Bills returned

again be ordered by the Speaker, and if any member present refuses to vote, such refusal shall be deemed a contempt, and unless purged, the Speaker shall order the Sergeant-at-Arms to remove said member or members without the bar of the House, and all privileges of membership shall be refused the person or persons so offending, until the contempt as aforesaid be duly purged.*

59. All veto messages, upon being announced by the Speaker, by Governor to shall be read, and the further consideration of the same, with be postponed. the vote thereon, be postponed for one day, or until the same shall have been published in the proceedings of the House.* 60. That the House adjourn on every second Friday, until half past seven o'clock P. M., of the succeeding Monday.

Adjournment.

Peddling within bar o

61. No person shall be permitted to hawk, peddle or offer for the House sale, any apples, candies, nuts, papers or other articles of traffic prohibited. at any time within the bar of the House; and it shall be the duty of the Door-keeper to strictly enforce this rule.

Members not per

62. That no member shall be permitted to record his vote, mitted to record who refuses to vote when his name is first called by the Clerk, votes in certain if he is within the bar of the House when his name is called; and if he is without the bar of the House when his name is called, he shall not be permitted to record his vote, unless he assures the House he did not leave for the purpose of avoiding

cases.

a vote.

*Adopted Session of 1858.

DECISIONS

OF THE

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

ON QUESTIONS OF ORDER.

Quere. Can a majority of the House appropriate an afternoon session to the consideration of a bill, which could not be reached in regular order, or does it require two-thirds? Undecided.-Journal, 1826-7, page 351.

After information has been given to the Senate, that the House insists upon its non-concurrence in an amendment by the Senate, a motion to recede from the non-concurrence is not in order.*—Journal H. R., session 1827–8, page 781. The same principle is decided in Journal, 1816–17, page 708.

The proceedings of the House cannot be expunged from the Journal, under the Constitution and uniform practice of the House, without the unanimous consent of the members present.-Journal H. R., 1832-3, page 728.

The Speaker decided, and the House sustained the decision, that a question on a resolution for dispensing with the joint rule relating to the transmission of bills, having been laid one day on the table, under the twenty-sixth rule of the House, is decided in the affirmative by a majority of the votes of the members present.-Journal H. R., 1833-4, page 816.

The Speaker decided, and the House sustained the decision, that he is not confined by any rule of the House to appoint a committee of conference exclusively from the members who voted for or against a concurrence.—Journal H. R., 1840, page 529.

The Speaker submitted to the House for decision: Is the motion to discharge the committee of conference, and recede from its non-concurrence, in order? The House decided in the negative.—Journal H. R., 1840, page 360.

The Speaker submitted to the House for decision: Whether a motion to re-consider the vote given for the expulsion of a member by the constitutional majority, and his seat declared vacated, is in order? The House decided in the affirmative.-Journal H. R., 1840, page 859 to 861.

The Speaker decided that the House having on yesterday adopted a resolution by a vote of two-thirds, that it would proceed to the re-consideration of a certain bill when it met the next morning, the bill is therefore in order. The House sustained the decision.-Journal H. R., 1840, page 946 to 950.

The Speaker decided that a call for the previous question is in order during the pendency of an appeal from the decision of the Speaker. The House sustained the decision.-Journal H. R., 1840, page 946 to 948.

*In this case a committee of conference was appointed, and reported that they could not agree.

:

A motion was made to proceed to the consideration of Senate amendments to the bill, entitled "An Act to repeal certain acts in relation to the Philadelphia and Trenton railroad company;" whereupon the Speaker submitted to the House for decision, whether the motion could be entertained, inasmuch as the House had previously, on the same day, refused to consider said amendments, though other business had intervened. The House decided in the affirmative.-Journal H. R., 1841, pages 977, 978.

The Speaker decided that it is not in order, under the fourth joint rule of the Senate and House of Representatives, to incorporate with the bill which refers to the Canal Commissioners, a provision relating to the per diem pay of members of the Legislature, it being a subject different from that under consideration. The House sustained the decision.-Journal. H. R., 1843, page 356.

