The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1892-09-20


the elective members of the Legisla-
ture"
Article 40 provides that Ia major
lty (of the LEGISLATURE shall consti-
tute quorum to do business" Is a
majority of members a fixed guam
tity, to wit, 27, whatever the number
Of representatives l contend that
the quorum is a variable, and not a
constant, and depends on the actual
number of members of the House,
present and absent.
II it were intended to fix by the
Constitution the number of members,
and not the proportion of members,
who could do business as a quorum.
that number should be specified as
mot less than 81"
What greater reason IS there for
holding that a majority of the mem
bers OF the Legislature must always
be II in number than that the Legis-
lature itself must always be 50 in
number?
Representative government is not
complete, it is true, when any por-
ton of the electors are even tempo
rariiy unrepresented; but the legis,
lative body is nevertheless a legal
body for doing business, whether its
membership is full or not.
4 vote Of all the members is taken,
/ ii all the members who are in being
cast their votes. So vote of ma
jority of the members cannot mean a
majority Of any greater number than
| that which represents all the living
! members.
The word elective" is used to dis
tinguish the members from Minis
ters, who are members, but not
elected.
| Neither the word "all" nor ''elec-
tive" has the effect of increasing the
number required for majority vote,
beyond the actual number In exist
ence, so that the construction must
be the same as If the expression were
"a majority Of the members not in
Guiding the Ministers"
That expression must mean a ma
jority of the members for the time
being, and not of the number of
members which the Legislature may
legally contain. 1t may contain 50,
including Ministers, but it is not
necessary that it contain that num-
Der in order to be legal body and
do business.
This question is referred to the
Judges in order to obtain a non
partisan result, which can be sus-
tanned by clear reasoning. This re-
qufres careful distinctions between
corporate and legislative acts.
Corporate powers are so often de-
termined by statutes, charters and
bylaws, that much Of the law ap-
piled to corporate acts is inapplicable
to Legislative acts.
For instance, the rule which re-
quires that every stakeholder be per-
sonally notified of corporate meet
ing, unless he has agreed that such
notice may otherwise be given, and
that no action binding on the corpo-
ration can be taken at a meeting of
which such notice was not given
is a rule which is based on the SINH
larity of corporation law to the law
of agency. The powers given to the
directors must be clearly authorized
both by the charter and by the stock
holders.
But legislative body is not a cor
poration composed of stockhol ders.
The electors of a state eloct their
representatives, not as delegates or
mere agents, but to make laws for
the whole state.
In the absence of any provision in
the fundamental law under which
the law making body is established,
majority of its members can, by
rules of common law, form law
fully organized Legislature. 1t is
by Kyd in his work on Corporations
is correct, although disapproved by
Angel and Ames, viz: Sat common
law independently of any specific
constitution, when the power of act
ing Is entrusted to any specific num-
Der, whether definite or indefinite,
any number of the whole body how
ever minute is sufficient to form
legal assembly, If properly summon
ca W dbGCAu nuS ~ vi Iuc c.JC
members of the House of Commons
form a House. There is no provi-
sion in the Constitution by which
there can be no lawfully organized
Legislature unless fifty two members
are in existence. In cases of corpo-
rations, IF there be not surviving
number of constitutional members,
no corporate assembly, say those
authorities, can be formed and the
functions of every meeting in which
that class ought to participate are
suspended; and according to some
authorities, the corporation is even
dissolved. Angel and Ames on
Corp. No. SOB.
According to that view, "there
must be present at corporate as
sembly, besides the president) a ma
jority of each integral part, if COM
posed of a definite number, and not
merely majority of the surviving
or existing numbers of each class"
-Ib.
All the corporation cases on the
subject hinge on the distinction be-
tween a corporate act to be done by
definise number OF persons, and
ono IN ba rerfNrmo1 nv an indofi nita