OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES OF THE STATE OF VIRGINIA, FOR THE SESSION OF 1855-56. RICHMOND: WILLIAM F. RITCHIE, PUBLIC PRINTER 1855-56. JOURNAL. MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1855. A majority of the members elected for the general assembly having been duly qualified according to law, appeared and took their seats; and thereupon, on motion of Mr. PowELL, Resolved, that St. G. Tucker be appointed clerk of the house of delegates. On motion of Mr. PENDLETON of Giles, the house proceeded to the election of speaker; and thereupon he nominated Oscar M. Crutchfield of the county of Spotsylvania. The roll being called by the clerk, the vote resulted as follows: For Oscar M. Crutchfield-Messrs. Anderson, Arnett, Ashby, Baker, Barnes, Bass, Berkeley, Bondurant, Boreman, Bosworth, Brady, Brandon, Brannon, Brown, Burwell of Patrick, Bush, Byrd, Bywaters, Cabell, Calvert, Carpenter, Carper, Carroll, Carter, Caruthers, Chandler, Christian, Claiborne, Clarke, Collins, Cox, Crabtree, Craddock, Cramner, Crawford, Crocker, Crockett, Dabney, Daniels, Dejarnette, Dickinson of Richmond city, Dillard, Dodson, Drew, Dromgoole, Early, Edmonds, Edwards, Eggborn, Ellyson, Floyd. French, Frost, Garnett, George, Gillespie, Gregory, Gurley, Hancock, Harding, Hardy, Hawks, Haynes, Hays, Heiskell, Herbert, Hiett, Hobbs, Hoge, Holden, Holladay, Holman, Howell, Johnston, Jones of Appomattox, Jones of Gloucester, Kee, Kelly, Kemper, Kirby, Langfitt, Lantz. Lee, Lundy, Mallory, Martin, Mays, McChesney, McIver, Moorman, Nelson, Newlon, Nicolson, Nottingham, Nowlin, Patterson, Paul, Pendleton of Giles, Pendleton of Louisa, Pitman, Powell, Preston, Riddick, Riggs, Ronald, Ruffner, Rutherfoord, Samuels, Seaman, Seddon, Segar, Shumate, Sinclair, Smith, Spady, Spitler, Sprinkle, Taylor, Thomas of Mason, Thomas of Warren, Thompson, Thrift, Tomlin, Towner, Tredway, Triplett. Tyree, Vanorsdall, Walton, Watson, Wellman, Welton, Wood, Woodhouse, Wright and Yancey-136. Mr. Crutchfield having received a majority of all the votes cast, was declared duly elected speaker of the house of delegates; and being informed thereof and conducted to the chair by Messrs. PENDLETON of Giles, and TOMLIN, he returned his acknowledgments for the honor conferred upon him. On motion of Mr. WELTON, Resolved, that the rules of the last house of delegates be adopted for the government of the present house. The said rules are as follow: 1. No member shall absent himself from the service of the house, without leave, unless he be sick and unable to attend. 2. When any member is about to speak in debate or deliver any matter to the house, he shall rise from his seat, and without advancing, shall, with due respect, address "Mr. SPEAKER," confining himself strictly to the point in debate, avoiding all indecent and disrespectful language. 3. When any member rises and addresses the chair, the speaker shall recognize him by his name; but no member shall designate another by name. 4. No member shall speak more than twice in the same debate without leave. 5. A question being once determined, must stand as the judgment of the house, and cannot, during the same session, be drawn again into debate. 6. While the speaker is reporting or putting a question, none shall entertain private discourse, read, stand up, walk into, out of, or across the house. 7. No member shall vote on any question in the event of which he is immediately and personally interested, nor in any other case where he was not present when the question was put by the speaker or chairman in any committee. 8. Every member who shall be in the house when any question is put, shall, on a decision, be counted on one side or the other. 9. A majority of delegates shall constitute a quorum to do business; and every question shall be determined according to the vote of a majority of the members present, except where the constitution otherwise provides; any smaller number, together with the speaker, shall be sufficient to adjourn; twenty may call a house, send for absentees, and make any order for their censure or discharge. 10. On a call of the house, the doors shall not be closed against any member until his name shall have been once enrolled. 11. Any member, sustained by thirteen others, shall have a right, before the question is put, to demand the yeas and nays on the decision of any question; and on such occasion the names of the members shall be called over by the clerk, and the yeas and nays respectively entered on the journal, and the question decided, as a majority shall thereupon appear. After the yeas and nays shall have been taken, and before they are counted or entered on the journal, the clerk shall read over the names of those who voted in the affirmative and of those who voted in the negative; at which time any member shall have the right to correct any mistake committed in enrolling his name. 12. No business shall be introduced or considered after 12 o'clock, until the orders of the day be disposed of, except messages from the senate or executive. Among the orders of the day, those which are general in their nature shall have precedence over such as are private or local. 13. The speaker may call any member to the chair, who shall exercise its functions for the time; but no member, by virtue of such appointment, shall preside for a longer time than three days. 14. The speaker shall set apart convenient seats for the use of the members of the senate and executive, and of the judges of the superior courts of this commonwealth and of the United States, and of such other persons as he may invite within the bar of the house. 15. All bills or other business shall be despatched in the order in which they are introduced, unless the house shall direct otherwise in particular cases. In future, all bills of a general nature shall, after their first reading, be printed for the use of the house. 16. The clerk shall not permit any records or papers to be taken from the table or out of his possession; but he may deliver to a member any bills depending before the house, on taking his receipt for the same. 17. The journal of the house shall be drawn up by the clerk on each day, and, after being examined by the speaker, shall be printed and delivered without delay. 18. The clerk shall publish with the laws all resolutions of a general nature, annex general marginal notes to each law or resolution, and subjoin an index to the whole. 19. The clerks of the senate and house of delegates may interchange messages at such time, between the hour of adjournment and that of meeting on the following day, as that the said messages may be read immediately after the orders of the day. 20. When the previous question is demanded and seconded by twenty members, the speaker shall, without debate, state the main question to the house, and thereupon propound the question, "Shall the main question be now put?" If decided in the affirmative, the main question shall then be put; if decided in the negative, the house may proceed instanter with the debate. 21. No petition of a private nature, having been once rejected, shall be acted on a second time, unless it be supported by new evidence; nor shall any such petition, after a third disallowance, be again acted on. The several clerks of committees shall keep alphabetical lists of all such petitions, specifying the sessions at which they were presented and the determination of the house thereon; and shall deliver the original petitions to the clerk of the house, to be preserved in his office. 22. No petition or memorial shall be received, praying for the division of a county or parish, changing the place of holding any court or other local matter, unless the purport of such petition or memorial shall have been fixed up at the court-house door of the county where such alteration is proposed, at two different courts, and shall have remained there one day during the sitting of each court, and at least one month shall have passed after the holding of the last court, and before the petition or memorial is presented. And no petition or memorial shall be received, or bill brought in for establishing or discontinuing ferries, nor for any other purpose affecting private rights or property, unless the parties interested shall have had one month's notice; and if they be not known to the petitioner or memorialist, the purport of the petition, memorial or bill shall be set up at the court-house in the manner before directed, and also three times inserted in some newspaper in the state most convenient for conveying the intended information, one month before offering or moving the same. 23. No petition shall be received claiming a sum of money, or praying the settlement of unliquidated accounts, unless it be accompanied with a certificate of disallowance from the executive or audi |