State Engineer and Surveyor shall be the commissioners of the land office. The Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary of State, Comptroller, Treasurer and Attorney-General shall be the commissioners of the canal fund. The canal board shall consist of the commissioners of the canal fund, the State Engineer and Surveyor and the Superintendent of Public Works.

Sec. 6. The powers and duties of the respective boards, and of the several officers in this article mentioned, shall be such as now are or hereafter may be prescribed by law.

Sec. 7. The Treasurer may be suspended from office by the Governor, during the recess of the Legislature, and until thirty days after the commencement of the next session of the Legislature, whenever it shall appear to him that such treasurer has, in any particular, violated his duty. The Governor shall appoint a competent person to discharge the duties of the office during such suspension of the Treasurer.

Sec. 8. All offices for the weighing, gauging, measuring, culling or inspecting any merchandise, produce, manufacture or commodity whatever, are hereby abolished; and no such office shall hereafter be created by law; but nothing in this section contained shall abrogate any office created for the purpose of protecting the public health or the interests of the State in its property, revenue, tolls or purchases, or of supplying the people with correct standards of weights and measures, or shall prevent the creation of any office for such purposes hereafter.

Sec. 9. Appointments and promotions in the civil service of the State, and of all the civil divisions thereof, including cities and villages, shall be made according to merit and fitness to be ascertained, so far as practicable, by examinations, which, so far as practicable, shall be competitive; provided, however, that honorably discharged soldiers and sailors from the army and navy of the United States in the late civil war, who are citizens and residents of this State, shall be entitled to preference in appointment and promotion, without regard to their standing on any list from which such appointment or promotion may be made. Laws shall be made to provide for the enforcement of this section.

ARTICLE VI.

Section 1. The Supreme Court is continued with general jurisdiction in law and equity, subject to such appellate jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals as now is or may be prescribed by law not inconsistent with this article. The existing judicial districts of the State are continued until changed as hereinafter provided. The Supreme Court shall consist of the justices now in office, and of the judges transferred thereto by the fifth section of this article, all of whom shall continue to be justices of the Supreme Court during their respective terms, and of twelve additional justices who shall reside in and be chosen by the electors of, the several existing judicial districts, three in the first district, three in the second, and one in each of the other districts; and of their successors. The successors of said justices shall be chosen by the electors of their respective judicial districts. The Legislature may alter the judicial districts once after every enumeration under the Constitution, of the inhabitants of the State, and thereupon reapportion the justices to be thereafter elected in the districts. so altered.

Sec. 2. The Legislature shall divide the State into four judicial departments. The first department shall consist of the county of New York; the others shall be bounded by county lines, and be compact and equal in population as nearly as may be. Once every ten years the Legislature may alter the judicial departments, but without increasing the number thereof.

There shall be an Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, consisting of seven justices in the first department, and of five justices in each of the other departments. In each department four shall constitute a quorum, and the concurrence of three shall be necessary to a decision. No more than five justices shall sit in any case.

From all the justices elected to the Supreme Court the Governor shall designate those who shall constitute the Appellate Division in each department; and he shall designate the presiding justice thereof, who shall act as such during his term of office, and shall be a resident of the department. The other justices shall be designated for terms of five years, or the unexpired portions of their respective terms of office, if less than five years. From time to time as the terms of such designations

expire, or vacancies occur, he shall make new designations. He may also make temporary designations in case of the absence or inability to act, of any justice in the Appellate Division. A majority of the justices designated to sit in the Appellate Division in each department shall be residents of the department. Whenever the Appellate Division in any department shall be unable to dispose of its business within a reasonable time, a majority of the presiding justices of the several departments at a meeting called by the presiding justice of the department in arrears may transfer any pending appeals from such department to any other department for hearing and determination. No justice of the Appellate Division shall exercise any of the powers of a justice of the Supreme Court, other than those of a justice out of court, and those pertaining to the Appellate Division or to the hearing and decision of motions submitted by consent of counsel. From and after the last day of December, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five, the Appellate Division shall have the jurisdiction now exercised by the Supreme Court at its General Terms, and by the General Terms of the Court of Common Pleas for the City and County of New York, the Superior Court of the City of New York, the Superior Court of Buffalo and the City Court of Brooklyn, and such additional jurisdiction as may be conferred by the Legislature. It shall have power to appoint and remove a reporter.

