The court will not declare the action of the legislature unconstitutional, unless the violation of the Constitution is entirely free from doubt. To hold otherwise the courts would be assuming powers of legislation, and creating constitutional provisions not before existing. Cheney v Jones, 14 Fla. 587.

The courts have no power to control the action of the Governor in the discharge of any duties pertaining to his office. State v Drew, 17 Fla. 67. Each department of government of the State is independent of the other in the performance of its own duty, and one can not control the other in such performance. Ib.

the

In respect to his executive duties as Governor, he alone may judge of manner in which he will perform them, and the judicial department may determine the effect of acts performed. Ib.

A statute providing that a married woman may by petition and proof become a free dealer under license granted by the circuit judge, does not attempt to confer legislative power upon the judge. Martinez v Ward, 19 Fla. 175.

An act authorizing the county commissioners to provide new boundaries of an incorporated town when the boundaries of the town are of unreasonable and unnecessary extent does not confer judicial functions upon county commissioners. City of Jacksonville v L'Engle, 20 Fla. 344.

A statute authorizing the county commissioners to employ at hard labor upon public works all persons in prison in the jails of the several counties, under sentence upon conviction of crime, is not rendered unconstitutional or made the exercise of a judicial function by the fact that it does not contemplate that its terms shall be pronounced as a part of the sentence of the court. Holland v State, 23 Fla. 123, 1 So. 521.

The Supreme Court is not authorized to give an opinion to the Governor as to what character of bills, if any, the legislature, at its session of 1887, is denied the power to pass, and which, when submitted to the Governor, it will be his duty for that reason to disapprove. Any duty imposed by the Constitution on the Governor with reference to a bill, before it becomes a law, is not an executive duty. The enactment of laws is a legislative duty, and when the Governor is required by the Constitution to do any act which is an essential pre-requisite thereto, such act is legislative, and is performed by the Governor as a part of the law making power, and not as a law-executing power. Executive communication, 23 Fla. 297, 6 So. 925.

The courts have no power to enquire whether the notice of application to the legislature for local or special legislation, required by the Constitution, has been given. To ascertain and decide whether the required notice has been given is exclusively a legislative function and duty. Stockton v Powell, 29 Fla. 1, 10 So. 688; Vann v State, 65 Fla. 160, 61 So. 323.

Where the Governor, acting on a case which is within his constitutional power, has suspended an officer, questions such as the reasonableness of the office hours of the officer suspended, and the bona fide of a person making a tender of payment of poll taxes, for refusing which the officer was suspended, are entirely within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Governor and Senate, and can not be considered by the courts. State v Johnson, 30 Fla. 499, 11 So. 855.

Where the Governor instructs a tax collector, who is subject to suspension by him, to pursue a stated course of action in the performance of an official duty involving private rights, and the comptroller advises such officer to pursue a contrary course, and the tax collector pursues the latter course, and the Governor suspends him for so doing, and the courts find that the course advised by the Governor was that prescribed by law, and that claimed to have been advised by comptroller contrary to law, and that such violation of law was within the grounds for which the Governor is authorized to suspend such officer, they could not review the action of the Governor in making the suspension. The power of review is in the Senate alone. Ib.

The legislature has power by a curative act to authorize the issuance of county bonds notwithstanding a failure by the county to comply with some provision of the statute regulating the issue of such bonds, if the provision violated is one which could have been dispensed with in the enactment of the original statute, and such curative legislation is not a usurpation of judicial powers by the legislature, and in contravention of the distribution of governmental powers made by the Constitution of the State. Givens v County of Hillsborough, 46 Fla. 502, 35 So. 88.

A statute authorizing the board of county commissioners to pass upon the personal qualifications and fitness of an applicant for a permit to sell liquor, to hear evidence upon those matters and determine whether the applicant is twenty-one years old, whether he is a sober, law abiding citi

Art. 3

zen, and of good character, does not confer judicial powers on the board of county commissioners. State v Holmes, 53 Fla. 226, 44 So. 179.