The Speaker decided that it is not in order to entertain two consecutive motions to adjourn, if no other business of the House had intervened at the time the motion was made.-Journal H. R., 1843, page 361.

The Speaker decided that it is not in order for a committee, in a report, when referring to a report made at a previous session of the Legislature by a member of this House, to call said member by name. The House sustained the decision. Journal H. R., 1843, page 594.

The Speaker decided that a bill originating in the Senate, and passed by the House of Representatives with amendments, which are concurred in by the Senate with amendments, and returned to the House, was still subject to amendment by the House, the proposed amendment being, in his opinion, only in the second degree. The House sustained the decision.-Journal H. R., March 8, 1849.

The Speaker decided that a report of the committee of the whole, embracing subjects not appertaining to the original bill, is not in order.—Journal H. R., 1850, page 1120.

The Speaker decided that it is not in order for the minority of a committee of conference to make a report, giving the reasons for dissent from the report of a majority. The House sustained the decision.-Journal H. R., 1850, page 1216, 1218.

The Speaker decided that it is in order to strike from a bill all after the enacting clause, and insert another bill different from that contained in the original bill. The House sustained the decision.-Journal H. R., 1853, pages 931, 392.

The Speaker submitted to the House the question, whether it is in order to amend the bill, entitled "An Act to authorize the city of Philadelphia to subscribe to the capital stock of the Hempfield railroad company," by adding the following proviso, viz: "Provided, That the said subscription shall not be allowed or lawful, unless the Legislature of Virginia shall at its present session grant to the Pittsburg and Steubenville railroad company, the right of way across the territory of Virginia, on such reasonable terms as may be satisfactory to said Pittsburg and Steubenville railroad company, and the right to connect their said railroad with the Steubenville and Indiana railroad." It was decided in the affirmative.-Journal H. R., 1853, pages 391, 392.

The Speaker decided that a question although embracing different propositions, could not be divided after those propositions had been amended and acted upon separately and independently, and the question thus blending them together, was presented for the final action of the House. The House sustained the decision.-Journal H. R., 1853, pages 655, 656, 657.

The Speaker decided that under the rule for calling up private bills by members in alphabetical order, the bill, entitled "An Act exempting coal and

lumber from the tonnage tax," was in order. The House sustained the decision.-Journal H. R., 1854, page 1016.

The Speaker decided that the consideration and passage by the House, of the bill, No. 227, entitled "An Act authorizing the laying out of a State road from Meadville, in Crawford county, to New Wilmington, in Lawrence county," was in order. The House sustained the Speaker.—Journal H. R., 1855, page 470.

The Speaker decided that a motion to amend a resolution for the final adjournment of the Legislature, by adding thereto the following: "Provided, That in order to avoid the expense attendant upon the meeting of the Convention of the two Houses, in October next, to which it stands adjourned, the members of the two Houses shall re-assemble previous to the final adjournment of the Legislature, for the purpose of electing a person to represent this Commonwealth in the Senate of the United States, in accordance with the Constitution of the United States and the laws of this Commonwealth," was in order. The House overruled the decision of the Speaker.-Journal H. R., 1855, page 826.

The House having refused the committee of the whole House leave to sit again upon a bill; the bill being again before the House, pending the question, "Will the House agree to the first section?" a motion was made to re-consider the vote refusing the committee of the whole leave to sit again. The Speaker ruled the motion out of order. An appeal was taken. The appeal was undetermined when the Legislature adjourned sine die.-Journal H. R., 1855, page 1015.

The Speaker decided that amendments made by the Senate to the appropriation bill, inserting new sections relating to banks, institutions and companies, and to the duties of the Auditor General, were out of order and in violation of the fourth and twelfth joint rules, and the forty-second rule of the House. An appeal was taken. The House sustained the Speaker.Journal H. R., 1855, pages 1023, 1024.

