The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-12-30

clerks official connection with the ofiS-
inal journal-except the duty Of copying
it for the printer-ceases upon Ills deliver
ing it to the secretary of state for safe
keeping after it has been signed by the
speaker and himself. From and after
that time he has no custody OF 1t, no COIL
troll over it,. no right to its possession
except for the specific purpose above re-
ferred to, no power to alter 1t nor to pre-
vent others from altering it. and is I'M
der no duty to keep 1t safely or to pre-
serve it from mutilation or Interpolation
This extract from that case Is INDUCED
to show that the journal, whatever 1t
may be, is the one record required by
law to be filed with the secretary of
state as the journal, well as to show
that it cannot thereafter be amended or
added to by the clerk. All our decisions
refer to this memorial in the secretary of
states office as the record to which
courts will look in ascertaining at last
whether a statute has legal existence
Montgomery Beer Bottling Works vs..
CASTOR, judge of probate, etc, 126 Ala. 44S.
See also Brodie's case. 14S Ala $751;
In the case of Walker VS.. Griffith, GO
Ala. S64-5. the supreme court says:
Doubtless the sections OF that instru-
ment which prescribe rules concerning
the introduction and progress of bills
through the two houses of the general as
sembly, and the conduct -af their business
are mandatory upon the members of
those bodies. The obligation to observe
them, arising from their accepting the po-
sition of legislators, is confirmed by the
official oath they take-the same oath by
which judges are bound to faithful aud
conscientious discharge of their duties.
In such inquiries the journals
would, of course have to be resorted
to; and when the constitution requires
that a particular thing shall be necessary
to the validity of an act of legislation,
and that the journal must show that this
thing was done-as, for instance, the
passage of a bill by yeas and nays
which shall be entered on the journals
unless they do show it. the act cannot
be accepted as constitutionally adopted
The thing thus required is an additional
means, outside of the enrolled act, but
in concurrence with the signatures OF
the speaker Of the house of representa-
tives and the president of the senate upon
it, authenticating its passage through tn
two houses, and renders the forgery OF
such an act more difficult And as the
passage of it by the yeas and nays can
not, according to the constitution, be
shown otherwise than by journals, they
must, in respect to it. import absolute
verify" The existence or non-existenca
of the statute depends on their testimony
whether they speak are silent"
Now, what does the ''one' record of the
senate journal show? The bill was re-
ferred to the committee on local legisla-
ton. What did that committee do? We
do not know, except by inference or i'm
agination AS to the committees acting
on the matter in committee meeting Gin
session., the record is silent as the
grave. Section 60 of the constitution
reads as follows:
Sec e. No bill shall become a law
until it shall have been referred to
standing committee of each house, acted
upon by such committee in session.. and
returned therefrom, which facts shall at
Tentatively appear upon the journal OF
each house."
The supreme court in constituting this
section of the constitution says:
How shall these facts be made part
of the journal? How shall they appear
thereon? The reference is made by the
house itself, and is properly shown. can
only be shown, indeed, by the journal Of
its proceedings Similarly the fact of the
return from reference into the house Is
a thing occurring in the house and Oh
proper even necessary notation in any
accurate setting forth of its proceedings
The only other fact required to appear
on the journal in this connection is that
the committee was in session when 1t act
ed on the bill, that the bill was acted
upon by the committee in session" Walk
er vs. city council of Montgomery, 1ss
Ala. ATT.
Must Appear on journal.
That the committee acted upon the mat
ter in session must affirmatively appear
upon the journal of the house.
What else does the senate journal GER
tifed by the secretary of state show?
On the final passage of the bill tho names
of the senators voting nay are not set
out This omission is fatal, for the con-
stitution requires that the names appear
upon the journal. Its language is plain
and unmistaka ble as will appear from the
reading OF section So, which is as fol-
lows:
Section g. Every bill shall be read
on three different days in each house,
and no bill shall become a law unless on
its final passage 1t be read at length and
the vote be taken by yeas and nays, the
| names of the members voting for and
against the same be entered upon the
Journals, and majority of each house
be recorded thereon as voting in its favor,
except as otherwise provided in this con-
stitution.'' -
The journal imports absolute verify"
| and the existence or non-existence of the