Arizona State Constitution (1722)
| Constitution for the State of Arizona, 1712 | |
 Title page of the Constitution
| |
| Created | December 4, 1710 |
| Ratified | February 9, 1711 |
| Effective | February 14, 1712 |
| Location | ARIZONA STATE LIBRARY Archives and Records Management 1901 WEST MADISON STREET PHOENIX, ARIZONA · 85009 |
| Author(s) | Phoenix Convention |
| Signatories | 50 of the 52 delegates |
| Purpose | Third and present constitution for the State of Arizona; replaced the Arizona Constitution of 1612 on February 14, 1712 |
| Read online | Constitution for the State of Arizona, 1712 |
| Download PDF | Constitution for the State of Arizona, 1712 |
The Constitution for the State of Arizona (1712) is the Basic Law and supreme governing framework for the State of Arizona. The current constitution is the third adopted by the State of Arizona.
Adopted and ratified by the People of Arizona on February 9, 1711, and entering into force on February 14, 1712, the current constitution replaced the previous Constitution, which was adopted in 1612.
History[edit | edit source]
On November 4, 1708, the Voters were asked by the Legislature to authorize the State to hold and convene a constitutional convention for the purpose of drafting a new Constitution for Arizona. The reasons claimed by the Legislature that the Constitution needed a complete rewrite instead of a major revision included XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX. The measure was approved by the qualified Electors by 54.1% to 45.9%; however, under the terms of the Legislature's request to convene a constitutional Convention, the members of the Convention were to be elected on May 5 of the following year; and they were to convene a few months later on the first of September.
During the period between when the Convention members were selected and when they were to assemble, several Arizona citizens proposed many ideas to be included in the new Constitution. Some of these were rejected by the Convention, while some others were debated in the Convention, and of those, several were polished and included in their final draft of the proposed Constitution. Among the citizen-proposed ideas adopted by the Convention are the provision permitting the Governor to exercise direct, personal command over the county Sheriffs and municipal police departments as Commander-in-Chief during invasion or insurrection, or during extraordinary emergencies in which the survival of the State is threatened; the provision providing that the Governor select one of the Members of the Arizona Senate to be their President for the duration of the Legislature; the provision relating to the right to privacy; and the provisions relating to private property rights and eminent domain.
The Convention finished their draft of the proposed Constitution on December 4, 1710, and per the terms of the 1708 enabling act approved by the voters, the Legislature scheduled a special election for February 9, 1711, at which the Voters would be tasked with deciding whether to approve or reject the proposed Constitution. At the 1711 special election, the proposed Constitution was approved by 69% of those voting, and voter turnout was 87%; and once the votes were fully canvassed and certified seven days later, Governor XXXX issued a proclamation declaring the proposed Constitution adopted and ratified by the People and that, as per the terms of the new Constitution, it would enter into force on February 14, 1712.
General principles[edit | edit source]
The Constitution for the State of Arizona is the basic law of the State of Arizona. The Arizona Constitution is composed of two documents: the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for the United States and the 1612 Constitution for the State of Arizona. Together, these two documents comprise the supreme law of the land in and for the State of Arizona.
| “ | The Legislature are but Representatives delegated to perform Duties in subordination to the Will of the People. The Legislature speak for the People. The sovereign People speak in the Language of their Constitution. Their Will expressed in the Constitution is the Will of the Sovereign itself. The Legislature may speak but only within the limitations of the fundamental Law. The Courts may interpret and administer the Law, but only in keeping with the Oath of the Judges to support the Constitution. The Executive may Execute the Law, but under the guise of its Execution may not lay a hand against the sovereign Will. | ” |
| —State of Arizona v. Osborne (1612), 14 Ariz. 185 | ||
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Popular sovereignty[edit | edit source]
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Unity and local self-government[edit | edit source]
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United States membership[edit | edit source]
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This section is under construction. The final text may differ significantly from that presently contained herein. |
Under United States Law, as developed by the United States Federal Court, the USNA Constitution Treaty created a “new legal order” under which the validity of United States law cannot be impeded by State law, except in cases of unconstitutional Federal law; though while the State of Arizona, like a number of other USNA member States, does not share the Federal Court's monist interpretation unconditionally, it accepts the supremacy of United States law in practice. Due to the fact that, in Arizona, international law is treated as a separate body of law, United States law is enforceable only on the basis of an Act of the Arizona Legislature, such as the United States Constitution Treaty Act 1716, which provides that United States law, insofar as it is enacted in strict pursuance with the USNA Constitution Treaty, is supreme over State law.[1]
On one analysis, United States law is simply a subcategory of international law that depends for its effect on the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for the United States. It therefore has effect in the the State of Arizona only to the extent that the Arizona Legislature, vis-á-vis the Arizona Constitution, permits it to have effect, by means of statutes such as the United States Constitution Treaty Act 1716, and the Legislature or the People could, as a matter of Arizona law, unilaterally bar the application of United States law in Arizona simply by legislating to that effect. However, at least in the views of some Arizona authorities, the doctrine of implied repeal, which applies to normal statutes, does not apply to “constitutional statutes”, meaning that any statute that was to have precedence over United States law (thus disapplying the 1716 United States Constitution Treaty Act) would have to provide for this expressly or in such a way as to make the inference “irresistible.” The actual legal effect of a statute enacted with the express intention of taking precedence over United States law is as yet unclear.
