Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1910-01-07
follows:

follows:
"Secton IA. The votes and pro-
ceedings of the general assembly shall
be printed (when one third Of the
| members of either house think IL
necessary as soon as convenient af-
\ ter the end of each session, with the
yeas and nays of the house Of repre-
sentatives on any question when re-
| quired by ten members, and of the
senate when required by two sena-
! tors, (excent where the votes shall be
! taken by ballot, in which case every
member of either house shall have
right to insert the reasons of his vote
| upon the minutes"
The constitution now provides that
any one member Of the general as
| sembly tmcaning at the time of the
adoption OF the constitution the house
! of represented s, may require the
! yeas and nays to be called upon any
! question. This provision at times
! has been abused. Ii certainly invites
diliatory tactics and puts it within the
power of an individual member to un-
reasonably retard the progress of
| business. 1t is within common
knowledge that the yeas and nays are
often demanded for that purpose
alone.
There is only one other state which
gives one member that right, aud that
| is the state of Delaware, whose lower
! house consists of only thirty five
| members. Other states which have
any constitutional provision on the
| subject require more than one member
or else some fraction of the mem
| bership, like Une-tenth. one-siXth
or oneiifth. In the beginning
the membership of the house OF repre-
sentativcs was small and the right of
one member to demand the yeas and
nays then was a very different thing
from permitting II now.
The size of the house requires that
the right should appertain to a GER
tain number OF members instead of
certain fraction Of the membership;
otherwise, the determination OF the
fraction would practically result In
making the same delay as the calling
of the yeas and nays itself
PROPOSAL FIVE
That Section 20 Of Chapter of the
Constitution be amended to read as
follows:
Section 20. No person ought In
any case, or in any time, to be de-
clared guilty Of treason or felony, by
the legislature, nor to have his SEN
tence upon conviction for felony COM
muted, remitted or mitigated by the
legislature.
And that Section II of Chapter 2
be amended by emitting the words
land murder" where they occur
ttgr-in.
Section il Of u apter 2, relating to
the powers OF the executive. provides
that the governor shall have power
TO grant pardons and remit fines. in
all cases whatsoever, except in trea-
son and murder; in which they the)
| shall have power to grant reprieyes,
but not to pardon, until after the end
of the next session of the assembly,
and except in cases of Impeachment,
in which there shall be no remission
| or mitigation of punishment but by
act Of legislation. The inference is
drawn from the above that the power
to commute sentences for murder,
which is withdrawn from the govern
or, was intended to be given to the
general assembly, and the general as
sembly is accustomed to exercise that
right, if not by inference from the
passage quoted, then under its unre-
stricted sovereign powers.
The right to extend mercy to per-
son convicted OF murder in the first
degree being withdrawn from the gov
ernor by the constitution, Section
1866 of the Public Statutes provides,
in order to permit the legislature to
extend such mercy if it chooses, that
mo person sentenced to suffer the
punishment of death shall be executed
previous to the first day of January
after the close Of the session OF the
general assembly following such SEN
tence."
The execution of a death sentence
is thereby usually postponed from one
to two years, and an appeal to the
legislature for communication is practi-
cally always made. The attorneys
and friends of the convicted man are
not considered to have exhausted his
defense until such an appeal is made
and strenuousy pressed. The result
is that the case of every person con
victed of murder in the first degree
must be threshed over in the legisla
ture, and the evidence and proceed
ings are supposed to be reviewed and
reconsidered by large body neither
trained nor intended for such work.
If the purpose of such review is to
see whether any mistake or error has
been made in the trial, that is purely
a judicial question and should apper-
tain finally to the supreme court. If
it be a question of mercy, it is a
principle common to all American con-
stitutons that such a question Is ex-
ecutive and should appertain to the
governor or a pardoning board.
There are special and justifable
reasons why the power to remit or
mitigate punishment in case of trea-
son or impeachment might be taken
from the governor, as such cases Of
ten involve executive officers or else
affect the general public safety; but
neither of those considerations apply
to the case of murder. The consid-
Grafton of individual murder cases by