The Afro-American advance., 1899-11-11
TrR LEGISLATIVE BODY.
Confusion on the subject In state
Constitutions and Books of
References.

The members OF the union of states
have chosen various terms TO designate
their law wmaking bodies and the two
] Parts of those bodies; but these terms
are often tiisregarded where accuracy
/ is very desirable Newspapers and per-
sons constantly speak ct the "legisla.
| ture' when in faet3the name of the
/ law-m making body OF the state referred
10 is something very different.. Pick up
an almanac and YOU are likely to find
that it uses the term legislature for
every state IN the union, where the fact
is that less than half Of them have leg
| iflatures. " hat is more remarkable
| II you turn TO one of the several en-
cyclopetlias you will be unable to find
what the various states call their law.
making bodies The best encyclope-
dias tell you that the "legislatures" of
| certain states meet at certain times,
although these states have no legisla-
ure. Nearly every state has at least
one historian, and many of them have
dozen or score, yet search made
in large number of these histories
showed that=many of the historians
either did not know what was the name
OF the lawmaking body in their states
or they were too careless to use the
proper term.
As almanacs, encyclopedias and his
tories are not to be trusted, II is not
an easy task always 10 find out the
proper names OF the lawmaking bodies
q he r4ta he
names can be found is in the cOnstitu-
tions OF the states, but even the state
constitutions themselves are, some OF
them, rather careless in this respect,
and giving their trainers the benefit of
the doubt it may still be said that
the constitutions present a great de-
gree Of variety and lack Of uniformity.
Some of the state constitutions after
providing for lawmaking body. take
the trouble to say specifically that, for
instance, it shall be designated the
general assembly" The constitution
Of Michigan does not specifically give
n name 10 the lawmaking body, but re-
fcrs to IL as the legislature; and the
enacting clause of Michigan laws is
simply THE people of Michigan en-
act" Like Michigan. the states of New
York. New Jersey and Wisconsin do
not specifically say in their constitu-
tions that the name of the lawmaking
body shall be called the legislature, but
the term legislature is used to describe
the lawmaking body. And as in the
cas-. of Michigan the term Legislature
does not appear in the enacting clause
Of the laws New Hampshire has gen.
eral court. vet the constitution of that
state uses at times the term legisla-
ture. The constitution of Virginia, ar
ticle V. SAYS in section %: The leg
islature shall have power" and in sec
tion -; THE general assembly shall
have power" The fact that one OF
these sections was i'm the original con-
stitution and the other is an amend
ment may account for this aggravated
case. Pennsylvania is commonwealth
and has a general assembly, yet in
places the constitution uses the terms
state and Legislature. If anyone wants
10 know what Is the best name for the
lawmaking body of state he should
ask Kansas. The Kansas constitution
Of 1855 provided for general assem-
bly,, that of 1857 for legislature. that
Of 1883 for general assembly, and
that Of 1859 for a legislature. other
states have also changed the name OF
the legislative body.
The constitution Of 1s66-G7 OF the
state OF Nebraska vested the legislative
authority OF the state in n general as.
semhly," aud at the same time provided
that the enacting clause of laws should
be "Be it enacted by the Legislature
Of the state" The next constitution.
however. made the term read legisla-
ture in both places.
Oregon was the first state TO desig-
nate its lawmaking body the legisla-
tive assembly, and il was followed in
this matter by the new states of Mon
tana and North Dakota. Massachu-
setts and New Hampshire are the only
two states that have general courts:
10 have legislatures and the remain
ing II have general assemblies. II
will thus be seen that legally the term
general assembly is the most popular.
but there is no doubt that popuarly
the term legislature is far and away
the most in general use.
The states have nearly all agreed on
the same two terms, senate and house
of representatives, To designate the
two parts of the lawmaking body. How
ever. California, Nevada, New York
and Wisconsin use the terms senate
and assembly, Maryland, Virginia and
West Virginia, the terms senate and
house of delegates, while New Jersey
is the solitary state that uses the terms
senate and general assembly. All the
states except the eight mentioned use
the terms senate and house OF repre-
sentatives.
All members OF the union call them
selves states except Kentucky. Massa-
chusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
which call themselves commonwealth.
Rhode Island is unique In calling itself
"rhe State of Rhode Island and Provi.
dence Plantations"
North Carolina once called it's lower
house The house OF commons. ~.
Y. sun.
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