Treasurer ineligible for more than five successive years. Secretary to keep records; to attend the governor and council, etc. lic accounts, are their property, no man shall be eligible as treasurer and receiver-general more than five years successively. For provision as to appointment of notaries public and the commissary-general, see amendments, Art. IV. II. The records of the commonwealth shall be kept in the office of the secretary, who may appoint his deputies, for whose conduct he shall be accountable; and he shall attend the governor and council, the senate and house of representatives, in person, or by his deputies, as they shall respectively require. Tenure of all commissioned officers to be expressed. CHAPTER III. JUDICIARY POWER. ARTICLE I. The tenure, that all commission officers shall by law have in their offices, shall be expressed in Judicial officers their respective commissions. All judicial officers, duly appointed, commissioned, and sworn, shall hold their offices during good behavior, excepting such concerning whom there is different provision made in this constitution: provided, nevertheless, the governor, with consent of the council, may remove them upon the address of both houses of the legislature. to hold office Justices of su- 126 Mass. 557, 561. Justices of the peace; tenure of their office. 3 Cush. 584. Provisions for holding probate courts. 12 Gray, 147. II. Each branch of the legislature, as well as the governor and council, shall have authority to require the opinions of the justices of the supreme judicial court, upon important questions of law, and upon solemn occasions. III. In order that the people may not suffer from the long continuance in place of any justice of the peace who shall fail of discharging the important duties of his office with ability or fidelity, all commissions of justices of the peace shall expire and become void, in the term of seven 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 commonwealth. IV. The judges of probate of wills, and for granting letters of administration, shall hold their courts at such place or places, on fixed days, as the convenience of the people shall 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. divorce, and Other pro V. All causes of marriage, divorce, and alimony, and Marriage, all appeals from the judges of probate, shall be heard and alimony. determined by the governor and council, until the legis- visions made lature shall, by law, make other provision. by law. 105 Mass. 327. 116 Mass. 317. CHAPTER IV. DELEGATES TO CONGRESS. congress. [The delegates of this commonwealth to the congress of Delegates to the United States, shall, some time in the month of June, annually, be elected by the joint ballot of the senate and house of representatives, assembled together in one room; 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 governor, and the great seal of the commonwealth; but may be recalled at any time within the year, and others chosen and commissioned, in the same manner, in their stead.] CHAPTER V. THE UNIVERSITY AT CAMBRIDGE, AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF SECTION I. The University. College. ARTICLE I. Whereas our wise and pious ancestors, so Harvard early as the year one thousand six hundred and thirty-six, laid the foundation of Harvard College, in which university many persons of great eminence have, by the blessing of GOD, been initiated in those arts and sciences which qualified them for public employments, both in church and state; and whereas the encouragement of arts and sciences, and all good literature, tends to the honor of GOD, the advantage of the Christian religion, and the great benefit of this and the other United States of America, -it is declared, that the PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF Powers, priviHARVARD COLLEGE, in their corporate capacity, and the president their successors in that capacity, their officers and ser- and fellows, vants, shall have, hold, use, exercise, and enjoy, all the powers, authorities, rights, liberties, privileges, immunities, and franchises, which they now have, or are entitled leges, etc., of confirmed. All gifts, grants, etc., confirmed. Who shall be See Statutes, to have, hold, use, exercise, and enjoy; and the same are hereby ratified and confirmed unto them, the said president and fellows of Harvard College, and to their successors, and to their officers and servants, respectively, forever. II. And whereas there have been at sundry times, by divers persons, gifts, grants, devises of houses, lands, tenements, goods, chattels, legacies, and conveyances, heretofore made, either to Harvard College in Cambridge, in New England, or to the president and fellows of Harvard College, or to the said college by some other description, under several charters, successively; it is declared, that all the said gifts, grants, devises, legacies, and conveyances, are hereby forever confirmed unto the president and fellows of Harvard College, and to their successors in the capacity aforesaid, according to the true intent and meaning of the donor or donors, grantor or grantors, devisor or devisors. III. And whereas, by an act of the general court of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, passed in the year one thousand six hundred and forty-two, the governor and deputy-governor, for the time being, and all the magistrates of that jurisdiction, were, with the president, and a number of the clergy in the said act described, constituted the overseers of Harvard College; and it being necessary, in this new constitution