The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-13
rr. o'Neal--No, sir: don't believe

MT. ONeal--No, SIT; l dont peneVe I do.
 A vote being taken. the previous question was ordered, and a further vote being taken, Section 5 was adopted.
 MT. watts--I want to offered an ad- ditional section.
 The President-There Is a Section z offered by the committee, which the clerk will read.
 Section 2 was read as follows: The General Assembly shall pass general laws under which local and private in- terests shall be provided for and pro- tected.
 have adopted and we Will w"hora" that.
 MT. Harrison-I move to lay that on
 Mr. O'Neal-we ask leave to with draw that section.
 Unanimous leave was given and the section was withdrawn.
 MT, Boone-Now ask leave to oner an additional section.
 The section was read as lohoMs Section !. The courts can take Juoi- cial notice of any municipal charter.
 Mir Boone-I do not suppose t .h;s it was the purpose or tnls . convention in abolishing iaw that has been in exis,en.r ever since the case of Albritton vs City of Huntsville. 60 Ala, that the oupren,s Courts and all inferior courts Wou take iudicial knowledge or muhicip"' charters. That decision was also an novrced in the case of Barnes Vs. DIT min pham s9 Ala. and unless tnls amendment is adopted in every case against a municipal corporation yos would have to go to the troupie 1uU expense under Section 6 maKins mu cipal charters private laws. ol p; a;s, them as the Supreme Court has agaln ana again decided that private iaw must be proved like any other evioence
 MT, O'Neal-will the gentleman d. low me to ask question!
 MT. Boone-Yes, sir.
 MT O'Neal-Could not the legislature in the absence of that provision pass A law making private laws evidence in courts without further proof. IS not that purely matter or leglsiatlVe detail and ought that to De incorpo- rated in the Constitution! Is IL not simply a rule of evidence! fou say that the private acts of munlclpanty shall be received Tn courts "o0S further evidence?
 
 MT. O'Neal-That is a rule Of eVi- dence?
 MT. Boone-Yes. sir.
 MT. .O'Neal-Is not the power of the to establish rules as 10 thls matter unlimited?
 Mir. Boone-I do not know whether it would be under this subdivision or not. If you provide that it is a private law and thereby change the laws oi evidence in this State, it seems to me that all those matters would nave to be proved as any other matter or eNi- dence. The minute this CohsIitueioh Is put into effect it holds that IL IS private law and being private law 1T must he proyed: and from the time this Constitution is ratified and that law or rule of evidence is stricken down it would be a question whether the legislature could change 1t or not. Rut assuming it could change II, II could not be made effective until of the General Assemoly lo mass it. I ask the Chairman ot the to allow this to be put in and not abolish the saiutary rule in the interest of people and cutting down expenses o2 municipal corpora tions in defending suits and also ilrnlt- ing the expenses of piaintiIts pfihs- ing suits against municipalities where it would be necessary to copy Tn, at expense. long charters. The charters of the city of Montgomery and of Mo bile make hundreds of pages and l do not see any necessity for copying them in and I do not see why it should not be provided that the 'ourts snouIu take notice of such matter.
 Mir. O'Neal-The only objection nave is that the legislature can in their dls- cretion provide any rules of evidence they may see proper. They can, by general law, provide that any private law passed by any municipality in the State shall be received in the courts without further proof. l am willing that this question be referred to the Judiciary Committee and if they say it cannot be provided for by the legls- lature, l am willing to let it come in here.
 MT. Boone-No. l prefer to take a vote now.
 Mir. O'Neal-Then I move to lay the additional section on the table.
 A vote being taken the amendment was tabled.
 MT. NWatts-I offer an additional sec tion.
 The amendment was read as follows. Amend the report of the Committee oli Local Legislation by adding an addi- tional section, to be known as Section { as follows:
 Sec. 2. No bill introduced as a gen. eral law into either House of the Gen. eral Assembly shall be so amended in it's passage as to become special, pri- Vate or local law.
 MT. Watts-That. MT. Chairman, is simply to provide for one omission in the Article on Local Legislation, to provide for amendments. so that a bill could not be introduced as gen. eral law and then amended in its pas sage, so as to become a local law.
 MT. deGraffenreid-Have we not al ready adopted that.
 MT. Watts-No, sir. 1 move the pre- Vious question.
 MT. Long (Walker)-A point of or der. That is an entirely different or dinance, and entirely different section and 1t has to be referred and read three times before 1t can be adopted It is very dangerous to pass ordinances that have not been referred to a Com mlttee, or printed, in direct violation of the rules. That is the point of order I make.
 The Presidential seems to the chail that a Committee may amend its re port. or any delegate may move tC amend the report of the Committee, b! changing any section. or to add addi tiofial sections, and the point or ordel will be overruled.
 Upon vote being taken, the mail question was ordered.
 MT. O'Neal Eauderdale)-I mov' that the entire article on Local Legis IoI;oy, ha anorOzSad and ordered tO