OF THE

HOUSE OF DELEGATES

OF

VIRGINIA,

FOR

THE SESSION OF 1850-51.

RICHMOND:

WILLIAM F. RITCHIE, PUBLIC PRINTER.

1850.

JOURNAL.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1850.

A majority of the members of the house of delegates having qualified according to the constitution, appeared in their seats.

On motion of Mr. CRAIG,

Resolved unanimously, That GEORGE W. MUNFORD be appointed clerk of the house.

On motion of Mr. MARTZ, the house proceeded to the election of a speaker, and he then nominated Col. George W. Hopkins, the delegate from the county of Washington; thereupon the names of the members were called by the clerk, and the vote resulted in the unanimous election of Col. Hopkins-114.

The gentlemen thus voting are

Messrs. Finney, Allen, Bowcock, Carter, Massey of Alexandria, Damron, Boisseau, Dillard of Amherst, McDearmon, Imboden, McCue, McClintic, Burwell, Tompkins, Hammond, Grantham, Carrington of Botetourt, Hays, Wells, Power, Lewis of Brunswick, Forbes, Wellman, Speed, Clarke, Buckner, Wilcox, Carrington of Charlotte, Jones, Barbour, Goodwyn, Muse, Stuart, Hume, Dunlap, Deskins, Cocke, Brooks, Edwards, Wall, Sydnor, Taliaferro, Guerrant, Carroll, Stovall, Fleming, Stump, Monroe, White, Welton, Lewis of Harrison and Doddridge, Hall, Boykin, Duke, Jewett, Patrick, Arnold, Howser, Tomlin, Gresham, Slemp, Ferguson, Wright, Carrington of Loudoun, Pendleton, Neblett, Newman, Boylsten, Jenney, Montague, Harvey, Williams, Baskerville, Vanosdaln, Kilby, Dawson, Stubbs, Butt, Wheeler, Yerby, Henderson, Willis, Buswell, Kee, Cox, Neal, Cackley, Scott of Powhatan, Flournoy, Rives, Harrison, Sturm, August, Craig, Dorman, Patterson, Martz, Yancey, Kernan, Speers, Pitman, Calvert, Campbell of Smyth, Newsom, Crutchfield, Sutde, Wheadon, Dillard of Sussex, Johnson, Witten, Horner, Massey of Warren and Clarke, Ditty and Jackson-114.

The clerk then declared GEORGE W. HOPKINS, Esq., duly elected speaker; he was conducted to the chair by Messrs. MARTZ and YERBY, and returned his acknowledgments for the honor conferred upon him.

Mr. DORMAN presented the petition of James C. Crane, contesting the election of Thomas P. August, the delegate returned from the city of Richmond, which, on motion of Mr. Barbour, was ordered to be laid upon the table.

On motion of Mr. STOVALL,

Resolved, That the rules of the last house of delegates be adopted for the government of the present.

THE SAID RULES ARE THE FOLLOWING:

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 be necessary to proceed to 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. When the house rises, every member shall remain in his seat until the speaker passes him.

11. On a call of the house, the doors shall not be closed against any member until his name shall have been once enrolled.

12. Any member, sustained by seven others, shall have a right, before the question is put, to demand the ayes and noes on the decision of any question; and on such occasions, the names. of the members shall be called over by the clerk, and the ayes and noes respectively entered on the journal, and the question decided as a majority shall thereupon appear. After the ayes and noes 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.

13. 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.

14. 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 one day.

15. The speaker shall set apart convenient seats for the use of the members of the senate and executive, and of the judges of the supe

rior courts of this commonwealth and of the United States, and of such other persons as he may invite within the bar of the house.

16. All bills or other business shall be dispatched 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.

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. The motion for the previous question shall not be debatable. As soon as a member moves the previous question, the speaker shall, if the motion be seconded by twenty members, (which shall be without debate,) proceed to propound the question, "Shall the main question be now put?"

22. 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 served in his office.

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23. 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 courthouse 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 courthouse 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.