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COUNTY TREASURER, ETC.

The county treasurers and registers of deeds shall be elected by the inhabitants of the several towns in the several counties in the State according to the method now practiced, and the present laws of the state; and before they enter upon the business of their offices, shall be respectively sworn faithfully to discharge the duties thereof, and shall severally give bond, with sufficient sureties, in a reasonable sum for the use of the county, for the punctual performance of their respective trusts.

JUDICIARY POWER.

The tenure that all commission officers shall have by law in their offices shall be expressed in their respective commissions. All judicial officers, duly appointed, commissioned, and sworn, shall hold their offices during good behavior, excepting those concerning whom there is a different provision made in this Constitution; provided, nevertheless, the president, with consent of council, may remove them upon the address of both houses of the Legislature.

Each branch of the Legislature, as well as the president and council, shall have authority to require the opinions of the justices of the superior court upon important questions of law, and upon solemn occasions.

In order that the people may not suffer from the long continuance in place of any justice of the peace who shall fail in discharging the important duties of his office with ability and fidelity, all commissions of justices of the peace shall become void at the expiration of five 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 State. The judges of probate of wills, and for granting letters of administration, shall hold their courts at such place or

places, on such fixed days, as the convenience of the people may require; and the Legislature shall, from time to time, hereafter appoint such times and places, until which appointments the said courts shall be holden at the times and places which the respective judges shall direct.

All causes of marriage, divorce, and alimony, and all appeals from the respective judges of probate, shall be heard and tried by the superior court, until the Legislature shall by law make other provision.

CLERKS OF COURTS.

The clerks of the superior court of judicature, inferior courts of common pleas, and general sessions of the peace shall be appointed by the respective courts during pleasure; and to prevent any fraud or unfairness in the entries and records of said courts, no such clerk shall be of counsel in any cause in the court of which he is clerk, nor shall he fill any writ in any civil action what

soever.

DELEGATES TO CONGRESS.

The delegates of this State to the Congress of the United States shall, sometime between the first Wednesday of June and the first Wednesday of September, annually, be elected by the Senate and House of Representatives, in their separate branches, to serve in Congress for one year, to commence on the first Monday in November then next ensuing.

They shall have commissions under the hand of the president and the great seal of the State, but may be recalled at any time within the year and others chosen and commissioned in the same manner in their stead; and they shall have the same qualifications in all respects as by this Constitution are required for the president.

No person shall be capable of being a delegate to Congress for more than three years in any term of six

years; nor shall any person, being a delegate, be capable of holding any office under the United States for which he, or any other for his benefit, receives any salary or emolument of any kind.

ENCOURAGEMENT OF LITERATURE, ETC.

Knowledge and learning generally diffused through a community being essential to the preservation of a free government, and spreading the opportunities and advantages of education through the various parts of the country being highly conducive to promote this end, it shall be the duty of the legislators and the magistrates in all future periods of this government to cherish the interest of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries and public schools; to encourage private and public institutions, rewards and immunities for the promotion of agriculture, arts, sciences, commerce, trades, manufactures, and natural history of the country; to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and private charity, industry and economy, honesty and punctuality, sincerity, sobriety, and all social affections and generous sentiments among the people.

OATH AND SUBSCRIPTIONS; EXCLUSION FROM OFFICES; COMMISSIONS; WRITS; CONFIRMATION OF LAWS; HABEAS CORPUS; THE ENACTING STYLE; CONTINUANCE OF OFFICERS; PROVISION FOR A FUTURE REVISION OF THE CONSTITUTION, ETC.

Any person chosen president, councilor, senator, or representative, military or civil officer (town officers excepted), accepting the trust, shall, before he proceeds to execute the duties of his office, make and subscribe the following declaration, viz. :

I, A B, do truly and sincerely acknowledge, profess, testify, and declare that the State of New Hampshire is, and of right ought to be, a free, sovereign, and independent State, and do swear that I will bear faith and true allegiance to the same, and that I will endeavor to defend it against all treacherous conspiracies and hostile attempts whatever; and I do further testify and declare that no man or body of men hath or can have a right to absolve me from the obligation of this oath, declaration, or affirmation, and that I do make this acknowledgment, profession, testimony, and declaration, honestly and truly, according to the common acceptation of the foregoing words, without any equivocation, mental evasion, or secret reservation whatever. help me God.

So

I, A B, do solemnly and sincerely swear and affirm that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent on me as

according to the best of my abilities, agreeably to the rules and regulations of this Constitution, and the laws of the State of New Hampshire. So help me

God.

Provided, always, when any person chosen or appointed as aforesaid shall be of the denomination called Quakers, or shall be scrupulous of swearing, and shall decline taking the said oaths, such shall take and subscribe them omitting the word "swear" and likewise the words "So help me God," subjoining instead thereof, "This I do under the pains and penalties of perjury."

And the oaths or affirmations shall be taken and subscribed by the president before the senior senator present, in the presence of the two houses of assembly; and by the Senate and Representatives first elected under this Constitution, before the president and three of the council of the former Constitution, and forever

afterwards before the president and council for the time being; and by the residue of the officers aforesaid, before such persons and in such manner as from time to time shall be prescribed by the Legislature.

All commissions shall be in the name of the State of New Hampshire, signed by the president and attested by the secretary or his deputy, and shall have the great seal of the State affixed thereto.

All writs issuing out of the clerk's office in any of the courts of law shall be in the name of the State of New Hampshire, shall be under the seal of the court whence they issue, and bear test of the chief, first, or senior justice of the court; but when such justice shall be interested, then the writ shall bear test of some other justice of the court, to which the same shall be returnable, and be signed by the clerk of such court.

All indictments, presentments, and informations shall conclude against the peace and dignity of the State.

The estates of such persons as may destroy their own lives shall not for that offence be forfeited, but descend or ascend in the same manner as if such persons had died in a natural way. Nor shall any article which shall accidentally occasion the death of any person be henceforth deemed a deodand, or in any wise forfeited on account of such misfortune.

All the laws which have heretofore been adopted, used, and approved in the province, colony, or state of New Hampshire, and usually practiced on in the courts of law, shall remain and be in full force until altered and repealed by the Legislature; such parts thereof only excepted as are repugnant to the rights and liberties contained in this Constitution; provided, that nothing herein contained, when compared with the twentythird article in the bill of rights, shall be construed to affect the laws already made respecting the persons or estates of absentees.

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