The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-18

! under which corporations may be orr ganized. and corporate powers conS ferred," and that will be without ob- Jection. Then 1t would be absolutely clear that no contract could be obtain ed under the general law that is not subject to amendment or repeal.
 Mir. Cobb-Then the amendment is wholly unnecessary. The power to l amend will remain in the Legislature | in the view taken by my friend from Lauderdale. The power to amend or 1 change a general law can never be | taken from the Legislature Of Alabama except by an express enactment In this Constitution. That is not provided here | at all: hence any amendment, such as he suggests. is wholly unnecessary. I do not object to the power remaining | in the Legislature, to amend these gen. eral laws under which corporations may be formed, If that is the object; ! the only objection to that Is that 1t is wholly unnecessary. but I do protest against any amendment being put into this section whereby the Legislature can amend an Act of incorporation granted by other authority than itself, because 1t is perfectly patent to every body that If that power to amend re mains in the Legislature, the power to form corporations remains there. | The President--The question will Rd upon the motion of the gentleman rom Lauderdale to reconsider the vote whereby the amendment was added p| | unanimous consent.
 MT. Reese--A motion to reconsider al this time is not in order.
 | The President-The motion to recon slider the vote whereby the amendment | was adopted Is in order under the rules. The Chair will refer the gentleman t" Rule 37--"A motion to reconsider 8 vote upon any incidental or subsidiary question shall not remove the main | subject under consideration from the | house, but shall be considered at the | time when 1t is made. MT Walker (Madison)-Under this provision. as it would be by the amend ment suggested by the gentleman rom Mobile, and I believe already incor- porated. the result would be that the Legislature would be required to pass general laws under which corporations might be formed. but would retain the lpower to amend the charters of cor porations formed under those general laws by a special law. Tn other words, a corporation could get its charter un- der a general law. but if it wanted more powers than the general laws conferred, it would simply have to go to the Legislature for special char l ter. so that the provision as to gen eral laws would amount to nothing Anybody could get a charter under the general law. and then If he wanted more power he would go to the Legisla- ture. and. by special law. get it amend ed. That is just what it means. That is what your language means.
 ! MT O'Neal Uauderdale}-We have | already adopted provision which says that the Legislature shall pass no lo- cal law, authorizing, amending, extend | ing charters of corporations. NOW, ln your judgment. does not this secuon, | in effect, repea, that provision ana 1 onen the doors to local legislation In this regard? Y. | MT. Walker-That is what it does. IL is utterly inconsistent with the pro- vision already adopted
 l MT. White-T desire to ask the gen. t,eman if 1t is not a fact now that cor porations which have obtained charters under the general law have not very largely and generally had them eH- tended by legislative enactment?
 r,eans the uerpetuation of that custom, ana unless this Convention is ready to nerpetuate the custom of people get ting charters under the general law. and then going to the Legislature ana getting everything they ask 1or' fhtnk this motion to reconsider ought to prevail, and that the amenomeht ought to be stricken out AL.
 MT. Harrison-As before stated the amendment which it is moved to re consider, was accepted by tne oo,nnoittee on the suggestion of the
 eentlemau from Mobile. Your com-
 ,n,ttee understood it as he has ex-
 nlained it. This section as originally
 drawn by the committee clearly gives
 +he right to the Legislature to repeal
 these general acts. I submit mat II IS | ayen witk the amendment not suo-
 feet to the construction placed upon 1t
 by the delegate from Madison. ana
 ask the attention of the Convention to
 a careful reading of it. If 1t !s subject 10 | that construction. your committee doeS
 not desire it. and it 1t Is not plalh'
 We are perfectly willing to guard it,
 inc obit ct of the committee being in
 accepting this amendment. first. to re-
 quire the Legislature to pass general
 laws under which corporations may be
 organized and corporate powers ob-
 tained. but they provide that neverthe-
 less these general laws by which they
 are incorporated may be altered.
 amended or repealed. and I submit that
 that is a fair construction of the mean
 ing of this article. That is all that Is
 meant by it. That is all We intended
 to nut in there. If 1t does not mean
 that without going into the trouble
 here of a reconsideration. and if he will
 suggest the phraseology. if there is any
 doubt about it in his mind we will be glad to accept it and save time. We
 are not figuring on principle at all. it
 is merely on construction and there is
 no use for parliamentary delay when
 We are all agreed upon what We want
 MT. Walker-1 suggest to relieve the
 matter of any question strike out all
 that clause after the word obtained" | down to the Semi-colon.
 MT Harrison-How would it suit you
 to insert after the word obtain" the
 word which general laws may he sub ject"
 Mir. Waker-That is all right.
 The President-Does the gentleman
 ask unanimous consent to so amend
 the article?
 MT. Pillans-I object. I want to give
 my reasons why 1 do not think that
 meets the views of the committee. The
 effect of that would be, as was shown
 by the gentleman from Macon. nothing
 more than to declare that the Legisla-
 ture could repeal a law which it had passed. and We know that it can do
 that withoutit being so declared.
 take it that what the committee wants
 to do is to retain some where in the Leg
 tslative powers of this State the right
 which this State has found it worth
 while to retain ever since the Constitu-