It is the duty of a court to interpret laws and not make them. When the meaning of a statute is clear, its consequences, if evil, can only be Avoided by change of the law itself, to be effected by the legislature and not by judicial construction. Florida Ry. Co. v Adams, 56 Fla. 294, 47 So. 921. The exercise of some authority, discretion or judgment, may be incident or necessary to the performance of administrative or ministerial duties; but such authority, discretion or judgment is subject to judicial review; and it is not among the powers of government that the Constitution separates into departments. State v A. C. L. R. R. Co., 56 Fla. 617, 47 So. 969. Action taken by an administrative board or officer is subject to judicial review as to matters that are not concluded by the exercise of administrative discretion. State v L. & N. and S. A. L. Ry. Co., 62 Fla. 315, 57 So. 175. Where an alleged illegal ministerial official act has relation to legislative action, such action may be considered by the courts in determining the validity or invalidity of the ministerial act. This is not an interference by the courts with the legislative department of government. Crawford v Gilchrist, 64 Fla. 41, 59 So. 963.

Where the State Senate duly determines that the passage by it of a proposed amendment to the Constitution has been reconsidered, such determination is binding on the courts, and the proposed amendment has the status of a pending matter in the Senate. Ib.

The courts have no veto power and do not assume to regulate State policy, but they recognize and enforce the policy of a law as expressed in valid enactments, and decline to enforce statutes only when to do so would violate organic law. City of Jacksonville v Bowden, 67 Fla. 181, 64 So. 769.

The granting or denial of a motion for new trial in a litigated cause necessarily involves judicial power and discretion, the essence of which, as distinguished from mere procedure, is by the Constitution vested in the courts, not in the legislature. Ruff v G. S. & F. Ry. Co., 67 Fla. 224, 64 So. 782. The legislature may lawfully prescribe rules of procedure which the courts will observe; but the legislature has no power under the Constitution to regulate the judicial discretion that is vested in the courts. Ib.

ARTICLE III.

LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.

Section 1. The legislative authority of this State shall be vested in a Senate and a House of Representatives, which shall be designated, "The Legislature of the State of Florida," and the sessions thereof shall be held at the seat of government of the State.

The law making power of the legislature of a State is subject only to the limitations provided in the State and Federal Constitutions, City of Jacksonville v Bowden, 67 Fla. 181, 64 So. 769.

Under this section the legislature may exercise any law making power that is not forbidden by the organic law of the land. The Constitution does not grant particular legislative powers, but contains specific limitations of the general law making power of the legislature. Stone v State, 71 Fla. 514, 71 So. 634.

Section 2. The regular sessions of the legislature shall be held biennially, commencing on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in April, A. D. 1887, and on the corresponding day of every second year thereafter; but the Governor may convene the same in extra session by his proclamation. Regular sessions of the legislature may extend to sixty days, but no special session convened by the Governor shall exceed twenty days.

The power of one legislature is not limited by the acts of an antecedent one, unless the act of the first is of such character as to call into operation a constitutional limitation upon the power of the second. Trustees I. I. Fund v St. Johns Railway Co., 16 Fla. 531; Gonzales v Sullivan, 16 Fla. 791.

When the Governor actually calls the legislature together under the Constitution, it is immaterial whether he believed it necessary to call the extra session, and what he may have thought of his action in this respect is immaterial to the validity of the extra session thus called. Lasseter v State, 67 Fla. 240, 64 So. 847.

of 1890 as

amended

at

the general

election 1896.

Section 3. The members of the House of Representa- Amendment tives of the State of Florida shall be chosen biennially, beginning with the general election on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, 1898, and thereafter on the corresponding day of every second year.

Section 4. Senators and members of the House of Representatives shall be duly qualified electors in the respective counties and districts for which they were chosen. The pay of members of the Senate and House of Representatives shall not exceed six dollars a day for each day of session and mileage to and from their homes to the seat of government, not to exceed ten cents a mile each way, by the nearest and most practicable route.

The provision of the Constitution, that the salaries of officers shall be paid quarterly, does not refer to the pay of members of the legislature; their pay may be drawn at such time as the legislature may determine. Executive communication, 12 Fla, 689.

Section 5. No Senator or member of the House of Representatives shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed or elected to any civil office under the Constitution of this State, that has been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased, during such time.

