The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1869-05-27

what number Of members may con-
stitntn the q House. If the House |
Of Representatives consists only of |
ono hundred members, then two
thirds of one huEdred-or sixty
seven-will be necessary for quorum
Buff it may consist Of eighty mem
bers-there being twenty Vacancies
two thirds of eighty. or ffty-four,
will constitute the quorum. Does it
require all the members elected, or
authorized by law to be elected, to
constitute the House?
Clearly not. IF it were so, then
State Legislatures or the Congress of
the United States would seldom have
an organized or legal existence. Leg
islative bodies, especially those com
posed of large mum bers, are seldom
full. 1t happens, a great part of the
time, that there are vacancies In every
legislative body, growing out OF the
failure to elect, contested elections,
designations, or death. When va
cancies occur by resignation or death,
| they are never filed without some
/ delay, and oftentimes last throughout
the session. Legislative bodies are
/ organized and proceed to business
while seats are left vacant, because Of
the failure to elect, failure to qualify,
| or contested elections. And yet in
| all these cases the members that
actually appear and qualify, or those
/ that remain after the death or resig
naaOn of others, are held to eonsti
tute/ the House." and to possess a
legal existence as a legislative body.
The law provides for the election
of one hundred members to the II ouse
Of Representatives of this State. Ii
from any cause, there should be a
failure to elect In ten counties, and
the numb of members actually
elected should be only ninety, yet
when they meet and organize they
would constitute the House be-
yond all question, and two thirds of
the House," by the express Ian
guage of the Constitution, would form
quorum. Or, If one hundred mem
bers be elected and take their seats,
and ten of them afterwards die or re-
sign, the remaining ninety would con-
stitute the House" This is a nee
essary law to all legislative bodies ;
for full numbers can seldom be main
tanned Therefore the House" I'M
der either Constitution, does not con-
sist of the whole mum Der of members
elected or authorized by law to be
elected, but of the whole number of
actual members.
If, when the House meets, there be
one hundred members elected and
qualified, it would require sixty seven
TO constitute the quorum. If, on the
next day, two members should die, the
remaining ninety eight would consti-
tute the " House." and two-thirds of
that nun ber-sixty- six-WOuld CON
stitute the quorum. If, on the third
day, forty members resign, the re-
naming fifty eight will constitute the
House, and forty will constitute the
Iquorum. The number necessary to
constitute a quorum will, therefore,
change from time to time with the
actual membership of the House"
The quorum is intended to maintain a
proportion of members present to the
actual membership, and not to the
number of members authorized by
law to be elected.
Section Is of Article w reads as
follows: Every bill shall be read
by sections on three several days in
each House, unless, in case of emer-
gency, by vote of two. thirds of the
/
pending, it shall be deemed expedient
to dispense with this rule" The cor
responding provision in the old Con-
stitution of 1916, was in these words !:
" Every bill shall be read on three
several days in each House, unless, by
vote Of two-thirds of the House
where the bill may be depending,
shall deem it expedient to dispense
{ Ia
the practice, under either Constitu
ton, that the suspension of the
rules required sixty seven votes In the
House or thirty four in the Senate,
although the phraseology is precisely
the same with that employed In the
eleventh section of the fourth article.
which declares that two thirds of
each House shall constitute a quorum
10 do business" Ii the phrase two
thirds of each House means sixty
seven members in the House of Repre-
sentatives and thirty four in the SEN
i ate to make a quorum, it would mean
the same thing for the suspension of
the rules, which has been settled the
other way.
By section fourteen of article four,
two thirds Of either House may expel
1
either House is meant sixty seven
votes in the House and thirty-four in
the Senate, then a Representative
could never be expelled by less than
sixty seven votes, or a Senator by less
than thirty four votes, which is not
contended for by anybody. If it were
so, and the House of Representatives
were reduced to sixty-seVen mem bers,
| q Il hn o@
to expel a member for corruption, in
Guiding that of the culprit himself:
and his expulsion would destroy the
Legislature. But it is said this view
cannot be maintained, because by the
twenty-ffth section Of the seventh
article of the Constitution it Is pro-
vided that majority of the mem
bers elected to each House shall be
necessary to pass every bill or joint
resolution" That under this section
ffty-one votes would be required to
pass bill. and therefore that the
quorum could never consist of less
than fifty-One members. 1t will be
observed that the language of this
section is entirely different from that
of the eleventh section, which pro-
videS for the quorum. The eleventh
section declares that tiCO thirds OF
each House shall cons itute a quorum; :"
but this section declares that - a ma
jority of the members elected to each
House shall be necessary to pass every
bill or joint resolution. This, there
fore, is an independent and arbitrary
provision, regulating the final passage
/ of bills and joint resolutions, and has
; nothing whatever to do with the ques-
) ton OF the quorum,
} Again, in section Il of the Fifth
5 Article the votes of a .mainritv OF