Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 1874/Schedules
Schedule 1
Schedule of 1909 SCHEDULE NO. 1 (ADOPTED WITH THE CONSTITUTION)
That no inconvenience may arise from the changes in the Constitution of the Commonwealth, and in order to carry the same into complete operation, it is hereby declared, that:
Section 1
This Constitution shall take effect on the first day of January, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, for all purposes not otherwise provided for therein.
Section 2
All laws in force in this Commonwealth at the time of the adoption of this Constitution not inconsistent therewith, and all rights, actions, prosecutions and contracts shall continue as if this Constitution had not been adopted.
Section 3: Election of Senators
At the General election in the years one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four and one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, Senators shall be elected in all districts where there shall be vacancies. Those elected in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four shall serve for two years, and those elected in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five shall serve for one year. Senators now elected and those whose terms are unexpired shall represent the districts in which they reside until the end of the terms for which they were elected.
Section 4: Election of Senators (continued)
At the general election in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, Senators shall be elected from even- numbered districts to serve for two years, and from odd-numbered districts to serve for four years.
Section 5: Election of Governor
The first election of Governor under this Constitution shall be at the general election in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, when a Governor shall be elected for three years; and the term of the Governor elected in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight and of those thereafter elected shall be for four years, according to the provisions of this Constitution.
Section 6: Election of Lieutenant Governor
At the general election in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, a Lieutenant Governor shall be elected according to the provisions of this Constitution.
Section 7: Secretary of Internal Affairs
The Secretary of Internal Affairs shall be elected at the first general election after the adoption of this Constitution; and, when the said officer shall be duly elected and qualified, the office of Surveyor General shall be abolished. The Surveyor General in office at the time of the adoption of this Constitution shall continue in office until the expiration of the term for which he was elected.
Section 8: Superintendent of Public Instruction
When the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be duly qualified the office of Superintendent of Common Schools shall cease.
Section 9: Eligibility of Present Officers
Nothing contained in this Constitution shall be construed to render any person now holding any State office for a first official term ineligible for re-election at the end of such term.
Section 10: Judges of Supreme Court
The judges of the Supreme Court in office when this Constitution shall take effect shall continue until their commissions severally expire. Two judges in addition to the number now composing the said court shall be elected at the first general election after the adoption of this Constitution.
Section 11: Courts of Record
All courts of record and all existing courts which are not specified in this Constitution shall continue in existence until the first day of December, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, without abridgement of their present jurisdiction, but no longer. The court of the first criminal jurisdiction for the counties of Schuylkill, Lebanon and Dauphin is hereby abolished, and all causes and proceedings pending therein in the county of Schuylkill shall be tried and disposed of in the courts of oyer and terminer and quarter sessions of the peace of said county.
Section 12: Register's Courts Abolished
The register's courts now in existence shall be abolished on the first day of January next succeeding the adoption of this Constitution.
Section 13: Judicial Districts
The General Assembly shall, at the next session after the adoption of this Constitution, designate the several judicial districts as required by this Constitution. The judges in commission when such designation shall be made shall continue during their unexpired terms judges of the new districts in which they reside; but, when there shall be two judges residing in the same district, the president judge shall elect to which district he shall be assigned, and the additional law judge shall be assigned to the other district.
Section 14: Decennial Adjustment of Judicial Districts
The General Assembly shall, at the next succeeding session after each decennial census and not oftener, designate the several judicial districts as required by this Constitution.
Section 15: Judges in Commission
Judges learned in the law of any court of record holding commissions in force at the adoption of this Constitution shall hold their respective offices until the expiration of the terms for which they were commissioned, and until their successors shall be duly qualified. The Governor shall commission the president judge of the court of first criminal jurisdiction for the counties of Schuylkill, Lebanon and Dauphin as a judge of the court of common pleas of Schuylkill county, for the unexpired term of his office.
Section 16: President Judges; Casting Lots; Associate Judges
After the expiration of the term of any president judge of any court of common pleas, in commission at the adoption of this Constitution, the judge of such court learned in the law and oldest in commission shall be the president judge thereof; and when two or more judges are elected at the same time in any judicial district they shall decide by lot which shall be president judge; but when the president judge of a court shall be re-elected he shall continue to be president judge of that court. Associate judges not learned in the law, elected after the adoption of this Constitution, shall be commissioned to hold their offices for the term of five years from the first day of January next after their election.
