habeas corpus, mandamus, injunction, quo warranto, certiorari and other original and remedial writs, and to hear and determine the same.

SECTION 4. For the term of five years, and thereafter until the Legislature shall otherwise provide, the judges of the several Circuit Courts shall be judges of the Supreme Court, four of whom shall constitute a quorum, and the concurrence of a majority of the judges present shall be necessary to a decis ion. The Legislature shall have power, if they should think it expedient and necessary, to provide by law for the organization of a separate Supreme Court with the jurisdiction and powers prescribed in this Constitution, to consist of one Chief Justice and two Associate Justices to be elected by the qualified electors of the State, at such time and in such manner as the Legislature may provide. The separate Supreme Court, when so organized, shall not be changed or discontinued by the Legislature; the judges thereof shall be so classified that but one of them shall go out of office at the same time, and their term of office shall be the same as provided for the judges of the Circuit Court. And whenever the Legislature may consider it necessary to establish a separate Supreme Court, they shall have the power to reduce the number of Circuit Judges to four, and subdivide the Judicial Circuits, but no such subdivision or reduction shall take effect until after the expiration of the term of some one of the said judges, or until a vacancy occur by some other means.

SECTION 5. The State shall be divided into five judicial circuits, to be composed as follows: The First Circuit shall comprise the counties of Racine, Walworth, Rock and Green. The Second Circuit, the counties of Milwaukee, Waukesha, Jefferson and Dane. The Third Circuit, the counties of Washington, Dodge, Columbia, Marquette, Sauk and Portage. The Fourth Circuit, the counties of Brown, Manitowoc, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac, Winnebago and Calumet. And the Fifth Circuit shall comprise the counties of Iowa, La Fayette, Grant, Crawford and St. Croix; and the county of Richland shall be attached to Iowa, the county of Chippewa to the county of Crawford, and the county of La Pointe to the county of St. Croix, for judicial purposes, until otherwise provided by the Legislature.

SECTION 6. The Legislature may alter the limits, or increase the number of circuits, making them as compact and convenient as practicable, and bounding them by county lines, but no such alteration or increase shall have the effect to remove a judge from office. In case of an increase of circuits, the judge or judges shall be elected as provided in this Constitution, and receive a salary not less than that herein provided for judges of the Circuit Court. SECTION 7. For each circuit there shall be a judge chosen by the qualified electors therein, who shall hold his office as is provided in this Constitution, and until his successor shall be chosen and qualified; and after he shall have been elected, he shall reside in the circuit for which he was elected. One of said judges shall be designated as Chief Justice, in such manner as the Legislature shall provide. And the Legislature shall, at its first session, provide by law, as well for the election of as for classifying the judges of the Circuit Court, to be elected under this Constitution, in such a manner that one of said

judges shall go out of office in two years, one in three years, one in four years, one in five years and one in six years, and thereafter the judge elected to fill the office shall hold the same for six years.

SECTION 8. The Circuit Courts shall have original jurisdiction in all matters, civil and criminal, within this State, not excepted in this Constitution, and not hereafter prohibited by law, and appellate jurisdiction from all inferior courts and tribunals, and a supervisory control over the same. They shall also have the power to issue writs of habeas corpus, mandamus, injunction, quo warranto, certiorari, and all other writs necessary to carry into effect their orders, judgments and decrees, and give them a general control over inferior courts and jurisdictions.

SECTION 9. When a vacancy shall happen in the office of Judge of the Supreme or Circuit Courts, such vacancy shall be filled by an appointment of the Governor, which shall continue until a successor is elected and qualified; and when elected, such successor shall hold his office the residue of the unexpired term. There shall be no election for a judge or judges at any general election for State or county officers, nor within thirty days either before or after such election.

SECTION 10. Each of the Judges of the Supreme and Circuit Courts shall receive a salary, payable quarterly, of not less than one thousand five hundred dollars annually; they shall receive no fees of office, or other compensation than their salaries; they shall hold no office of public trust, except a judicial office, during the term for which they are respectively elected, and all votes for either of them, for any office except a judicial office given by the Legislature or the people, shall be void. No person shall be eligible to the office of Judge, who shall not, at the time of his election, be a citizen of the United States, and have attained the age of twenty-five years, and be a qualified elector within the jurisdiction for which he may be chosen.

