Court Opinion

ID: 3266955
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2016-07-05 16:35:20.149231+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:41:13.804545
License: Public Domain

It is insisted in the petition for rehearing that, inasmuch as we held in the original opinion that the members of the General Assembly were serving, not as members of the Legislature in session, but as a committee of the Legislature after the adjournment of the session, the act of the Legislature is in conflict with 10 of article 5 of the Constitution, which provides that "No Senator or representative shall, during the time for which he shall have been elected, he appointed or elected to any civil office under this State."
We do not agree with counsel in this contention. The act does not create or confer an office. It was not required that the members of the General Assembly who were named as members of the committees should take an oath of office before entering upon the performance of the duties imposed upon them by the act. Certain duties were imposed upon these committee members which were not incumbent upon members of the General Assembly who were not members of the committee, but these were duties which were to be performed by the committee members as members of the General Assembly. These duties related to the work of the General Assembly of which the committee were members and were incident to their membership in the General Assembly, and there was therefore no creation of new offices.
The petition for rehearing is therefore denied.