98 N.J.L. 586 | N.J. | 1923
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The proceeding before us was instituted by the attorney-general, upon the instruction of the governor of the state, under the authority of an act of the legislature passed in 1873, and entitled “An act providing for decreeing and making known that certain laws and joint resolutions have become inoperative and void.” 4 Comp,
The purpose of the present petition is to procure from this court a declaration that chapter 184 of the lawrs of 1923, entitled “An act to amend an act entitled ‘An act to amend an act entitled “An act to establish a state highway system, and to provide for the improvement, betterment, reconstruction, resurfacing, maintenance, repair and regulation of the use thereof,” ’ approved March thirteenth, one thousand nine hundred and seventeen, which amendment was approved April sixth, one thousand nine hundred and twenty,” was not duly passed by both houses of the legislature, and a decree for its annulment.
The act in question originated in the senate. It was passed by that body and sent to the house of assembly. The latter house also passed it and returned it to the senate and that body sent it to the governor for bis approval. The governor returned it to the senate, with a veto message; and that body, after the expiration of twenty-four hours, passed it over his veto, and then sent it to the house of assembly for action there. On the same day upon which the assembly received it, with the governor’s message, it was called up and voted upon, and the minutes of the assembly show that it received the votes of thirty-five members, out of a total membership of sixty, in favor of its passage, notwithstanding the objections of the governor.
The grounds upon which his excellency directed the attorney-general to institute this proceeding are, first, that
Taking up the first ground- of attack upon the bill: The situation developed by the evidence taken under the petition was that twenty-eight of the members concededly voted for the bill. -Seven other members, however, who were recorded in the affirmative, were reported to the “Newark Evening News” (by one of its staff, who was present in the- assembty chamber when the vote was taken) to have been absent from the chamber at that time and not to have voted upon the bill. This statement'was published in the “News” on the following day and was the primary cause of the governor’s action. In the taking of the testimony in support of the petition the printed story was verified by the “News” reporter when called to the witness-stand by the assistant attorney-general to this extent, viz., that he had personally checked up the vote while it was being taken; that, as the respective names of each of these seven members was called, no response was given; that none of them were in their seats and that a careful observation made by the witness failed to disclose the presence of any of them in the chamber. These several members were then successively placed upon the witness-stand by the assistant attorney-general, and each of them examined under oath with relation to his action or non-action upon the reconsideration of the bill. One of them testified that he was absent from the assembly chamber and did not vote. Two others stated that they were present in the chamber, but were uncertain as to whether they voted on the bill or did not vote. Each of the other four members testified that he was present in the assembly chamber at the roll-call on this bill, and each of them stated positively that he voted in favor of passing
Taking up for consideration the second question presented by the petition, namely, that the house of assembly passed the act over the governor’s veto upon the same day upon which it wTas received from the senate, and in doing so violated section 7, article 5 of the constitution. That section provides that “every bill which shall have passed both houses shall be presented to the governor; if he approve he shall sign it; but if not he shall return it, with his objections, to the house in -which it shall have originated, who shall enter their objections at large on their journal and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, a majority of the whole number of that house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by a majority of the whole number of that house it shall become a law; but in neither house shall the vote be taken on the same day on which the bill shall be returned to it.”
The argument is that the last clause of this section, by its plain language, prohibits both the house in which the bill originates and the other branch of the legislature from voting upon the bill on the same day that it receives the same,
AYe come, then, to a consideration of the meaning of the last clause of the section, namely, that “m neither house shall the vote be taken on the same day on which the bill shall be returned to it.” The framers of the constitution, as we have already pointed out, appreciating the meaning of words, intentionally differentiated the act of the governor in sending back the bill to the house of origin from that of the house of origin in sending it over to the other house for action in a case where the house of origin has passed it over the governor’s veto. It, of coirrse, cannot be doubted that in dealing with this matter the framers of the constitution had in mind the fact that the house of origin might be either the senate
The construction we have suggested is that put upon this constitutional provision by the house of assembly. In our opinion, it is at least a permissible one; or, stated more accurately, perhaps, leaves us in doubt whether the construction claimed for it, namely, that neither house can reconsider a bill which has been vetoed by the governor on the same day on which it has received it, either from the governor, or from the house of origin, is the true construction of the provision. In this situation the court cannot declare that the provision was violated by the action of the assembly in reconsidering the bill on the same day on which it received it from the senate.
The petition will be dismissed.