SECTION 11. The Supreme Court shall hold at least one term annually, at the seat of government of the State, at such time as shall be provided by law, and the Legislature may provide for holding other terms, and at other places, when they may deem it necessary. A Circuit Court shall be held at least twice in each year, in each county of this State, organized for judicial purposes. The judges of the circuit court may hold courts for each other, and shall do so when required by law.

SECTION 12. There shall be a clerk of the Circuit Court chosen in each county organized for judicial purposes, by the qualified electors thereof, who shall hold his office for two years, subject to removal, as shall be provided by law. In case of a vacancy, the Judge of the Circuit Court shall have the power to appoint a clerk, until the vacancy shall be filled by an election. The clerk thus elected or appointed shall give such security as the Legislature may require; and when elected, shall hold his office for a full term. The Supreme Court shall appoint its own Clerk, and the Clerk of a Circuit Court may be appointed Clerk of the Supreme Court.

SECTION 13. Any Judge of the Supreme or Circuit Court may be removed from office by address of both Houses of the Legislature, if two-thirds of all

the members elect to cach House concur therein, but no removal shall be made by virtue of this section, unless the judge complained of shall have been served with a copy of the charges against him as the ground of address, and shall have had an opportunity of being heard in his defense. On the question of removal, the ayes and noes shall be entered on the journals.

SECTION 14. There shall be chosen in each county, by the qualified electors thereof, a Judge of Probate, who shall hold his office for two years, and until his successor shall be elected and qualified, and whose jurisdiction, powers and duties shall be prescribed by law. Provided, however, That the Legislature shall have power to abolish the office of Judge of Probate in any county, and to confer probate powers upon such inferior courts as may be established in said county.

SECTION 15. The electors of the several towns, at their annual town meetings, and the electors of cities and villages, at their charter elections, shall in such manner as the Legislature may direct, elect justices of the peace, whose term of office shall be for two years, and until their successors in office shall be elected and qualified. In case of an election to fill a vacancy occurring before the expiration of a full term, the justice elected shall hold for the residue of the unexpired term. Their number and classifications shall be regulated by law. And the tenure of two years shall in no wise interfe e with the classification in the first instance. The justices thus elected shall have such civil and criminal jurisdiction as shall be prescribed by law.

SECTION 16. The Legislature shall pass laws for the regulation of tribunals of conciliation, defining their powers and duties. Such tribunals may be established in and for any township, and shall have power to render judg ment, to be obligatory on the parties, when they shall voluntarily submit their matter in difference to arbitration, and agree to abide the judgment, or assent thereto in writing.

SECTION 17. The style of all writs and process shall be, "The State of Wisconsin." All criminal prosecutions shall be carried on in the name and by the authority of the same; and all indictments shall conclude against the peace and dignity of the State.

SECTION 18. The Legislature shall impose a tax on all civil suits commenced or prosecuted in the municipal, inferior, or circuit courts, which shall consti tute a fund to be applied toward the payment of the salary of the judges.

SECTION 19. The testimony in causes in equity shall be taken in like man. ner as in cases at law; and the office of master in chancery is hereby prohibited.

SECTION 20. Any suitor in any court in this State shall have the right to prosecute or defend his suit either in his own proper person or by an attorney or agent of his choice.

SECTION 21. The Legislature shall provide by law for the speedy publication of all statute laws, and of such judicial decisions made within the State, as may be deemed expedient. And no general lav shall be in force until published.

SECTION 22. The Legislature, at its first session after the adoption of this

Constitution, shall provide for the appointment of three commissioners, whose duty it shall be to inquire into, revise, and simplify the rules of prac tice, pleadings, forms, and proceedings, and arrange a system adapted to the courts of record of this State, and report the same to the Legislature, subject to their modification and adoption; and such commission shall terminate upon the rendering of the report, unless otherwise provided by law.

SECTION 23. The Legislature may provide for the appointment of one or more persons in each organized county, and may vest in such persons such judicial powers as shall be prescribed by law. Provided, That said power shall not exceed that of a judge of the Circuit Court at chambers.

