constable, who shall each hold his office for the term of two years: Provided, That in precincts containing five thousand or more inhabitants, the number of justices and constables may be increased as provided by law. SEC. 12. The General Assembly shall provide for the election or appointment of such other county, township, precinct, and municipal officers as public convenience may require; and their terms of office shall be as prescribed by law, not in any case to exceed two years. SEC. 13. The General Assembly shall provide, by general laws, for the organization and classification of cities and towns. The number of such classes shall not exceed four, and the powers of each class shall be defined by general laws, so that all municipal corporations of the same class shall possess the same powers, and be subject to the same restrictions. SEC. 3. The General Assembly shall have the power to alter, revoke, or annul any charter of incorporation now existing and revocable at the adoption of this Constitution, or any that may hereafter be created, whenever in their opinion it may be inju rious to the citizens of the State, in such manner, however, that no injustice shall be done to the corporators. SEC. 4. All railroads shall be public highways, and all railroad companies shall be common carriers. Any association or corporation organized for the purpose shall have the right to construct and operate a railroad between any designated points within this State, and to connect at the State line with railroads of other States and Territories. Every railroad company shall have the right with its road to intersect, connect with, or cross any other railroad. SEC. 5. No railroad corporation, or the lessees or managers thereof, shall consolidate its stock, property, or franchises with any other railroad corporation owning or having under its control a parallel or competing line. SEC. 6. All individuals, associations, and corporations shall have equal rights to have persons and property transported over any railroad in this State, and no undue or unreasonable discrimination shall be made in charges or in facilities for transportation of freight or passengers within the State, and no railroad company, nor any lessee, manager, or employé thereof, shall give any preference to individuals, associations, or corporations in furnishing cars or motive-power. SEC. 7. No railroad or other transportation company in existence at the time of the adoption of this Constitution shall have the benefit of any future legislation without first filing in the office of the Secretary of State an acceptance of the provisions of this Constitution in binding form. SEC. 8. The right of eminent domain shall never be abridged, nor so construed as to prevent the General Assembly from taking the property and franchises of incorporated companies and subjecting them to public use, the same as the property of individuals; and the police powers 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. SEC. 9. No corporation shall issue stocks or bonds, except for labor done, services performed, or money or property actually received, and all fictitious increase of stock and indebtedness shall be void. The stock of corporations shall not be increased except in pursuance of general law, nor without the consent of the persons holding a majority of the stock, first obtained at a meeting held after at least thirty days' notice given in pursuance of law. SEC. 10. No foreign corporation shall do any business in this State without having one or more known places of business, and an authorized agent or agents in the same upon whom process may be served. SEC. 11. No street railroad shall be constructed within any city, town, or incorporated village without the consent of the local authorities having the control of the street or highway proposed to be occupied by such street-railroad. SEC. 12. The General Assembly shall pass no law for the benefit of a railroad or other corporation, or any individual or association of individuals, retrospective in its operation, or which imposes on the people of any county or municipal subdivision of the State a new liability in respect to transactions or considerations already past. SEC. 13. Any association or corporation, or the lessees or managers thereof, 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 full effect to this section. No telegraph company shall consolidate with, or hold a controlling interest in, the stock or bonds of any other telegraph company owning or having the control of a competing line, or acquire, by purchase or otherwise, any other competing line of telegraph. SEC. 14. If any railroad, telegraph, express, or other corporation organized under any of the laws of this State shall consolidate, by sale or otherwise, with any railroad, telegraph, express, or other corporation organized under any laws of any other State or Territory, or of the United States, the same shall not thereby become a foreign corporation, but the courts of this State shall retain jurisdiction over that part of the corporate property within the limits of the State in all matters which may arise, as if said consolidation had not taken place. SEC. 15. It shall be unlawful for any person, company, or corporation to require of its servants or employés, as a condition of their employment or otherwise, any contract or agreement whereby such person, company, or corporation shall be released or discharged from liability or responsibility on account of personal injuries received by such servants or employés while in the service of such person, company, or corporation by reason of the negligence of such person, company, or corporation, or the agents or employés thereof; and such contracts shall be absolutely null and void. ARTICLE XVI. MINING AND IRRIGATION. Mining. SEC. 2. The General Assembly shall provide by law for the proper ventilation of mines, the construction of escapement shafts, and such other appliances as may be necessary to protect the health and secure the safety of the workmen therein, and shall prohibit the employment in the mines of children under twelve years of age. SEC. 3. The General Assembly may make such regulations from time to time as may be necessary for the proper and equitable drainage of mines. SEC. 4. The General Assembly may provide that the science of mining and metallurgy be taught in one or more of the institutions of learning under the patronage of the State. Irrigation. SEC. 5. The water of every natural stream not heretofore appropriated within the State of Colorado is hereby declared to be the property of the public; and the same is dedicated to the use of the people of the State, subject to appropriation as hereinafter provided. SEC. 6. The right to divert the unappropriated waters of any natural stream to beneficial uses shall never be denied. Priority of appropriation shall give the better right as between those using the water for the same purpose; but when the waters of any natural stream are not sufficient for the service of all those desiring the use of the same, those using the water for domestic purposes shall have the preference over those claiming for any other purpose, and those using the water for agricultural purposes shall have preference over those using the same for manufacturing purposes. SEC. 7. All persons and corporations shall have the right of way across public, private, and corporate lands for the construction of ditches, canals, and flumes for the purpose of conveying water for domestic purposes, for the irrigation of agricultural lands, and for mining and manufacturing purposes, and for drainage, upon payment of just compensation. SEC. 8. The General Assembly shall provide by law that the board of county conmissioners, in their respective counties, shall have power, when application is made to them by either party interested, to establish reasonable maximum rates to be charged for the use of water, whether furnished by individuals or corporations. ARTICLE XVII. MILITIA. SEC. 4. The General Assembly shall provide for the safe-keeping of the public arms, military records, relics, and banners of the State. SEC. 5. No person having conscientious scruples against bearing arms shall be compelled to do militia duty in time of peace: Provided, Such person shall pay an equivalent for such exemption. ARTICLE XVIII. MISCELLANEOUS. SECTION 1. The General Assembly shall pass liberal homestead and exemption laws. SEC. 2. The General Assembly shall have no power to authorize lotteries or gift enterprises for any purpose, and shall pass laws to prohibit the sale of lottery or giftenterprise tickets in this State. SEC. 3. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to pass such laws as may be necessary and proper to decide differences by arbitrators, to be appointed by mutual agreement of the parties to any controversy, who may choose that mode of adjustment. The powers and duties of such arbitrators shall be as prescribed by law. SEC. 5. The General Assembly shall prohibit by law the importation into this State, for the purpose of sale, of any spurious, poisonous, or drugged spirituous liquors, or spirituous liquors adulterated with any poisonous or deleterious substance, mixture, or compound; and shall prohibit the compounding or manufacture within this State, except for chemical or mechanical purposes, of any of said liquors, whether they be denominated spirituous, vinous, malt, or otherwise; and shall also prohibit the sale of any such liquors to be used as a beverage; and any violation of either of said prohibitions shall be punished by fine and imprisonment. The General Assembly shall provide by law for the condemnation and destruction of all spurious, poisonous, or drugged liquors herein prohibited. SEC. 6. The General Assembly shall enact laws in order to prevent the destruction of, and to keep in good preservation, the forests upon h lands of the State, or upon lands of the public domain, the control of which shall be conferred by Congress upon the State. SEC. 7. The General Assembly may provide that the increase in the value of private lands, caused by the planting of hedges, orchards, and forests thereon, shall net, for a limited time, to be fixed by law, be taken into account in assessing such lands for taxation. SEC. 8. The General Assembly shall provide for the publication of the laws passed at each session thereof; and, until the year 1900, they shall cause to be published in Spanish and German a sufficient number of copies of said laws to supply that portion of the inhabitants of the State who speak those languages, and who may be unable to read and understand the English language. ARTICLE XIX. FUTURE AMENDMENTS. SECTION 1. The General Assembly may, at any time, by a vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each House, recommend to the electors of the State to vote at the next general election for or against a convention to revise, alter, and amend this Constitution; and if a majority of those voting on the question shall declare in favor of such convention, the General Assembly shall, at its next session, provide for the calling thereof. The number of members of the convention shall be twice that of the Senate, and they shall be elected in the same manner, at the same places, and in the same districts. The General Assembly shall, in the act calling the convention, designate the day, hour, and place of its meeting; fix the pay of its members and officers, and provide for the payment of the same, together with the necessary expenses of the convention. Before proceeding the members shall take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and of the State of Colorado, and to faithfully discharge their duties as members of the convention. The qualifications of members shall be the same as of members of the Senate, and vacancies occurring shall be filled in the manner provided for filling vacancies in the General Assembly. Said convention shall meet within three months after such election, and prepare such revisions, alterations, or amendments to the Constitution as may be deemed necessary, which shall be submitted to electors for their ratification or rejection at an election appointed by the convention for that purpose, not less than two nor more than six months after the adjournment thereof; and unless so submitted and approved by a majority of the electors voting at the election, no such revision, alteration, or amendment shall take effect. SEC. 2. Any amendment or amendments to this Constitution may be proposed in either House of the General Assembly, and if the same shall be voted for by twothirds of all the members elected to each House, such proposed amendments, together with the ayes and noes of each House thereon, shall be entered in full on their respective journals; and the Secretary of State shall cause the said amendment or amendments to be published in full in at least one newspaper in each county, (if such there be,) for three months previous to the next general election for members to the General Assembly; and at said election the said amendment or amendments shall be submitted to the qualified electors of the State for their approval or rejection, and such as are approved by a majority of those voting thereon shall become part of this Constitution; but the General Assembly shall have no power to propose amendments to more than one article of this Constitution at the same session. [The instrument closes with a long "Schedule," of the sort which was appended to the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1790, providing for certain details, "that no inconvenience may arise by reason of the change in the form of government."]- 2 Poore's Constitutions, 219. PASSAGES FROM THE CONSTITUTION OF COLOMBIA.1 Title V. Art. 59. The President and the ministers, and in each particular transaction the President with the ministers of the respective departments, shall constitute the government. Title VII. Art. 81. -- - No legislative Act shall become a law unless : I. It shall have passed three readings and been adopted in each House, on three different days, by a majority of the members thereof. II. It shall have obtained the approval of the government. Ib. Art. 83.- The government, by means of its ministers, may take part in legislative debates. Ib. Art. 84.-The judges of the Supreme Court shall be entitled to be heard in the discussion of bills relating to civil matters and judicial procedure. Ib. Art. 85. After a bill shall have passed both Houses, it shall be sent to the government, and if approved by the government, it shall be promulgated as a law. [The President may return a bill with objections.] Ib. Art. 88. - The President of the Republic shall approve, without power to present new objections, any bill which shall have been reconsidered and adopted by twothirds of the members in each House. Ib. Art. 90 — If a bill should be objected to on the ground that it is unconstitutional, it shall be excepted from the provision of Article 88. In this case, if the House insist, the bill shall pass to the Supreme Court, in order that this body, within six days, may decide upon its constitutionality. If the decision of the court should be favorable to the bill, the President shall give it his approval. If the decision should be unfavorable, the bill shall fail and be removed from the calendar. Title XV. Art. 151.-The Supreme Court shall exercise the following functions IV. To decide finally, upon the constitutionality of legislative Acts, which may have been objected to by the government as unconstitutional. ... 1 From the Supplement (January, 1893) to the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, in Philadelphia. Translated by Professor Bernard Moses.ED. PART II. CHAPTER IV. CITIZENSHIP.-FUNDAMENTAL CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS.THE LATER AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. BARRON v. MAYOR, ETC. OF BALTIMORE. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES. 1833. [7 Pet. 243; 10 Curtis's Decisions, 464.] ERROR to the Court of Appeals of the western shore of the State of Maryland. Case by the plaintiff in error against the city of Baltimore, to recover damages for injuries to the wharf-property of the plaintiff, arising from the acts of the corporation. The city, in the asserted exercise of its corporate authority over the harbor, the paving of streets, and regulating grades for paving, and over the health of Baltimore, diverted from their accustomed and natural course, certain streams of water, which flow from the range of hills bordering the city, and diverted them, so that they made deposits of sand and gravel near the plaintiff's wharf, and thereby rendered the water shallow, and prevented the access of vessels. The decision of Baltimore County Court was against the defendants, and a verdict for $4,500 was rendered for the plaintiff. The Court of Appeals reversed the judgment of Baltimore County Court, and did not remand the case to that court for a further trial. From this judgment the defendant in the Court of Appeals prosecuted a writ of error to this court. Mayer, for the plaintiffs. Taney and Scott, contra, were stopped by the court. The judgment brought up by this writ of error having been rendered by the court of a State, this tribunal can exercise no jurisdiction over it, unless it be shown to come within the provisions of the 25th section of the Judicial Act. 1 Stats. at Large, 85. The plaintiff in error contends that it comes within that clause in the - 29 VOL. I. |