The justices of the Appellate Division in each department shall have power to fix the times and places for holding Special and Trial Terms therein, and to assign the justices in the departments to hold such terms; or to make rules therefor.

Sec. 3. No judge or justice shall sit in the Appellate Division or in the Court of Appeals in review of a decision made by him or by any court of which he was at the time a sitting member. The testimony in equity cases shall be taken in like manner as in cases at law; and, except as herein otherwise provided, the Legislature shall have the same power to alter and regulate the jurisdiction and proceedings in law and in equity that it has heretofore exercised.

Sec. 4. The official terms of the justices of the Supreme Court shall be fourteen years from and including the first day of January next after their election. When a vacancy shall occur otherwise than by expiration of term in the office of justice of the Supreme Court the same shall be filled for a full term, at the

next general election, happening not less than three months after such vacancy occurs; and, until the vacancy shall be so filled, the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, if the Senate shall be in session, or if not in session the Governor may fill such vacancy by appointment, which shall continue until and including the last day of December next after the election at which the vacancy shall be filled.

Sec. 5. The Superior Court of the City of New York, the Court of Common Pleas for the City and County of New York, the Superior Court of Buffalo, and the City Court of Brooklyn, are abolished from and after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-six, and thereupon the seals, records, papers and documents of or belonging to such courts, shall be deposited in the offices of the clerks of the several counties in which said courts now exist; and all actions and proceedings then pending in such courts shall be transferred to the Supreme Court for hearing and determination. The judges of said courts in office on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-six, shall, for the remainder of the terms for which they were elected or appointed, be justices of the Supreme Court; but they shall sit only in the counties in which they were elected or appointed. Their salaries shall be paid by the said counties respectively, and shall be the same as the salaries of the other justices of the Supreme Court residing in the same counties. Their successors shall be elected as justices of the Supreme Court by the electors of the judicial districts in which they respectively reside.

The jurisdiction now exercised by the several courts hereby abolished, shall be vested in the Supreme Court. Appeals from inferior and local courts now heard in the Court of Common Pleas for the City and County of New York and the Superior Court of Buffalo, shall be heard in the Supreme Court in such manner and by such justice or justices as the Appellate Divisions in the respective departments which include New York and Buffalo shall direct, unless otherwise provided by the Legislature.

Sec. 6. Circuit Courts and Courts of Oyer and Terminer are abolished from and after the last day of December, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five. All their jurisdiction shall thereupon be vested in the Supreme Court, and all actions and proceedings then pending in such courts shall be transferred to the Supreme Court for hearing and determination. Any justice of

the Supreme Court, except as otherwise provided in this article, may hold court in any county.

Sec. 7. The Court of Appeals is continued. It shall consist of the chief judge and associate judges now in office, who shall hold their offices until the expiration of their respective terms, and their successors, who shall be chosen by the electors of the State. The official terms of the chief judge and associate judges shall be fourteen years from and including the first day of January next after their election. Five members of the court shall form a quorum, and the concurrence of four shall be necessary to a decision. The court shall have power to appoint and to remove its reporter, clerk and attendants.

Sec. 8. When a vacancy shall occur otherwise than by expiration of term, in the office of chief or associate judge of the Court of Appeals, the same shall be filled, for a full term, at the next general election happening not less than three months after such vacancy occurs; and until the vacancy shall be so filled, the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, if the Senate shall be in session, or if not in session the Governor may fill such vacancy by appointment. If any such appointment of chief judge shall be made from among the associate judges, a temporary appointment of associate judge shall be made in like manner; but in such case, the person appointed chief judge shall not be deemed to vacate his office of associate judge any longer than until the expiration of his appointment as chief judge. The powers and jurisdiction of the court shall not be suspended for want of appointment or election, when the number of judges is sufficient to constitute a quorum. All appointments under this section shall continue until and including the last day of December next after the election at which the vacancy shall be filled.

Sec. 9. After the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five, the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals, except where the judgment is of death, shall be limited to the review of questions of law. No unanimous decision of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court that there is evidence supporting or tending to sustain a finding of fact or a verdict not directed by the court, shall be reviewed by the Court of Appeals. Except where the judgment is of death, appeals may be taken as of right, to said court only from judgments or orders entered upon decisions of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, finally determining actions or special proceedings, and from