SECTION 1. JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS CONTINUED. That no inconvenience may arise from a change of the territorial government to a permanent state government, it is declared that all writs, actions, prosecutions, claims, liabilities, and obligations against the territory of Idaho, of whatsoever nature and rights of individuals, and of bodies corporate, shall continue as if no change had taken place in this government; and all process which may, before the organization of the judicial department under this Constitution, be issued under the authority of the territory of Idaho, shall be as valid as if issued in the name of the state.
SECTION 2. LAWS CONTINUED IN FORCE. All laws now in force in the territory of Idaho which are not repugnant to this Constitution shall remain in force until they expire by their own limitation or be altered or repealed by the legislature.
SECTION 3. TERRITORIAL FINES AND FORFEITURES ACCRUE TO STATE. All fines, penalties, forfeitures, and escheats accruing to the territory of Idaho shall accrue to the use of the state.
SECTION 4. TERRITORIAL BONDS AND OBLIGATIONS PASS TO STATE. All recognizances, bonds, obligations, or other undertakings heretofore taken, or which may be taken before the organization of the judicial department under this Constitution, shall remain valid, and shall pass over to and may be prosecuted in the name of the state; and all bonds, obligations, or other undertakings executed by this territory, or to any other officer in his official capacity, shall pass over to the proper state authority, and to their successors in office for the uses therein respectively expressed, and may be sued for and recovered accordingly. All criminal prosecutions and penal actions which have arisen or which may arise before the organization of the judicial department under this Constitution, and which shall then be pending, may be prosecuted to judgment and execution in the name of the state.
SECTION 5. TERRITORIAL OFFICERS TO CONTINUE IN OFFICE. All officers, civil and military, now holding their offices and appointments in this territory under the authority of the United States, or under the authority of this territory, shall continue to hold and exercise their respective offices and appointments until suspended under this Constitution.
SECTION 6. SUBMISSION OF CONSTITUTION TO ELECTORS. This Constitution shall be submitted for adoption or rejection, to a vote of the electors qualified by the laws of this territory to vote at all elections, at an election to be held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, A.D. 1889. Said election shall be conducted in all respects in the same manner as provided by the laws of the territory for general election, and the returns thereof shall be made and canvassed in the same manner and by the same authority as provided in cases of such general elections, and abstracts of such returns duly certified shall be transmitted to the board of canvassers now provided by law for canvassing the returns of votes for delegate in congress. The said canvassing board shall canvass the votes so returned, and certify and declare the result of said election in the same manner, as is required by law for the election of said delegate.
At the said election the ballots shall be in the following form: For the Constitution: Yes. No.
And as a heading to each of said ballots shall be printed on each ballot, the following instructions to voters:
All persons who desire to vote for the Constitution, or any of the articles submitted to a separate vote, may erase the word “no.”
All persons who desire to vote against the Constitution, or against any article submitted separately may erase the word “yes.”
Any person may have printed or written on his ballot only the words, “For the Constitution,” or “Against the Constitution,” and such ballots shall be counted for or against the Constitution accordingly.
SECTION 7. WHEN CONSTITUTION TAKES EFFECT. This Constitution shall take effect and be in full force immediately upon the admission of the territory as a state.
SECTION 8. ELECTION PROCLAMATION TO BE ISSUED. Immediately upon the admission of the territory as a state, the governor of the territory, or in case of his absence or failure to act, the secretary of the territory, or in case of his absence or failure to act, the president of this convention, shall issue a proclamation, which shall be published, and a copy thereof mailed to the chairman of the board of county commissioners of each county, calling an election by the people of all state, district, county, township, and other officers, created and made elective by this Constitution, and fixing a day for such election, which shall not be less than forty (40) days after the date of such proclamation, nor more than ninety (90) days after the admission of the territory as a state.
SECTION 9. ELECTION TO BE ORDERED – CONDUCT OF ELECTION. The board of commissioners of the several counties shall thereupon order such election for said day, and shall cause notice thereof to be given, in the manner and for the length of time provided by the laws of the territory in cases of general elections for delegate to congress, and county and other officers. Every qualified elector of the territory, at the date of said election, shall be entitled to vote thereat. Said election shall be conducted in all respects in the same manner as provided by the laws of the territory for general elections, and the returns thereof shall be made and canvassed in the same manner and by the same authority as provided in cases of such general election; but returns for all state and district officers and members of the legislature, shall be made to the canvassing board hereinafter provided for.
SECTION 10. CANVASS OF ELECTION RETURNS. The governor, secretary, controller and attorney general of the territory, and the president of this convention, or a majority of them, shall constitute a board of canvassers to canvass the vote at such elections for all state and district officers and members of the legislature. The said board shall assemble at the seat of government of the territory on the thirtieth day after the date of such election (or on the following day if such day fall on Sunday) and proceed to canvass the votes for all state and district officers and members of the legislature, in the manner provided by the laws of the territory for canvassing the vote for delegates to congress, and they shall issue certificates of election to the persons found to be elected to said offices severally, and shall make and file with the secretary of the territory an abstract certified by them, of the number of votes cast for each person for each of said offices and the total number of votes cast in each county.