Section 17: Compensation of Judges
The General Assembly, at the first session after the adoption of this Constitution, shall fix and determine the compensation of the judges of the Supreme Court and of the judges of the several judicial districts of the Commonwealth; and the provisions of the fifteenth section of the article on Legislation shall not be deemed inconsistent herewith. Nothing contained in this Constitution shall be held to reduce the compensation now paid to any law judge of this Commonwealth now in commission.
Section 18: Courts of Philadelphia and Allegheny Counties; Organization in Philadelphia
The courts of common pleas in the counties of Philadelphia and Allegheny shall be composed of the present judges of the district court and court of common pleas of said counties until their offices shall severally end, and of such other judges as may from time to time be selected. For the purpose of first organization in Philadelphia the judges of the court number one shall be Judges Allison, Pierce and Paxson; of the court number two, Judges Hare, Mitchell and one other judge to be elected; of the court number three, Judges Ludlow, Finletter and Lynd; and of the court number four, Judges Thayer, Briggs and one other judge to be elected. The judge first named shall be the president judge of said courts respectively, and thereafter the president judge shall be the judge oldest in commission; but any president judge, re-elected in the same court or district, shall continue to be president judge thereof. The additional judges for courts numbers two and four shall be voted for and elected at the first general election after the adoption of this Constitution, in the same manner as the two additional judges of the Supreme Court, and they shall decide by lot to which court they shall belong. Their term of office shall commence on the first Monday of January, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
Section 19: Organization of Courts in Allegheny County
In the county of Allegheny, for the purpose of first organization under this Constitution, the judge of the court of common pleas, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be the judges of the court number one, and the judges of the district court, at the same date, shall be the judges of the common pleas number two. The president judges of the common pleas and district court shall be president judge of said courts number one and two, respectively, until their offices shall end; and thereafter the judge oldest in commission shall be president judge; but any president judge re-elected in the same court, or district, shall continue to be president judge thereof.
Section 20: When Re-Organization of Courts to Take Effect
The organization of the courts of common pleas under this Constitution for the counties of Philadelphia and Allegheny shall take effect on the first Monday of January, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, and existing courts in said counties shall continue with their present power and jurisdiction until that date, but no new suits shall be instituted in the courts of nisi prius after the adoption of this Constitution.
Section 21: Causes Pending in Philadelphia; Transfer of Records
The causes and proceeding pending in the court of nisi prius, court of common pleas, and district court in Philadelphia shall be tried and disposed of in the court of common pleas. The records and dockets of said courts shall be transferred to the prothonotary's office of said county.
Section 22: Causes Pending in Allegheny County
The causes and proceedings pending in the court of common pleas in the county of Allegheny shall be tried and disposed of in the court number one; and the causes and proceedings pending in the district court shall be tried and disposed of in the court number two.
Section 23: Prothonotary of Philadelphia County
The prothonotary of the court of common pleas of Philadelphia shall be first appointed by the judges of said court on the first Monday of December, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, and the present prothonotary of the district court in said county shall be the prothonotary of the said court of common pleas until said date when his commission shall expire, and the present clerk of the court of oyer and terminer and quarter sessions of the peace in Philadelphia shall be the clerk of such court until the expiration of his present commission on the first Monday of December, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
Section 24: Aldermen
In cities containing over fifty thousand inhabitants, except Philadelphia, all aldermen in office at the time of adoption of this Constitution shall continue in office until the expiration of their commissions, and at the election for city and ward officers in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five one alderman shall be elected in each ward as provided in this Constitution.
Section 25: Magistrates in Philadelphia
In Philadelphia magistrates in lieu of alderman shall be chosen, as required in this Constitution, at the election in said city for city ward officers in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five; their term of office shall commence on the first Monday of April succeeding their election. The terms of office of aldermen in said city holding or entitled to commissions at the time of the adoption of this Constitution shall not be affected thereby.
Section 26: Term of Present Officers
All persons in office in this Commonwealth at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, and at the first election under it, shall hold their respective offices until the term for which they have been elected or appointed shall expire, and until their successors shall be duly qualified, unless otherwise provided in this Constitution.
Section 27: Oath of Office
The seventh article of this Constitution prescribing an oath of office shall take effect on and after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
Section 28: County Commissioners and Auditors
The terms of office of county commissioners and county auditors, chosen prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, which shall not have expired before the first Monday of January in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, shall expire on that day.
