The Springdale news., 1890-02-14

could prevent It ny any proper parliamentary proceedings Ac- cordingly they raised the question ot consideration, deranded the yeas and nays and on the call of the roll refrained from voting. The result was that less than n consti- tutional quorum voted, but the 1 Speaker, in violation of the uniform practice of the House for more than century, proceeded 10 count members who were present, but not voting, and declared that the House had decided to take the case up. From this decision an appeal was taken, and on q motion 10 lay this appeal on the table, the yeas and nays were taken and less than a quorum voted, but the Speaker again counted members not voting and declded that the motion was agreed to, and his ruling thereby sustained.
 oNsTITUTIoNAL. PROVISIONS.
 The Constitution of tie United States provides that n majority of each House shall constitute q quo rum to do buslness, but smaller number may adjonrn from day to day, and may be authorized to com pei the attendance of absent mem- { bers in such manner and under such penalties as each House may pro vide.
 Another clause of tho eonstitu- ton requires each House to keep q journa' of It's proceedings, and pro- yides chat when one-fifth of the members present desire it the yeas and nays shall be takon on any question and entered on the iourn- al. Since the beginning of the gov ernment under the CoustituIon, more than 100 years ago, the House of Representatives and the Senate have uniformly construed the first clause of the Constitution quoted above To mean that a majority of all of the members elect must be present and actually participate in the transaction of business, and that whenever, upon call of he yeas and nays, il appeared from the journal, which is the only official record, that less than tine constitu. tioHal quorum had voted on any proposition, the vote was nallity and no further business could be done until the requisite number ap. peared and voted. Every presid- ing officer in the Senate and every Speaker of the House except the present one, has held tbat when less than quorum voted on a call of the yeas and nays, no matter how many might be actually present, 1t was hls duty to take notice of the fact and declare that the pending bill or motion had hot passed.
 When the vote is not taken by yeas and nays it is not entered upon the journal, but If any member makes the point that no quorum has voted, the proceeding is a nullity and the vote must be taken over. The presumption of the law is Chat when nothing appears to the contrary the proceedings of a legis- latlve body arc regular and valid, and therefore when the official rec ord does not show that less than quorum voted, or attention IS not called to the fact that in such q way as to furnish legal evidence of it, the question cannot be made af terwards. Many bills have been passed when there Was no quorum voting, and it is equally true that many have passed when there was DO quorum actually present, but this does not prove that the pro- ceedings would have been valid in either case if the ofliclal record had shown the fact
 ARULE IN JURISPRUDENCE,
 In order to secure certainty and stability in the administration of the law, il IS rule m our .iurispru. dencc that when particular con struction of a Constitution or q statute has been for q long time ac- qulesccd to, not only by those whose duty It IS to execute it, but also by those whose personal and l property rights are affected by Ii, the courts wall recognize It as the true constructor and enforce il ac. cordlngly. Even If this were an original question it would not be difficult to show that the practical construction of the Constitution winch has prevailed In the House and Senate for over 100 years IS the correct one. Speaker Reed