A resolution was offered proposing to hold an afternoon session, for the purpose of considering particular bills. A division of the question was called for, the first division to embrace the holding of an afternoon session, which was agreed to. On the question of the adoption of the second division of the resolution, which was "for the purpose of considering Senate bill, No. 16, entitled 'An Act to incorporate the Stroudsburg Bank,' and the bills of similar import," the Speaker decided that it would require a vote of twothirds. An appeal was taken, and the decision of the Speaker sustained.Journal H. R., 1856, page 626.

The Speaker decided that a request to lay a bill over did not amount to an objection. Journal H. R., 1857, page 358.

The Speaker decided that under the thirty-eighth rule of the House there is no authority for a member to ask that a bill be laid over.-Journal H. R., 1857, page 358.

The Speaker decided that the previous question being called pending a motion to postpone indefinitely, the main question would be on the motion to postpone indefinitely The House reversed the decision.-Journal H. R., 1857, page 493.

The Speaker decided that a motion to adjourn was not in order when the previous question had been called and sustained, and was still pending. The House sustained the decision.-Journal H. R., 1857, page 509.

The Speaker decided that the previous question could be called while a member was addressing the House.-Journal H. R., 1857, page 847.

The Speaker decided that the proposed amendments to the Constitution, agreed to by one Legislature, were not subject to amendment in the Legislature next afterwards chosen.-Journal H. R., 1857, page 891.

The Speaker decided that bill, No. 749, entitled "Supplement to an act to incorporate the Sunbury and Erie, and Pittsburg and Susquehanna railroad companies," having been negatived upon its final passage, re-considered, and again negatived, (the bill not having been amended during the intervening time,) a motion to re-consider a second time was not in order. The House reversed the decision.-Journal H. R., 1857, page 983.

The Speaker decided that under the ninth joint rule, after the first Monday in February, in each and every session, Senate bills were entitled to priority of consideration over public bills in which greater progress has not been made.-Journal H. R., 1857, page 1193.

The Speaker decided that a select committee appointed by the House was required to report to the House by which the committee was appointed. Journal H. R., 1858, page 131.

The House decided that it was in order to instruct a select committee not to make report until a specified time.-Journal H. R., 1858, page 201.

The Speaker decided that it was not in order to amend a bill by adding to it matter different from the subject matter of the bill.-Journal H. R., 1858, page 340.

The Speaker decided that when the committee of the whole rises, reports progress and is refused leave to sit again, the amendments made in committee of the whole are not parts of the bill, unless so ordered by a vote of the House.-Journal H. R., 1858, page 463.

The Speaker decided that the first section being under consideration, it is not in order to strike out all after the enacting clause and insert a new bill, containing several different sections, which are not germain to the first section of the bill under consideration. The House sustained the decision.

Journal H. R., 1858, page 592.

The Speaker decided that members calling for the yeas and nays were required to vote. The House sustained the decision.-Journal H. R., 1858, page 714.

The Speaker decided that the House having ordered members to vote, the decision of the House abrogated in this particular instance the rule prohibiting members from voting who were in their seats when their names were called and refused to vote. The House sustained the decision.-Journal H. R., 1858, page 715.

The Speaker submitted for the decision of the House, whether bill, entitled "An Act further to provide for the incorporation and regulation of insurance companies within this Commonwealth," having been so amended as to confine its provisions to particular localities, was in order, the House having devoted this session exclusively to the consideration of public bills? It was determined in the affirmative.-Journal H. R., 1858, page 804.

The Speaker decided that under the rule of the House adopted the 2d A pril, a member occupying his seat and refusing to vote was in contempt of the House.-Journal H. R., 1858, page 813.

The Speaker decided that it was at all times competent for the House to excuse a member from voting.-Journal H, R., 1858, page 813.

The Speaker decided that the previous question did not cut off a motion for commitment. An appeal was taken, which was laid on the table.-Journal H. R., 1859, page 214.

The Speaker decided that under the thirty-eighth rule of the House, a bill objected off the private calander could be taken up upon the same day, on a