It is a part of the speaker's functions to authenticate by his signature all bills and resolutions passed by the House and all communications made by it to other branches of the government.11 His more important duties are, however, to preside and preserve order during the proceedings. "It is the duty of the presiding officer: To call the assembly to order at the time appointed for the meeting. To ascertain the presence of a quorum. To cause the journal or minutes of the preceding meeting to be read and passed upon by the assembly. To lay before the assembly its business in the order indicated by the rules. To receive any propositions made by the members and put them to the assembly. To divide the assembly on questions submitted by him and to announce the result. To decide all questions of order, subject to an appeal to the assembly.12 To preserve order and decorum in debate and at all other times. To enforce such of the rules of the assembly as are not placed in charge of other officers, or of which the enforcement is not reserved by the assembly. To answer all parliamentary inquiries and give information as to the parliamentary effect of proposed acts of the assembly. To present to the assembly all messages from co-ordinate branches, and all proper communications. To sign and authenticate all the acts of the assembly, all its resolves and votes. To name a member to take his place until adjournment of the meeting. And in general: To act as the organ of the assembly, and as its representative, subject always to its will." 13 In the House of Representatives, the speaker has the further power to appoint all standing committees, unless otherwise specially ordered by the House.14 The powers of recognition and of the appointment of committees which are vested in the speaker give him almost absolute control of the business transacted; and it is the custom in the House of Representatives of the United States, and also in the lower houses of the State legislatures, for him to exercise these for partisan purposes, and 11 Field v. Clark, 143 U. S., 649, 671; Carr v. Coke (S.C.), 22 S. E. Rep., 16; Wyatt v. Wheeler (S.C.), 22 S. E. Rep., 120. The effect of his signature will be considered later. 12 There is no appeal from such a decision by the speaker of the House of Commons (Reed's Parliamentary Rules, p. 37, note). 13 Ibid., § 34, pp. 36-38; see also House Rules I and X of 53d Congress. 14 Rule X of 53d Congress. to act as the leader of the majority, with the assistance of a member who is chosen by a caucus or assumes by common consent the position of leader on the floor. He thus is responsible for the action of the House, and discharges in this respect many of the legislative functions of the prime minister under a system of cabinet government. He has not, however, like the latter, any control over the executive; and his power and that of the majority behind him are subject to the checks of the President and the courts, as well as of the upper house. In the House of Commons, on the other hand, the speaker, during the past century, has maintained a dignified impartiality. The speaker, being a member of the House, does not lose the right to vote upon every question which is vested in him on behalf of the constituency which he represents." 15 The rules provide that he shall not be required to vote in ordinary legislative proceedings, except when his vote would be decisive, or where the house is engaged in voting by ballot; and in all cases of a tie vote the question shall be lost." 16 Since a proposition is defeated by a tie vote as well as by a majority of one against it, it has been said that the speaker under this rule is never required to vote except in case of a ballot. In the United States the speaker is liable to suit in the courts for a trespass that he has committed under the order of the House.18 The rule is otherwise in Great Britain, where each House of Parliament is still treated as a court, the decisions of which are respected by other judges even though they believe them to be erroneous.19 15 The right of the speaker to vote when there is no tie was established in 1803 upon the adoption of the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution. Nathaniel Macon of Virginia, who was then Speaker, made up by his vote the necessary two-thirds in favor of the amendment, thus disregarding as unconstitutional the House rule then in force which forbade him to vote except in case of a tie. (Benton, Thirty Years' View, vol. i, p. 118.) Henry Clay, when speaker in 1817, voted in favor of an internal improvement bill which Madison had vetoed. 16 Rule I of 53d Congress, which was originally adopted April 7th, 1789. 17 Crutchfield, Digest and Manual of the Rules and Practice of the House of Representatives (1893), p. 534. 18 Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 U. S., 168; Kielley v. Carson, 4 Moore, P. C., 63. 19 Burdett v. Abbott, 14 East, 1; Bradlaugh v. Gossett, 12 Q. B. D., 271. § 73. Other Officers of the House. The other officers of the House of Representatives are similar in name and functions to those in the House of Commons and the State legislatures, the clerk, sergeant-at-arms, doorkeeper, postmaster and chaplain, all of whom are elected by the House from persons not members, and appoint their subordinates.1 They hold office after the expiration of the Congress at which they were chosen and until their successors are chosen and qualified. The chief duty of the clerk is to keep the records of the House and to make the preliminary entries in the journal subject to correction by the speaker and the House. He has also, by rule and statute, the important duty to call the preliminary roll of members upon the organization of each Congress, and to preserve order and decide all questions of order subject to appeal until the House has elected a permanent or temporary speaker.1 This gives him an enormous power, which might be used to pack the House with members not elected, since it is the practice to refuse to entertain motions to amend the preliminary roll and to entertain no appeals from such decisions.5 The sergeant-at-arms, as his name denotes, is the military officer of the House. His duties are to preserve order, to execute the commands of the speaker against members and strangers, and thus to protect the House from attacks from within and without. In conjunction with the sergeant-at-arms of the Senate he appoints the capitol police; and he is also the disbursing officer of the House.8 The duties of the doorkeeper, postmaster and chaplain sufficiently appear from their respective names.9 All these officers are, in the United States, although not in Great Britain,10 responsible to the courts for trespasses committed § 73. 1 Rule II of 53d Congress. 2 Ibid. 3 Rules I, III. 4 U. S. Rev. St., § 31; Rule III. See supra, § 38, over note 87; infra, Ch. XVI. 5 See proceedings at the organization of the 41st Congress and subse quently referred to by Crutchfield, Digest and Manual, ed. of 1893, p. 302. 626 St. at L., p. 645; Rule IV. 7 U. S. Rev. St., § 1821. 8 26 St. at L., p. 645. 9 Rules V, VI, VII. 10 Burdett v. Abbott, 14 East, 1; Private citizens whom in obedience to the orders of the House.11 they have thus unlawfully arrested may be taken from their custody by the writ of habeas corpus; 12 but it has been held that no court has power to control the action of the clerk of a legislative house in making up its preliminary roll.13 Bradlaugh v. Gossett, 12 Q. B. D., 271; 11 Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 U. S., 168; supra, § 74 and infra. 12 In the Matter of Kilbourn, S. C. D. C., by Carter, C. J., cited by Cooley, Constitutional Limitations, 6th ed., p. 1618; In re Gunn, 50 Kansas, 155; s. c. 32 Pac. Rep.,948. But see Frazier's Impeachment Trial, infra, § 94, and Appendix to this volume. 13 Bingham v. Jewett (N. H.), 29 Atl. Rep., 694; infra, Ch. XVI. CHAPTER XI. THE SENATE. § 74. The Constitutional Provisions Concerning the Senate. THE Senate of the United States is the only upper legislative chamber in the world that has the strength to resist the will of the electorate for a considerable period of time. It represents the Federal principle in the government, and besides its legislative has important executive functions. The constitutional provisions concerning the Senate are as follows: : "The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote. "Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the expiration of the sixth Year, so that one-third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies. "No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen. "The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided. "The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States. The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. |