The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1877-02-22
9irl,n,ol,d lispatrl1,
THURSDAY ....... FEBRUARY 90. 1877.
Reapportionment.


Reapportionment.
Fhe amendments to the State Constitution
which were ratified by the people In No
yeraber last promise to afford to the Legis-
la.ure topic for endless disputation ana
contention. Opinions differ as to whether
this is OF is not the first session under tue
amended Constitution, and as to whether
re&pportionment OF senators and delegates
to go into operation this year, can OF
cannot be made during the present. ses"
sion. There have been many speeches
made in the two houses on each OF THESE
.oncstions. The House Of Delegates mas
already voted by a large majority t"a' 'n''
i The first session under the amendments
and The Senate will to-day vote upon the
same question. Considering that tnis - 'p'
same Legislature which passed the acs pio-
,.,a;ng for the submission OF the amend
mont 70 the people, it is rather amusing
than otherwise to witness the conflict OF
opinion upon the points to which we nave
herein referred.
The language OF the Constitution is, ono
session OF the General Assembly, after tue
mrs. under this amendment, shall continue
longer than ninety days unless" &c. Inc
amendment spoken OF was ratified BY. the
neonle in due form last November. The
Governor thereupon issued his proclama-
ton declaring that it had been SO ratified.
Article xii. OF the Constitution, under
which It was proposed for ratification, pro-
yides that the proposed amendment wheh SO
ratified .shall become part OF the consul
,pt;on." The amendment is therefore I'M
onestionablv already ga part OF the Con-
stitution." II, then, the present ses-
sion OF the General Assembly DC
not "the first under this amendment,
i. follows that the language OF the Constr
tuition is at fault, and should have been:
uSo session OF the General Assembly, after
the first under the apportionment PROVIDED
for in this amendment, shall continue longer
than ninety days unless" DC. Certainly
the present session is "the first under thls
amendment There can be no doubt about
that. The Legislature may have meant TO
use the language above quoted, but II dio
not do so. The words, "the first (sesslonJ
uudrr this amendment" are in the same ar
ticlc OF the Constitution which gives TO the
Legislature the power to remove the disa-
Utilities of duelliSts. That power has been
exercised by both houses 'under this
ameudment.". 1t would be little singular
il thew could convince the public thai one
norton of the article is in force and another
fha VIII Constitution
had been changed last fall, and the language
were .'the first session under this Constltu-
tom no one would doubt that this was the
first session so alluded to. The doubt has
arisen only because but portion OF the
Constitution is new. Yet we cannot see but
that the language as it stands is exactly the
same in effect as If it were ono session OF
the General Assembly, after the first under
this Constitution as amended, shall con-
tinue longer than ninety days unless &c.
Surely this last language expresses pre-
cisely what the language used in the amend
ment expresses. II so, the present session
of the General Assembly must be "the first
under this amendment 1t may. therefore,
extend till next October unless previously
the two houses adjourn sine die. @
But the question Of apportionment is
different one. The Constitution in terms
prescribes that the two houses shall consist
OF not more than so many members "from
and after the Tuesday succeeding the
first Monday in November, 1872" Or
dinariiya State Legislature has power to do
whateyer-is not forbidden to be done By the
Constitution itself; but in the case before
us a. new rule seems to apply. When
the Constitution provides that voter must
be twenty-one years old it does not in terms
prohibit the Legislature from providing by
law that the voter must be TWENTY-FIVE years
old. Yet no Legislature has ever exercised
such power; and if Legislature were to
pass such an act the courts would pro-
nounce it unconstitutional. Why! Be
cause e1pressio unius, &c. Because the
providing that voter shall be twenty-one
wears old is tantamount to providing that
he need not be older to be lawful voter.
So in the case before us, although the pro- !
Yiding that the House shall consist of not
more than one hundred members after No
vember, 1879, is not exactly the same thing
as providing that it shall consist OF the pre-
sent number until that time. it is so nearly
tantamount to such a provision that we
should certainly give the benefit OF the
doubt to the present number.
What then2 There is no difficulty in re-
conciling the two, provisions which we are
discussing. The apportionment can be
made at the present session, to take effect at
the time named in the Constitution, and the
present may also be decided to be the first
session of the General Assembly under the
amended Constitution. There are reasons
why the present General Assembly should
capportion the senators and delegates under
the amendment; but they must be appor-
toned, as the Constitution requires, Gao
cording to population" and not according
10 the census Of 1870.
The Duty of the House.
The Washington Union, after saying that