The Constitutions of California and the United States with Related Documents
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Table of Contents Cover: Publication cover celebrates the dual centennial anniversaries of Women’s Suffrage in California and the official adoption of the State Flag in 1911. Images Courtesy of the California History Room, California State Library, Sacramento, California. Table of Contents THE STATE FLAG The Bear Flag was designated California’s State Flag by legislative enactment in 1911. It is patterned after the historic flag flown at Sonoma on June 14, 1846, by a group of American settlers in revolt against Mexican rule in California. This short-lived revolution ended on July 9, 1846. The general design and details of the Bear Flag are set forth in Section 420 of the Government Code. Table of Contents FOREWORD The California Legislature is honored to provide this collection of the fundamental documents of our government. Through days of prosperity and days of challenge, these words create the mechanisms which protect our rights, channel our common aspirations, and maintain the ideal of a more perfected society to come. Our national constitution contains the most eloquent statement of human rights ever devised. Our state constitution reflects the efforts of our people to both support and limit the ambitions of those they elect to serve. The supporting documents of treaties, compacts, and mutual agreements constitute a record of where we were, where we are, and what we hope to be in our long historical march. What is written here is still alive. It dictates the framework of the laws that bind us yet always confirms our right to move in new directions. That is the genius of our system: our government is ‘‘we the people.’’ GREGORY P. SCHMIDT Secretary of the Senate E. DOTSON WILSON Chief Clerk of the Assembly March 2011 i Table of Contents THE ASSEMBLY SEAL The Seal of the Assembly of the State of California was proposed by the Honorable Leo J. Ryan, Assemblyman from the 27th District in San Mateo County, and adopted by the full Assembly in 1967. The official state colors, blue and gold, were used as a background. The ‘‘Golden Poppy,’’ the State flower, and the California Grizzly Bear, which are traditional emblems of California, also appear on the Assembly Seal. The gavel in the upper left hand corner and the Corinthian column in the lower right-hand corner are symbolic of the legislative power of the state. The palm tree and the mountains are representative of the southern and northern parts of our state, respectively. The motto of the California State Assembly is emblazoned on the Seal, ‘‘LEGISLATORUM EST JUSTAS LEGES CONDERE’’ and indicates ‘‘It is the duty of the Legislature to make just laws.’’ iv Table of Contents Senator Darrell Steinberg President pro Tempore Senator Ellen M. Corbett Senator Bob Dutton Majority Floor Leader Minority Floor Leader THE SENATE RULES COMMITTEE From left to right: Senator Kevin de León; Senator Jean Fuller; Senator Darrell Steinberg (Chair); Senator Tom Harman (Vice Chair); Senator Elaine Alquist Published March, 2011 v Table of Contents John A. Pérez Connie Conway Speaker of the Assembly Minority Floor Leader ASSEMBLY RULES COMMITTEE—2011 From left to right: Assembly Members D. Williams; B. Hueso; B. Butler; L. Alejo; M. Davis; W. Carter; Chief Clerk E.D. Wilson; Secretary A. McCabe; Chair N. Skinner; Chief Administrative Officer J. Waldie; Sergeant at Arms R. Pane; Vice Chair J. Silva; Assembly Members C. Hagman; S. Knight; T. Donnelly; and J. Nielsen (not shown: T. Mendoza) Published March, 2011 vi CONTENTS Page Magna Carta........................................................................................ 3 Mayflower Compact............................................................................ 13 Declaration of Rights of 1765............................................................. 14 Declaration of Rights of 1774............................................................. 16 Declaration of Independence .............................................................. 20 Articles of Confederation.................................................................... 24 Constitution of the United States ........................................................ 33 Amendments ................................................................................... 54 Index to U.S. Constitution .............................................................. 65 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo .............................................................. 75 Act for the Admission of California Into the Union ........................... 91 Constitutional History of California ................................................... 95 The California Constitution Revision Commission ............................ 131 Constitution of the State of California—1879.................................... 147 Constitutional Amendments Approved at Statewide Elections May 2009–November 2010 ............................................................ 149 Index to California Constitution ......................................................... 