The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-01-23
D. LAUTER co.,
PIANOS AND ORGANS,
Broad ST., Newark.

side been heard it is reasonable to infer that
the opinion might have been modified. Let
us remember, too, that this opinion is not
law; it is an opinion, and as coming from
the legal officer of the State, is entitled to
our respect, and to be compared with the
views Of many other distinguished legal gen
tlemen who have given the subject careful
consideration.
with only a portion of the case before
him, and that prepared for the purpose, the
Attorney General, in his closing paragraphs
| states that when they the credentials) are
in proper form and there is 40 dispute as to
the authority of the party who makes the
certificates, it has been the universal Gus
tom to admit the claimant to his seat His
Excellency, the Governor, appends to this
statement his own earnest words and de-
clares, Tt would thus seem to be the COM
mon law of the legislative bodies mentioned,
established by uniform custom and prece-
dent that a claimant presenting credentials
| regular in form and attested by proper au-
thorities, should in the first instance be
seated thereon Upon these two strong
| opinions of Democratic officials the eleven
Republican Senators rest their case; while
not strenuous as to details and anxious to
end this unseemly strife, they demand the
simple and universal methods as attested in
the opinion above quoted.
l. TO ASSERT THEIR LEGAL RIGHTS.
eff these efforts at settlement should
prove unavailing, it would then become us,
Mr.. President, to assert our legal rights n
| go forward in the line of duty. Were the
| conditions reversed, and were we standing
in the position OF the gentlemen on the
Democratic side, who doubts that we would
be placed in the pillory of public scorn and
denounced as revolutionists OF the boldest
types
''This body, composed of eleven Senators,
| is the true Senate Of the State of New Jer-
sey. Consider the reasons therefor:
II. 1t is composed of persons fully quail
fed to act. The State Constitution Section
2, Article a. gives such right to those who
are duly elected by the legal voters Of the
county. The nomination and election ac-
| cording to law, the canyassing of
the returns and the official deposit of
the same with the County Clerk
and his certificate signed and sealed, consti-
of New Jersey. From hat moment he is
designated as a member or a member elect
| and when the oath prescribed in Sec. 8, Art.
4 is taken he is under the law entitled to take
his seat and to possess all the rights of a
member of this body.
ss2. This Senate has, according to Sec. 2,
Art. 4 of the Constitution a constitutional
majority, which, according to Sec. 4, Art. 4,
| paragraph 6, is necessary to do business. A
lesser number has the solitary function of
adjourning and sending for absentees, in
order to make up the requisite quorum. In
no instance Cdu DD6 dCUS y 10SS Ulhu d IldJO1-
ity of the entire body have any legal signifi-
canoe.
"3. This Senate was organized on the day
designated in the Constitution, within the
Capitol of the State, and at the usual hour.
Unable, by reason of violence and u I
ton, to occupy the customary place, its menu
berS retired to a committee room, and after
inviting the Democratic Senators to partici-
pate went through the constitutional forms.
Certificates were presented, inspected and
| accepted; oaths of office were subscribed,
and twenty-one Senators were called and
were present or within hearing.
"a. The contention that Senators must be
sworn before holder members is shown by
Sec. s, Art. 4, to be unfounded. That clause
| provides that nleinberS-elect OF the Senate
are empowered to administer to each other
the oath of affirmation. Were it necessary
to appear before the old members, this pro-
| vision of our State Constitution would be alb
| solutely without meaning. Its very pres
| ence in the instrument is proof that its
| trainers considered all smembers-elect' mem
| bers of the body, of the House; otherwise,
how could they be entitled to administer {
qualifying oatha Furthermore, four Sena
tors who were holdovers and refused t.
resort to revolutionary methods took part
in the organization. 1t is conceivable that
between the day of the election and the day
| designated for the commencement of. the
| legislative year, the Senate should be sum-
| moned for special session and though some
| dreadful accident the lives of all sacrificed.
| The new members would then have no per-
sons through whom they could derive sena-
| torial succession, and who shall say they
could not exercise their functions as MEM
| bers of the Senate and order wrlts OF election
to fill the constitutional quota?
VA. The newly elected members constitut-
! ing a class according to Sec. 2, Art. 4 have
coordinate rights with the other two classes.
| To prevent new member from acting until
| the older members have given their sanction,
is to establish not only a new test OF mem
bership, but to set up an order of privilege
which is foreign to the Constitution. The
danger of such q theory is apparent to al.
o A CONTINUOUS D
&c. The senate is notin any true sense a
continuous body. It's organization and its
| power to act closes with each legislative
year. 1t is true that Senators are elected
| for three years and one oath covers
the entire period, but the body
is lew, although composed of some
| members who served the previous
wear. The work Of the year ends definitely;
| the terms of officers and clerks have always
| ended and rules nave to be adopted at each
| organization. The two houses are made com
| Elementary as regards business, and both adj
iourn on Joint resolution and expire, with
| no Inherent power to call themselves to-
gether until the time prescribed in the Con-
stitution for a new organization, There is
| an unbroken record OF new organization,
| and hitherto no man has ayerred that the
| Senate had continuous functions until the
present year, when a new idea is asserted
| with persistent desperation. to enable a
CLIQUE of men to continue in power after the
| people had pronounced against them judg-
ment of condemnation in the most emphatic
terms.