Section 29: Compensation of Present Officers
All State, county, city, ward, borough and township officers in office at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, whose compensation is not provided for by salaries alone, shall continue to receive the compensation allowed them by law until the expiration of their respective terms of office.
Section 30: Renewal of Oath of Office
All State and judicial officers heretofore elected, sworn, affirmed, or in office when this Constitution shall take effect, shall severally, within one month after such adoption, take and subscribe an oath, or affirmation to support this Constitution.
Section 31: Enforcing Legislation
The General Assembly at its first session, or as soon as may be after the adoption of this Constitution, shall pass such laws as may be necessary to carry the same into full force and effect.
Section 32: An Ordinance Declared Valid
The ordinance passed by this Convention, entitled "An ordinance for submitting the amended Constitution of Pennsylvania to vote of the electors thereof," shall be held to be valid for all the purposes thereof.
Section 33: City Commissioners of Philadelphia
The words "county commissioners," wherever used in this Constitution and in any ordinance accompanying the same, shall be held to include the commissioners for the city of Philadelphia.
Adopted at Philadelphia, on the third day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three. Filed in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, November 13, 1873. M. S. Quay Secretary of the Commonwealth Jno. H. Walker, President.
Schedule 2
(AMENDMENTS OF NOVEMBER 2, 1909)
Adoption. The provisions of Schedule No. 2 were adopted November 2, 1909, P.L. 948, J.R.1. Partial Repeal of Schedule. See section 2 of Proposal No. 7 of 1968 in the appendix to the Constitution for provisions relating to the partial repeal of Schedule No. 2.
Adjustments of Terms of Public Officers to Amendments of 1909 Section 1. That no inconvenience may arise from the changes in the Constitution of the Commonwealth, and in order to carry the same into complete operation, it is hereby declared that--
In the came of officers elected by the people, all terms of office fixed by act of Assembly at an odd number of years shall each be lengthened one year, but the Legislature may change the length of the term, provided the terms for which such officers are elected shall always be for an even number of years. The above extension of official terms shall not affect officers elected at the general election of one thousand nine hundred and eight; nor any city, ward, borough, township, or election division officers, whose terms of office, under existing law, end in the year one thousand nine hundred and ten. In the year one thousand nine hundred and ten the municipal election shall be held on the third Tuesday of February as heretofore; but all officers chosen at that election to an office the regular term of which is two years, and also all election officers and assessors chosen at that election, shall serve until the first Monday of December in the year one thousand nine hundred and eleven. All officers chosen at that election to offices the term of which is now four years, or is make four years by the operation of these amendments or this schedule, shall serve until the first Monday of December in the year one thousand nine hundred and thirteen. All justices of the peace, magistrates, and aldermen, chosen at that election, shall serve until the first Monday of December in the year one thousand nine hundred and fifteen. After the year nineteen hundred and ten, and until the Legislature shall otherwise provide, all terms of city, ward, borough, township, and election division officers shall begin on the first Monday of December in an odd-numbered year. All city, ward, borough, and township officers holding office at the date of the approval of these amendments, whose terms of office may end in the year one thousand nine hundred and eleven, shall continue to hold their offices until the first Monday of December of that year. All judges of the courts for the several judicial districts, and also all county officers, holding office at the date of the approval of these amendments, whose terms of office may end in the year one thousand nine hundred and eleven, shall continue to hold their offices until the first Monday of January, one thousand and hundred and twelve.
Amendment of November 2, 1915
The legislature failed to designate any article or section for this amendment. Registering, Transferring, Insuring and Guaranteeing Land Titles. Laws may be passed providing for a system of registering, transferring, insuring of and guaranteeing land titles by the State, or by the counties thereof, and for settling and determining adverse or other claims to and interest in lands the titles to which are so registered, transferred, insured, and guaranteed; and for the creation and collection of indemnity funds; and for carrying the system and powers hereby provided for into effect by such existing courts as may be designated by the Legislature, and by the establishment of such new courts as may be deemed necessary. In matters arising in and under the operation of such system, judicial powers, with right of appeal, may be conferred by the Legislature upon county recorders and upon other officers as designated. Such laws may provide for continuing the registering, transferring, insuring, and guaranteeing such titles after the first or original registration has been perfected by the courts, and provision may be made for raising the necessary funds for expenses and salaries of officers, which shall be paid out of the treasury of the several counties.