person or corporation engaging the services of a lobbyist is said to maintain a lobby at the statehouse. This practice is common, and is looked upon with public favor, so long as the lobbyist uses no stronger persuasion than argument. Some States have even found it necessary to pass laws regulating the subject of lobbying. Enacting Clause. The enacting clause of every law is, "Be it enacted by the legislative assembly of the State of North Dakota.” Emergency Clause.-Acts of the legislative assembly take effect on July 1, after the close of the session. But if an emergency exists, and it is so expressed in the act itself, the act may be put into effect at once, by a twothirds vote in each house. Impeachment. The legislative assembly is a lawmaking body. Yet it has one judicial function-that of impeachment. The house has the sole power of bringing in the charges against an officer; the senate tries all impeachment charges. The governor, lieutenant governor, all State officers, the supreme court judges, and all district court judges, are liable to impeachment. When the governor or lieutenant governor is on trial for impeachment charges, the presiding judge of the supreme court presides. If the impeached person is convicted, he is removed from office and is disqualified to hold any office of trust or profit under the State. Output of Legislation.-The amount of business on hand with the legislature is very great indeed. The number of bills introduced usually exceeds seven hundred. In the eleventh legislative assembly (1909), for example, there were 379 house bills and 346 senate bills, a total of 725 bills introduced. Of these 250 passed (102 house bills and 148 senate bills). Of those passed, 238 became laws, the governor vetoing twelve bills. Private bills are passed to grant relief to certain individuals in case they have just claims against the State, since they cannot sue the State in the courts. Many laws pertain to local government officers,-village treasurers, clerks of civil townships, etc. A great many laws amend existing laws. Laws making fundamental charges in our systems of elections, our judiciary, our manner of lawmaking, our taxing system, and other fundamentals of good government are few, and come slowly. The tendency of the legislature is to go slowly, make few radical changes, patch up and improve the laws we have, rather than to experiment boldly and create new machinery outright. Growing Complexity of Legislation. As the State increases in population, as corporations multiply, industries differentiate and enlarge, and as new social problems arise, the work of legislation becomes more scientific, more technical. Economic problems, for instance, such as guaranteeing bank deposits, the income tax, the regulation of railroad rates, the settlement of labor disputes, the conservation of natural resources, and many others equally difficult of final settlement confront the lawmaker. To help the lawmaker do his work scientifically-get at all the facts, profit by the experience of other States, and avoid their mistakes-the State has provided a legislative reference library in charge of an expert. Laws of other States, court decisions, statistics, expert reports, and fresh up-to-date reference materials of all kinds are there kept on file. The legislator is thus enabled to approach his work more intelligently and successfully than would be possible without this help. QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 1. Where is the legislative power in North Dakota vested? 2. What is the limit of membership of each house? 3. Give facts as to place, date, length of session. 4. Qualifications of members? How chosen? Pay? Term? 5. What is meant by "hold-over senators"? 6. Quality of membership? 7. State two prohibitions on legislation. 8. Do these always prohibit? 9. Describe the organization of the two houses. 10. Explain the committee system fully; give examples. 11. Give the general method of passing a bill. 12. Trace a bill through the process of legislation (six stages). 13. Explain the lobby; criticize it. 14. Explain enacting clause; emergency clause. 15. Describe the output of legislation. 16. What is the legislative reference library? Explain its work and the need of its work. 17. Name one point of difference between the committee system of the State senate and that of the Federal Senate. QUESTIONS SUGGESTED BY THE TEXT 1. Draw a map of your senatorial district. Give its number. Names of members of legislative assembly, last session, from this district. 2. Draw a map and locate on it the home of each member of the senate committee on appropriations, last session. (See last Blue Book.) 3. Describe the legislative reference library work of Wisconsin. 4. Arrange a table, similar to that in Appendix F, for the last legislative assembly. Govt. No. Dak.-15 REFERENCES 1. "North Dakota Blue Book." 2. "North Dakota Magazine," issued by commissioner of agriculture and labor. 3. "Rules and Committees, Officers and Members, Legislative Assembly, State of North Dakota." (Pamphlet, biennial, issued by legislative assembly.) 4. "North Dakota Code," 1905. 5. For general discussions, see the following: Bryce, "American Commonwealth," Vol. I, pp. 647-652 (Lobby); also Ch. 42. Hart, "Actual Government," Ch. 7. CHAPTER XIX THE JUDICIARY "Sec. 85. The judicial power of the State of North Dakota shall be vested in a supreme court, district courts, county courts, justices of the peace, and in such other courts as may be created by law for cities, incorporated towns and villages." North Dakota Constitution. In every State there are at least three grades of courts. In our State they are classified as follows: (1) Supreme Court; (2) District Courts; (3) Local Couris. 1. Supreme Court. The supreme court is made up of five judges who, according to the constitutional qualification, must be men "learned in the law." A judge must be at least thirty years of age, a citizen of the United States, and must have resided in the State three years next preceding his election. The term of a judge is six years; the salary is $5,000 a year. The manner of choosing judges in this court and in the district courts was established by the "Nonpartisan Judiciary Act" of 1909.1 According to this interesting law the judges who are candidates for nomination to office must circulate petitions bearing no reference to a party ballot or to the party affiliation of the candidate for such nomination. At the primary election (for the nomination of all congressional, State, and local officers) each voter is given a small separate ballot, called the "judiciary ballot," bearing no party designation, but 1 Laws of 1909, Ch. 82. |