa. St. 335. 3 Perot's Case, 86 Pa. St. 335. 4 State v. Smedes, 26 Miss. 47. § 20. The Governor shall not, during his term of office, be elected a Senator to the Senate of the United States. See Mich. V, 16; Tex. 1V, 6. ARTICLE VI. JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 1 Judicial powers. 2 Supreme court, how constituted. 5. Superior court, jurisdiction. 6. Superior court, how constituted. 7. Superior judges, apportionment of business. 8. Judge may hold court in other county-Judge pro tempore. 9. Leave of absence-Limitation of time. 10. Justices and judges, how removed. 11. Justices of the peace, provision for. 12. Courts of record. 13. Jurisdiction of inferior courts to be fixed by legislature. ; 14. Clerks of courts and court commissioners. 15. Judicial officers not to receive fees and perquisites. 16. Supreme court opinions to be published. 17. Compensation of justices and judges. 18. Justices and judges ineligible to other offices. 19. Charges to juries. 20. Style of process. 21. Reporter of supreme court decisions. 22. Judges not to practice law. 23. Eligibility of justices and judges. 24. Condition precedent to draft of salary § 1. The judicial power of the State shall be vested in the Senate sitting as a Court of Impeachment, in a Supreme Court, Superior Courts, Justices of the Peace, and such inferior Courts as the Legislature may establish in any incorporated city or town, or city and county. Ill. VI, 1; Mich. VI, 1; Nev. VI 1; N. C. IV, 4; S. C. IV, 1. Each branch of the judicial department has its functions, and each is beyond the control of either of the other departments.1 The legislature cannot confer on one court the functions and powers which the constitution has conferred on another. The only case where one court of concurrent jurisdiction may interfere with a judgment of the other is where the court in which the action is pending cannot afford the relief sought. Two or more courts may have concurrent powers over the same parties and the same subject-matter. Where courts of law and equity have concurrent jurisdiction, the judgment of the court which first acquires jurisdiction cannot be interfered with. The legislature may establish criminal courts in addition to those specified in the constitution, and give them concurrent jurisdiction with existing criminal courts. The municipal criminal court of San Francisco is a constitutional court. The legislature may establish special courts in cities and towns.8 Inferior courts are those whose judgments or decrees can be reversed on appeal in higher courts.9 The judicial system cannot be changed by action of the legislative department, except when the power to make the change is conferred by the constitution itself.10 Courts cannot transcend the authority of the law of their creation, nor can their jurisdiction be enlarged by intendment.11 1 Parsons v. Tuolumne Wat. Co. 5 Cal. 43; Zander v. Coe, 5 Cal. 230. 2 Zander v. Con, 5 Cal. 230. But see Courtwright v. Bear Riv. & A. W. & M. Co. 30 Cal. 580. 3 Anthony v. Dunlap, 8 Cal. 26; Rickett v. Johnson, 8 Cal. 34; Chipman v. Hibbard, 8 Cal. 268; Phelan v. Smith, 8 Cal. 520; Uhlfelder v. Levy, 9 Cal. 607. 4 Courtwright v. Bear Riv. & A. W. & M. Co. 30 Cal. 580. 5 Duhl v. Pacheco, 21 Cal. 438. 6 Comm. v. Hipple, 63 Pa. St. 9; March v. State, 44 Tex. 64. 7 Ex parte Stratman, 39 Cal. 517; People v. Nyland, 41 Cal. 129. 8 Town of Washington v. Hammond, 76 N. C. 33; Town of Edenton v. Wool, 65 N. C. 379; State v. Pender, 66 N. C. 313. 9 Nugent v. State, 18 Ala. 521. 10 Ex parte Towles, 48 Tex. 413. 11 Solon v. State, 5 Tex. Ct. App. 301; Jennings v. State, Ibid. 298. § 2. The Supreme Court shall consist of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The Court may sit in departments and in bank, and shall always be open for the transaction of business. There shall be two departments, de nominated, respectively, Department One and Department Two. The Chief Justice shall assign three of the Associate Justices to each department, and such assignment may be changed by him from time to time. The Associate Justices shall be competent to sit in either department, and may interchange with each other by agreement among themselves or as ordered by the Chief Justice. Each of the departments shall have the power to hear and determine causes and all questions arising therein, subject to the provisions hereinafter contained in relation to the Court in bank. The presence of three Justices shall be necessary to transact any business in either of the departments, except such as may be done at Chambers, and the concurrence of three Justices shall be necessary to pronounce a judgment. The Chief Justice shall apportion the business to the departments, and may, in his discretion, order any cause pending before the Court to be heard and decided by the Court in bank. The order may be made before or after judgment pronounced by a department; but where a cause has been allotted to one of the departments, and a judgment pronounced thereon, the order must be made within thirty days after such judgment, and concurred in by two Associate Justices, and if so made it shall have the effect to vacate and set aside the judgment. Any four Justices may, either before or after judgment by a department, order a case to be heard in bank. If the order be not made within the time above limited the judgment shall be final. No judgment by a department shall become final until the expiration of the period of thirty days aforesaid, unless approved by the Chief Justice, in writ ing, with the concurrence of two Associate Justices. The Chief Justice may convene the Court in bank at any time, and shall be the presiding Justice of the Court when so convened. The concurrence of four Justices present at the argument shall be necessary to pronounce a judgment in bank; but if four Justices, so present, do not concur in a judgment, then all the Justices qualified to sit in the cause shall hear the argument; but to render a judgment a concurrence of four Judges shall be necessary. In the determination of causes, all decisions of the Court in bank or in departments shall be given in writing, and the grounds of the decision shall be stated. The Chief Justice may sit in either department, and shall preside when so sitting, but the Justices assigned to each department shall select one of their number as presiding justice. In case of the absence of the Chief Justice from the place at which the Court is held, or his inability to act, the Associate Justices shall select one of their own number to perform the duties and exercise the powers of the Chief Justice during such absence or inability to act. The court may hear affidavits upon which it can properly determine the exercise of its jurisdiction. Simmons v. Fisher, 46 Tex. 131. § 3. The Chief Justice and the Associate Justices shall be elected by the qualified electors of the State at large at the general State elections, at the times and places at which State officers are elected; and the term of office shall be twelve years, from and after the first Monday after the first day of January next succeeding their election; provided, that the six Associate Justices elected at |