5. A Secretary of State, an Auditor, a Treasurer, and a Superintendent of Education are elected bi ennially, for the term of two years. They are to perform such duties as may be enjoined by law; and no person is eligible to either of said offices more than four years in any period of sin years.
The qualifications and elections of county and township officers are specified and provided for by the constitution. Const. art. 7.
The Judicial Power.
The supreme court shall consist of not less than three nor more than five judges (there are now, 1864, four judges), a majority of whom form a quorum, which shall have jurisdiction coextensive with the limits of the state in appeals and writs of error, under such regulations and restrictions as may he prescribed by law. It shall also have such original jurisdiction as the general assembly may confer, and upon the decision of every case shall give a statement, in writing, of each question aris ing in the record of such case, and the decision of the court thereon.
6. The circuit courts shall each consist of one judge. The state shall, from time to time, be di vided into judicial circuits. There are (1864) four teen circuits. They shall have such civil and criminal jurisdiction as may be prescribed by law. The general assembly may provide, by law, that the judge of one circuit may hold the court of an other circuit in case of necessity or convenience; and, in case of temporary inability of any judge, from sickness or other cause, to hold the courts in his circuit, provision shall be made by law for hold ing such courts.
Tribunals of conciliation may be established, with such powers and duties as shall be prescribed by law, or the powers and duties of the same may be conferred on other courts of justice; but such tribunals, or other courts when sitting as such, shall have no power to render judgment to be obligatory on the parties, unless they voluntarily submit their matters of difference and agree to abide by the judgment of such tribunal or court.
The judges of the supreme court are elected by the qualified voters to serve for a term of seven years. The circuit judges are elected for terms of six years, and the judges of the courts of common pleas, of which there are twenty-one in the state, are elected for terms of four years.
All judicial officers shall be conservators of the peace in their respective jurisdictions.
The state shall be divided into as many districts as there are judges of the supreme court; and such districts shall be formed of contiguous territory as nearly equal in population as, without dividing a county, the same can be made. One of said judges shall be elected from each district, and reside there in ; but said judges shall be elected by the electors of the state at large.
7. A clerk of the supreme court is elected for four years, and a prosecuting attorney is elected fdr two years, in each judicial circuit.
Justices of the peace, in sufficient numbers, are to be elected for the term of four years in each town ship. Their courts are courts of record.
Attorneys at law. For admission to practice as an attorney in all the courts, it is required only that the applicant be a voter and of good moral character.
A school fund is provided for, and the benefits of the school system are limited to white children. No debt can be contracted on behalf of the state except to meet casual deficits in the revenue, to pay the interest on the state debt, to repel inva sion, suppress insurrection, or, if hostilities be threatened, provide for the public defence.
The provisions of the constitution in regard to banking are as follows:— If the general assembly shall enact a general banking law, such law shall provide fur the re gistry and countersigning, by an officer of state, of all paper credit desigeed to be circulated as money, and ample collateral security, readily con vertible into specie, for the redemption of the same in gold or silver, shall be required ; which collate ral security shall be under the control of the proper officer or officers of state. Sec. 3.
The general assembly may also charter a bank with branches, without collateral security, as re quired in the preceding section. Sec. 4.
If the general assembly shall establish a bank with branches, the branches shall be mutually re sponsible for each other's liabilities upon all paper credit issued as money. Sec. 5.