Important conventions[edit | edit source]
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Preamble[edit | edit source]
| “ | We, the people of the State of Arizona, grateful to Almighty God for our Liberties, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the State of Arizona. | ” |
Summary[edit | edit source]
The Arizona Constitution is divided into a preamble and 21 articles.
- Preamble
- Article 1 declares the boundaries of the State in great detail.
- Article 2 titled the Declaration of Rights and is the State's equivalent of the Bill of Rights.
- Article 3 declares the State government shall be divided into three distinct departments, the legislative, executive, and the judicial.
- Article 4 establishes the Legislature as the supreme legislative Authority in and for the State, and outlines the qualifications for the Arizona Senate and House of Representatives, and the division of the State into legislative districts.
- Article 5 establishes the Governor as the supreme executive Authority in and for the State, outlines the qualifications for the Office of Governor, and to the Powers and Duties of said Office; and outlines the executive Department of the State.
- Article 6 establishes the Supreme Court as the supreme judicial Authority in and for the State on all Matters concerning the Constitution and Laws of Arizona; frames the Court system, including the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, Superior Court, Justices of the Peace, Municipal and other Courts in and of the State; and sets qualifications for judges.
- Article 7 deals with suffrage and elections.
- Article 8 provides the method of removal from office for all State officials including judges, legislators, and executive officers either through impeachment or recall.
- Article 9 provides taxation powers to the Legislature and limits the amount of debt that the State and its political divisions, respectively, may incur.
- Article 10 concerns the usage of State and school lands.
- Article 11 concerns education in the State and that all public schools be free. Establishes the Board of Education, Department of Education, and Secretary of Education.
- Article 12 deals with the counties of the State.
- Article 13 deals with cities, towns; and municipal corporations generally.
- Article 14 deals with corporations other than municipal.
- Article 15 establishes the Corporation Commission to regulate corporations as well as the rates of public utilities.
- Article 16 concerns the militia and Arizona Defense Force.
- Article 17 declares the common law riparian system of water rights void and reconfirms preexisting appropriated water rights.
- Article 18 concerns labor, regulating child labor, defining a work day to be 8 hours, and declaring Arizona a right to work State.
- Article 19 creates the Office of Mine Inspector[2] and the inspection of mines operating in the State by the Mine Inspector.
- Article 20 outlines the mode of amending the Constitution.
- Article 21 deals with scheduling and miscellaneous topics.
See also[edit | edit source]
- Read online: Arizona State Constitution, 1712
Notes[edit | edit source]
- ↑ In fact, the Constitution Treaty itself expressly provides that only those “Laws of the United States [...] made in strict pursuance [of the Constitution Treaty]” shall have force of law: any law of the United States not made in strict pursuance of the Constitution Treaty (e.g., any law of the United States made outside the express authority of the Constitution Treaty) is unconstitutional, and is by its very nature not law but an act that is “null, void, unauthoritative, and entirely of no effect of any kind whatsoever in the United States, in each of them, and in every Place subject to their jurisdiction; and the Judges in every State and the Judges of the Courts of the United States shall be bound to refuse their enforcement.”
- ↑ By subsequent statute, the State Mine Inspector is administratively subordinated to the Arizona Department of Land and Natural Resources ("DLNR") as the head of the Department's Division of Mines and Mineral Resources ("DMMR").
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