ARTICLE VIII.

FINANCE.

SECTION 1. The rule of taxation shall be uniform, and taxes shall be levied upon such property as the Legislature shall prescribe.

SECTION 2. No money shall be paid out of the treasury except in pursuance of an appropriation by law.

SECTION 3. The credit of the State shall never be given or loaned in aid of any individual, association, or corporation.

SECTION 4. The State shall never contract any public debt, except in the cases and manner herein provided.

SECTION 5. The Legislature shall provide for an annual tax sufficient to defray the estimated expenses of the State for each year; and whenever the expenses of any year shall exceed the income, the Legislature shall provide for levying a tax for the ensuing year, sufficient, with other sources of income, to pay the deficiency, as well as the estimated expenses of such ensuing year. SECTION 6. For the purpose of defraying extraordinary expenditures, the State may contract public debts; but such debts shall never, in the aggregate, exceed one hundred thousand dollars. Every such debt shall be authorized by law, for some purpose or purposes to be distinctly specified therein; and the vote of a majority of all the members elected to each house, to bo taken by yeas and nays, shall be necessary to the passage of such law; and every such law shall provide for levying an annual tax sufficient to pay the annual interest of such debt, and the principal within five years from the passage of such law, and shall specially appropriate the proceeds of such taxes to the payment of such principal and interest; and such appropriation shall not be repealed, nor the taxes be postponed or diminished, until the principal and interest of such debt shall have been wholly paid.

SECTION 7. The Legislature may also borrow money to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or defend the State in time of war; but the money thus raised shall be applied exclusively to the object for which the loan was authorized, or to tno repayment of the debt thereby created.

SECTION 8. On the passage in either house of the Legislature, of any law which imposes, continues or renews a tax, or creates a debt or charge, or makes, continues or renews an appropriation of public or trust money, or releases, discharges or commutes a claim or demand of the State, the ques

tion shall be taken by yeas and nays, which shall be duly entered on the journal; and three-fifths of all the members elected to such house, shall in all such cases be required to constitute a quorum therein.

SECTION 9. No scrip, certificate or other evidence of State debt whatsoever, shall be issued, except for such debts as are authorized by the sixth and seventh sections of this article.

SECTION 10. The State shall never contract any debt for works of internal improvement, or be a party in carrying on such works; but whenever grants of land or other property shall have been made to the state, especially dedicated by the grant to particular works of internal improvement, the State may carry on such particular works, and shall devote thereto the avails of such grants, and may pledge or appropriate the revenues derived from such works in aid of their completion.

ARTICLE IX.

EMINENT DOMAIN AND PROPERTY OF THE STATE.

SECTION 1. The State shall have concurrent jurisdiction on all rivers and lakes bordering on this State, so far as such rivers or lakes shall form a common boundary to the State, and any other State or Territory now or hereafter to be formed and bounded by the same. And the river Mississippi and the navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between the same, shall be common highways, and forever frce, as well to the inhabitants of the State as to the citizens of the United States, without any tax, impost, or duty therefor.

SECTION 2. The title of all lands and other property, which have accrued to the Territory of Wisconsin, by grant, gift, purchase, forfeiture, escheat or otherwise, shall vest in the State of Wisconsin.

SECTION 3. The people of the State, in their right of sovereignty, are declared to possess the ultimate property in and to all lands within the jurisdiction of the State; and all lands, the title to which shall fail from a defect of heirs, shall revert or escheat to the people.

ARTICLE X.

EDUCATION.

SECTION 1. The supervision of public instruction shall be vested in a State Superintendent, and such other officers as the Legislature shall direct. The State Superintendent shall be chosen by the qualified electors of the State, in such manner as the Legislature shall provide; his powers, duties and compensation shall be prescribed by law. Provided, that his compensation shall not exceed the sum of twelve hundred dollars annually.

SECTION 2. The proceeds of all lands that have been or hereafter may be granted by the United States to this State, for educational purposes (except the lands heretofore granted for the purposes of a University,) and all moncys, and the clear proceeds of all property, that may accrue to the State by forfeiture or escheat, and all moneys which may be paid as an equivalent 4-MANUAL.