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greement, the bill which is the subject of difference, shall be deemed lost, and shall not be again revived during the same session in either house.

8. The same bill shall not create, renew or continue more than one incorporation, nor contain any provisions in relation to the altering of more than one act of incorporation, nor shall the same bill appropriate the public money or property to more than one local or private purpose. And bills appropriating money for the payment of the officers of government, shall be confined to that purpose exclusively.

9. Whenever there shall be a ballot for officers by the two houses, the result shall be certified by the president of the senate, and speaker of the assembly, and shall be reported by the presiding officer of each house to their respective houses, and be entered on the journals of each, and shall be communicated to the governor by the clerks of the two houses.

AN ACT

Relative to Incorporations, and the Division of Counties. Passed March 26, 1813.

I. Be it enacted by the People of the State of New-York, represented in Senate and Assembly, That when any association shall be formed for any purpose whatever after the first day of July next, shall be disposed to make application to the legislature for an act of incorporation, or any company or association already incorporated shall be disposed to make application for any alteration in the law so incorporating them, it shall be the duty of the persons so associated, or the directors or stockholders of such incorporation, or some of them, to signify such their intention by advertisement, to be inserted for at least six weeks successively immediately before such application, in one or more of the newspapers printed in the county where the objects of such association or incorporation is carried, or intended to be carried into effect, (and also in the newspaper printed by the printer to this state;) and if no newspaper be printed in such

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county, then in the newspaper or papers nearest to the same, and shall specify the objects of such incorporation, the amount of capital stock requisite to carry their objects into effect; and in case of an application for any alteration in any charter already granted, it shall be the duty of the stockholders or directors of such incorporation, to state in such notice specifically, the alteration so to be applied for; and that due proot shall be made of such notice having been published, previous to leave being given to bring in any bill to comply with any such application.

II. And be it further enacted, That the like notice shall be published of any application to divide any county within this state, or to erect any new county out of parts of counties.

AN ACT

Supplemental to an act, entitled" An Act relative to Incorporations, and the division of Counties."

Passed April 10, 1818.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of NewYork, represented in Senate and Assembly, That from and after the passing of this act, upon all applications intended to be made to the legislature of this state, for removing any court-house, or imposing a tax for the laying out, making or improving any road, in or through the several counties of this state, or for any local purposes where all or any part of the inhabitants of said counties are proposed to be taxed, it shall be the duty of such applicants to give the like notice, and make the same proof thereof, as is prescribed in the first section of the act, entitled "An act relative to incorporations, and the division of counties," passed March 26, 1813.

THE LEGISLATURE.

SECTION I.

HOW COMPOSED.

THE legislative power of this state is vested in a Senate and Assembly. Const. Art. 1. Sec. 1.

The senate consists of thirty two members, each chosen for four years, and must be freeholders. Const. Sec. 2. Art. 1.

The assembly consists of one hundred and twenty eight members who are annually elected. Const. Sec. 2. of Art. 1.

No minister of the Gospel can be a member of either branch of the legislature. Const. Art. 7. Sec. 4.

SECTION II.

ORGANIZATION.

A MAJORITY of each house shall constitute a quorum to do business. Each house shall determine the rules of its own proceedings, and be the judge of the qualifications of its own members. Each house shall choose its own officers; and the senate shall choose a temporary president, when the lieutenant-governor shall not attend as president, or shall act as governor. Const. Art. 1.

Sec. 3.

Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and publish the same, except such parts as may require secrecy. The doors of each house shall be kept open except when the public welfare shall require secrecy. Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than two days. Const. Art. 1. Sec. 4.

Members of the legislature, and all officers, executive and judicial, except such inferior officers as may by law be exempted, shall, before they enter on the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe the following oath

or affirmation. I do solemnly swear, (or affirm, as the case may be,) that I will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the State of NewYork; and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of -, according to the best of

my ability.

And no other oath, declaration, or test, shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust. Const. Art. 6.

The lieutenant-governor is president of the senate, but has only a casting vote therein. Const. Art. 3. Sec. 7. The clerk of the senate is not chosen annually.

In the assembly a presiding officer is chosen by the members present, (being a quorum,) and from former usage is called "The Speaker." After the speaker has been placed in the chair, the house then proceed by ballot, resolution, or motion, at pleasure, to choose a clerk, sergeant at arms, and door-keepers: then the organization of the assembly is completed.

SECTION 1II.

THE IMPORTANCE OF ADHERING TO RULES.

MR. ONSLOW, the ablest among the speakers of the House of Commons, used to say, "it was a maxim he had often heard, when he was a young man, from old and experienced members, that nothing tended more to throw power into the hands of administration and those who acted with the majority of the House of Commons, than a neglect of, or departure from, the rules of proceeding; that these forms, as instituted by our ancestors, operated as a check and controul on the actions of the majority, and that they were in many instances, a shelter and protection to the minority against the attempts of power.' So far the maxim is certainly true, and is founded in good sense, that as it is always in the power of the majority, by their numbers, to stop any improper measures proposed on the part of their opponents, the only weapons by which the minority can defend themselves against similar attempts from those in power, are the forms and

rules of proceeding which have been adopted as they were found necessary from time to time, and are become the law of the House; by a strict adherence to which, the weaker party can only be protected from those irreg ularities and abuses which these forms were intended to check, and which the wantonness of power is but too often apt to suggest to large and successful majorities. 2 Hats. 171, 172.

And whether these forms be in all cases the most rational or not, is really not of so great importance. It is much more material that there should be a rule to go by, than what that rule is; that there may be an uniformity of proceeding in business, not subject to the caprice of the speaker, or captiousness of the members. It is very material that order, decency and regularity, be prserved in a dignified public body. 2 Hats. 149.

And in 1698 the Lords say "the reasonableness of what is desired is never considered by us, for we are bound to consider nothing but what is usual. Matters of form are essential to government, and 'tis of consequence to be in the right. All the reason for forms is custom, and the law of forms is practice; and reason is quite out of doors. Some particular customs may not be grounded on reason, and no good account can be given of them; and yet many nations are zealous for them; and Englishmen are as zealous as any others to pursue their old forms and methods." 4 Hats. 258.

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And this subject has been still further and elegantly illustrated by the Onslow of the United States, the Honorable Henry Clay, Esq. for many years Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Union. In his address on taking the chair on the 1st of Dec. 1823, is the following brief outline:

"The principles which should regulate the execution of the duties of the incumbent of the chair are not difficult to comprehend, although their application to particular instances is often extremely delicate and perplexing. They enjoin promptitude and impartiality in deciding the various questions of order, as they arise, firmness and dignity in his deportment towards the house, patience, good temper, and courtesy, towards the individual members, and the best arrangement and distribution of the talent H2

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