335 Appendix............................................................................................. 413 vii Table of Contents Table of Contents Magna Carta 1215 Mayfl ower Compact 1620 Declarations of Rights 1765 and 1774 The Declaration of Independence 1776 Articles of Confederation 1778 Table of Contents Magna Carta—1215 THE GREAT CHARTER OF ENGLISH LIBERTY, GRANTED BY KING JOHN AT RUNNYMEDE, JUNE 15, A. D. 1215 Table of Contents (From “Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages,” as translated from “Stubb’s Charters” by Ernest F. Henderson.) John, by the grace of God king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Nor mandy and Aquitaine, count of Anjou: to the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justices, foresters, sheriffs, prevosts, serving men, and to all his bailiffs and faithful subjects, greeting. Know that we, by the will of God and for the safety of our soul, and of the souls of all our predecessors and our heirs, to the honour of God and for the exalting of the holy church and the bettering of our realm: by the counsel of our venerable fathers Stephen archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England and cardinal of the holy Roman church; of Henry archbishop of Dublin; of the bishops William of London, Peter of Winchester, Jocelin of Bath and Glastonbury, Hugo of Lincoln, Walter of Worcester, William of Coventry and Benedict of Rochester; of master Pandulf, subdeacon and of the household of the lord pope; of brother Aymeric, master of the knights of the Temple in Eng land; and of the noble men, William Marshall earl of Pembroke, William earl of Salisbury, William earl of Warren, William earl of Arundel, Alan de Galway constable of Scotland, Warin son of Gerold, Peter son of Herbert, Hubert de Burgh seneschal of Poictiers, Hugo de Neville, Matthew son of Herbert, Thomas Basset, Alan Basset, Philip d’Aubigni, Robert de Rop pelay, John Marshall, John son of Hugo, and others of our faithful sub jects: 1. First of all have granted to God, and, for us and for our heirs forever, have confirmed, by this our present charter, that the English church shall be free and shall have its rights intact and its liberties uninfringed upon. And thus we will that it be observed. As is apparent from the fact that we, spontaneously and of our own free will, before discord broke out between ourselves and our barons, did grant and by our charter confi rm—and did cause the lord pope Innocent III, to confirm—freedom of elections, which is considered most important and most necessary to the church of England. Which charter both we ourselves shall observe, and we will that it be ob served with good faith by our heirs forever. We have also granted to all free men of our realm, on the part of ourselves and our heirs forever, all the subjoined liberties, to have and to hold, to them and to their heirs, from us and from our heirs: (3) 4 MAGNA CARTA 2. If any one of our earls or barons, or of others holding from us in chief through military service, shall die; and if, at the time of his death, his heir be of full age and owe a relief: he shall have his inheritance by paying the old relief;—the heir, namely, or the heirsTable of an of earl, Contents by paying one hundred pounds for the whole barony of an earl; the heir or heirs of a baron, by pay ing one hundred pounds for the whole barony; the heir or heirs of a knight, by paying one hundred shillings at most for a whole knight’s fee; and he who shall owe less shall give less, according to the ancient custom of fees. 3. But if the heir of any of the above persons shall be under age and in wardship,—when he comes of age he shall have his inheritance without relief and without fi ne. 4. The administrator of the land of such heir who shall be under age shall take none but reasonable issues from the land of the heir, and reason able customs and services; and this without destruction and waste of men or goods. And if we shall have committed the custody of any such land to the sheriff or to any other man who ought to be responsible to us for the issues of it, and he cause destruction or waste to what is in his charge: we will fine him, and the land shall be handed over to two lawful and discreet men of that fee who shall answer to us, or to him to whom we shall have referred them, regarding those issues. And if we shall have given or sold to any one the custody of any such land, and he shall have caused destruc tion or waste to it,—he shall lose that custody, and it shall be given to two lawful and discreet men of that fee, who likewise shall answer to us, as has been explained. 5. The administrator, moreover, so long as he may have the custody of the land, shall keep in order, from the issues of that land, the houses, parks, warrens, lakes, mills, and other things pertaining to it. And he shall restore to the heir when he comes to full age, his whole land stocked with ploughs and wainnages, according as the time of the wainnage requires and the is sues of the land will reasonably permit. 6. Heirs may marry without disparagement; so, nevertheless, that, be fore the marriage is contracted, it shall be announced to the relations by blood of the heir himself.