of government to ascertain who shall be deemed successors to the said governor, deputy-governor, and magistrates; it is declared, that the governor, lieutenant-governor, council, and senate of this commonwealth, are, and shall be deemed, their successors, who, with the president of Harvard College, for the time being, together with the ministers of the congregational churches in the towns of Cambridge, Watertown, Charlestown, Boston, Roxbury, and Dorchester, mentioned in the said act, shall be, and hereby are, vested with all the powers and authority belonging, or in any way appertaining to the overseers of Harvard College; Power of altera- provided, that nothing herein shall be construed to prethe legislature. Vent the legislature of this commonwealth from making such alterations in the government of the said university, as shall be conducive to its advantage, and the interest of the republic of letters, in as full a manner as might have been done by the legislature of the late Province of the Massachusetts Bay. tion reserved to CHAPTER V. SECTION II. The Encouragement of Literature, etc. Duty of legislatistrates in all future periods. ures and mag For further pro public schools, ments, Art. 12 503. Wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of the people, being necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties; and as these depend on spreading the opportunities and advantages of visions as to education in the various parts of the country, and among see amendthe different orders of the people, it shall be the duty XVIII. of legislatures and magistrates, in all future periods of 50, 500this commonwealth, to cherish the interests of literature 103 Mass. 94, 97. and the sciences, and all seminaries of them; especially the university at Cambridge, public schools and grammar schools in the towns; to encourage private societies and public institutions, rewards and immunities, for the promotion of agriculture, arts, sciences, commerce, trades, manufactures, and a natural history of the country; to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and private charity, industry and frugality, honesty and punctuality in their dealings; sincerity, good humor, and all social affections, and generous sentiments, among the people. CHAPTER VI. OATHS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS; INCOMPATIBILITY OF AND EXCLU- ARTICLE I. [Any person chosen governor, lieutenant- Oaths, etc. governor, councillor, senator, or representative, and accepting the trust, shall, before he proceed to execute the duties of his place or office, make and subscribe the following declaration, viz. : amendments, "I, A. B., do declare, that I believe the Christian reli- Abolished. See gion, and have a firm persuasion of its truth; and that I Art. VII. am seised and possessed, in my own right, of the property required by the constitution, as one qualification for the office or place to which I am elected." And the governor, lieutenant-governor, and councillors, shall make and subscribe the said declaration, in the pres Declaration and oaths of all officers. For new oath of allegiance, see amend ments, Art. VI. Oath of office, Proviso. See amendments, Art. VI. ence of the two houses of assembly; and the senators and representatives, first elected under this constitution, before the president and five of the council of the former constitution; and forever afterwards before the governor and council for the time being.] And every person chosen to either of the places or offices aforesaid, as also any person appointed or commissioned to any judicial, executive, military, or other office under the government, shall, before he enters on the discharge of the business of his place or office, take and subscribe the following declaration, and oaths or affirmations, viz. : ["I, A. B., do truly and sincerely acknowledge, profess, testify, and declare, that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is, and of right ought to be, a free, sovereign, and independent state; and I do swear, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the said commonwealth, and that I will defend the same against traitorous conspiracies and all hostile attempts whatsoever; and that I do renounce and abjure all allegiance, subjection, and obedience to the king, queen, or government of Great Britain (as the case may be), and every other foreign power whatsoever; and that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate, hath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction, superiority, preeminence, authority, dispensing or other power, in any matter, civil, ecclesiastical, or spiritual, within this commonwealth, except the authority and power which is or may be vested by their constituents in the congress of the United States and I do further testify and declare, that no man or body of men hath or can have any right to absolve or discharge me from the obligation of this oath, declaration, or affirmation; and that I do make this acknowledgment, profession, testimony, declaration, denial, renunciation, and abjuration, heartily and truly, according to the common meaning and acceptation of the foregoing words, without any equivocation, mental evasion, or secret reservation whatsoever. So help me, GOD."] "I, A. B., do solemnly 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 and understanding, agreeably to the rules and regulations of the constitution and the laws of the commonwealth. So help me, GOD." Provided, always, that when any person chosen or appointed as aforesaid, shall be of the denomination of the |