SECTION 11. CERTIFICATES OF ELECTION. The canvassing boards of the several counties shall issue certificates of election to the several persons found by them to have been elected to the several county and precinct offices.
SECTION 12. QUALIFICATIONS OF OFFICERS. All officers elected at such election shall, within thirty days after they have been declared elected, take the oath required by this Constitution and give the same bond required by the law of the territory to be given in case of like officers of the territory, district or county, and shall thereupon enter upon the duties of their respective offices; but the legislature may require by law all such officers to give other or further bonds as a condition of their continuance in office.
SECTION 13. TENURE OF OFFICE. All officers elected at said election, shall hold their offices until the legislature shall provide by law, in accordance with this Constitution, for the election of their successors, and until such successors shall be elected and qualified.
SECTION 14. CONVENTION OF FIRST LEGISLATURE. The governor-elect of the state, immediately upon his qualifying and entering upon the duties of his office, shall issue his proclamation convening the legislature of the state at the seat of government on a day to be named in said proclamation and which shall not be less than thirty (30) nor more than sixty (60) days after the date of such proclamation. Within ten (10) days after the organization of the legislature, both houses of the legislature shall then and there proceed to elect, as provided by law, two (2) senators of the United States for the state of Idaho. At said election, the two (2) persons who shall receive the majority of all votes cast by said senators and representives [representatives], shall be elected as such United States senators, shall be so declared by the presiding officers of said joint session. The presiding officers of the senate and house, shall issue a certificate to each of said senators, certifying his election, which certificates shall also be signed by the governor and attested by the secretary of state.
SECTION 15. LEGISLATURE TO PASS NECESSARY LAWS. The legislature shall pass all necessary laws to carry into effect the provisions of this Constitution.
SECTION 16. TRANSFER OF CASES TO STATE COURTS. Whenever any two (2) of the judges of the Supreme Court of the state, elected under the provisions of this Constitution, shall have qualified in their offices, the causes then pending in the Supreme Court of the territory, and the papers, records, and proceedings of said court, and the seal and other property pertaining thereto, shall pass into the jurisdiction and possession of the Supreme Court of the state; and until so superceded the Supreme Court of the territory and the judges thereof shall continue, with like powers and jurisdiction, as if this Constitution had not been adopted. Whenever the judge of the district court of any district elected under the provisions of this Constitution shall have qualified in office, the several causes then pending in the district court of the territory, within any county in such district, and the records, papers, and proceedings of said district court, and the seal and other property pertaining thereto, shall pass into the jurisdiction and possession of the district court of the state for such county; and until the district courts of this territory shall be superseded in the manner aforesaid the said district courts and the judges thereof shall continue with the same jurisdiction and power to be exercised in the same judicial districts respectively, as heretofore constituted under the laws of the territory.
SECTION 17. SEALS OF COURTS. Until otherwise provided by law, the seals now in use in the Supreme and district courts of this territory are hereby declared to be the seals of the Supreme and district courts, respectively, of the state.
SECTION 18. TRANSFER OF PROBATE MATTERS. Whenever this Constitution shall go into effect, the books, records, and papers, and proceedings of the probate court in each county, and all causes and matters of administration and other matters pending therein, shall pass into the jurisdiction and possession of the probate court of the same county of the state, and the said probate court shall proceed to final decree or judgment, order, or other determination in the said several matters and causes as the said probate court might have done as if this Constitution had not been adopted.
SECTION 19. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM GUARANTEED – DISCLAIMER OF TITLE TO INDIAN LANDS. It is ordained by the state of Idaho that perfect toleration of religious sentiment shall be secured, and no inhabitant of said state shall ever be molested in person or property on account of his or her mode of religious worship. And the people of the state of Idaho do agree and declare that we forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated public lands lying within the boundaries thereof, and to all lands lying within said limits owned or held by any Indians or Indian tribes; and until the title thereto shall have been extinguished by the United States, the same shall be subject to the disposition of the United States, and said Indian lands shall remain under the absolute jurisdiction and control of the congress of the United States; that the lands belonging to citizens of the United States, residing without the said state of Idaho, shall never be taxed at a higher rate than the lands belonging to the residents thereof. That no taxes shall be imposed by the state on the lands or property therein belonging to, or which may hereafter be purchased by, the United States, or reserved for its use. And the debts and liabilities of this territory shall be assumed and paid by the state of Idaho. That this ordinance shall be irrevocable, without the consent of the United States and the people of the state of Idaho.
SECTION 20. ADOPTION OF FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. That in behalf of the people of Idaho, we, in convention assembled, do adopt the Constitution of the United States.
SIGNATURES. Done in open convention at Boise City, in the territory of Idaho, this sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine.