59 Neb. 106 | Neb. | 1899
The defendaht in error, prior to April 1, 1897, became by appointment,, superintendent of the hospital for the insane at Lincoln, and during the time he was such officer, anterior to the date mentioned) he drew his salary in accordance with its amount as fixed by law (see Compiled Statutes, ch. 40, sec. 58), and appropriated by the legislature of 1895, at the rate of $2,500 per annum. During the two years from the said date he collected salary as if established at $2,000 per year, but at or after the expiration of the two years he filed with the auditor of public accounts a claim for what he asserted, and now contends, was the balance due him, $1,000, or $500 for each year. His claim was disallowed by the auditor, but on appeal to the district court of Lancaster county, as the result of a trial, the order of the auxlitor was reversed and a judgment entered in favor of the claimant. The state presents the case to this court for review. It is the contention for the state that by the general salary act, or House Roll 615, passed by the legislature of 1897, there was appropriated for the payment of the salary of th~ superintendent of the hospital for the insane at Lincoln $2,-000 per year, or $4,000 for the biennium, while for the defendant in error it is asserted that the appropriation was $2,500 for each year, and $5,000 for the two. It is claimed for the state that in the original bill, as introduced in the house of representatives, the amounts were $2,500 per year and $5,000 for the two years; that the bill ivas so amended in the house as to read $2,000 instead of $2,500, and $4,000 in place ->f $5,000. The enrolled bill which was signed.by the officers of the senate and house, and presented to and approved by the governor, and filed in the office of the secretary of state, a certified copy of which
In regard to what will establish a law as passed by the legislature, if the question arises, it has been stated: The decisions may be classified into those in which the enrolled bill has been deemed conclusive, and those recognizing the doctrine that courts will look back of said bill and examine and consider the journals of the legislature. See 23 Am. & Eng. Ency. Law, 200. In some cases the courts of last resort have approved the reception in evidence of the engrossed bill. See 23 Am. & Eng. Ency. Law, 198; Berry v. Baltimore & D. P. R. Co., 41 Md., 463; 20 Am. Rep., 69; Hollingsworth v. Thompson, 12 So. Rep. [La.], 1. In this state we have not decided the enrolled bill to be conclusive, but.have examined the legis lative journals. In no case up to the present has the supreme court approved the reception and consideration of anything more or further than we have just stated. See Hull v. Miller, 4 Nebr., 503; Cottrell v. State, 9 Nebr., 125; Ballou v. Black, 17 Nebr., 389; State v. McClelland, 18 Nebr., 236; State v. Robinson, 20 Nebr., 96; In re Groff, 21 Nebr., 647; State v. Van Duyn, 24 Nebr., 586; State v. Moore, 37 Nebr., 13; In re Granger, 56 Nebr., 260. In the case last
cited the consideration of other evidence than the enrolled bill and the journals was in effect disapproved. On the general proposition see, also, Webster v. City of Hastings, 56 Nebr., 752. In Ames v. Union P. R. Co., 64 Fed. Rep., 165, in the determination of whether an act of the legislature of this state had been so passed as to become a law, after reference to sections 8, 10 and 11, article 3, of our constitution, and in the body of the opinion to several of the decisions of this court on the subject,
We will now turn to some of the provisions of the constitution and the laws of this state which relate to the matter in hand.
In section 8, article 3, of the constitution appears the following in regard to the legislature, its work, records etc.: “Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and publish them (except such parts as may require secrecy) and the yeas and nays of the members on any question, shall at the desire of any two of them be
In section 14, chapter 48, Compiled Statutes, in which the duties of the officers of the houses of the legislature are prescribed, appears the following: “It shall be the
In sections 1, 2, and the 10th subdivision of section 4, chapter 83, article 2, Compiled Statutes, it is set forth:
“Section 1. All public acts, laws, and resolutions passed by the legislature of the state shall be carefully deposited in the office of the secretary of state, and the secretary of state is charged with the safe keeping of said office and all laws, acts, resolutions, bonds, papers, and records which now are or shall hereafter be deposited therein. He shall not permit any original rolls, papers, or public documents filed in his office to be taken out of it unless called for by a resolution of either or both houses of the legislature, or for the examination by the executive.
“Sec. 2. The secretary of the senate and the clerk of the house of representatives, at the close of each session of the legislature, shall deliver to the secretary of state all books, bills, documents, and papers in the possession of either branch of the legislature, correctly labeled, folded, and classified, according to the subject-matter of such documents, respectively; and the secretary of state is hereby required to preserve the same in his office.”
Sec. 4, subdiv. 10. “In the publication of the laws of this state, or the resolution or journals of the legislature, the secretary of state shall cause to be published in each volume a general certificate to the effect that the-same as contained in such volume are true copies of the laws and resolutions of the legislature, as the case may be, on file in his office.”
It was not shown in the evidence herein, but the joint rules of the legislature oí 1897 provided that all bills
Affirmed.