Under this section the ineligibility of a Senator or a member of the House of Representatives continues during the entire time for which such member was elected, and such member can not render himself eligible during such time by resigning his legislative membership. Advisory opinion to Governor, 49 Fla. 269, 39 So. 63.

Section 6. Each house shall judge of the qualifications, election and returns of its own members, choose its own officers, and determine the rules of its proceedings. The senate shall, at the convening of each regular session thereof, choose from among its own members a permanent president of the Senate, who shall be its presiding officer. The House of Representatives shall, at the convening of each regular session thereof choose from among its own members a permanent Speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall be its presiding officer. Each house may punish its own. members for disorderly conduct; and each house, with the concurrence of two-thirds of all its members present, may expel a member.

In the absence of constitutional restraints, and when exercised by a majority of a constitutional quorum, the power given by the Constitution to the Senate "to determine the rules of its proceedings," extends to the determination of the propriety and effect of any action taken by the Senate under the Constitution, including the right of a majority of a constitutional quorum, to reconsider the passage of a three-fifths vote of a proposed amendment to the Constitution. Crawford v Gilchrist, 64 Fla. 41, 59 So. 963. When the Senate duly determines that the passage by it of a proposed amendment to the Constitution has been reconsidered, such reconsideration nullifies the vote of adoption, and the proposed amendment has the status of a pending matter in the Senate. Ib.

Section 7. No person holding a lucrative office or appointment under the United States or this State shall be eligible to a seat in the legislature of this State.

Section 8. The seat of a member of either house shall be vacated on his permanent change of residence from the district or county from which he was elected.

Section 9. Either house during the session may punish by fine or imprisonment any person not a member who shall have been guilty of disorderly or contemptuous conduct in its presence, or of a refusal to obey its lawful summons, but such imprisonment shall not extend beyond the final adjournment of the session.

Section 10. Either house shall have power to compel the attendance of witnessess upon any investigations, held by itself, or by any of its committees; the manner of the exercise of such power shall be provided by law.

Section 11. A majority of each house shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and compel the presence of absent members in such manner and under such penalties as it may prescribe.

The term "house" in this clause of the Constitution, when used in reference to the matter of quorum, means the entire number of which the assembly or Senate may be composed. A quorum for the purpose of general legislation is not less than a maiority of the whole number of which the "house" may be composed. Vacancies by death, resignation or failure to elect, can not be deducted in ascertaining a quorum. Opinion of Justices, 12 Fla. 653.

Section 12. Each house shall keep a journal of its own proceedings, which shall be published, and the yeas and nays of the members of either house on any question shall, at the desire of any five members present, be entered on the journal.

In testing the question whether an act of the legislature was passed in conformity to the requirements of the Constitution, the journals of the houses of the legislature will be examined: and if the journals furnish conclusive evidence that any bill was not passed in a constitutional manner it can not be recognized as a law. State v Brown, 20 Fla, 407; State v Hocker, 36 Fla. 358, 18 So. 762: Amos v Mosley, 74 Fla. 555, 77 So. 619.

The journals of the legislature are controlling on the question whether the title of a bill. as signed by the Governor, and enrolled and engrossed, was the title of the bill as passed. State v Green, 36 Fla. 154, 18 So. 334. The journals of the legislature need not show that a bill was read by sections on its final passage, presumption being that it was so read. State v Hocker, 36 Fla. 358, 18 So. 767.

An entry in legislative journals showing the tabling of a legislator's motion proposing to strike from a pending bill certain given words, is no

CONSTITUTION OF FLORIDA

evidence to the courts on a question of the constitutional enactment of such bill, that the words proposed to be stricken by such tabled motion were or were not in fact contained in such bill at or before its enactment into law. West v State, 50 Fla. 154, 39 So. 412.

There is nothing in the Constitution of Florida that mandatorily requires the legislative journals expressly to show the adoption of amendments to bills. Ib.

When the journals of the legislature speak as to the title of an act, and the enrolled bill contains a variance therefrom, the journals will control. Wade v Atlantic Lumber Co., 51 Fla. 628, 638, 41 So. 72.

Where it clearly appears from consecutive entries in a legislative journal that the number of a bill put upon its passage is mistakenly given and the identity of the bill passed is made certain, the error in he number is not fatal to the act. Morris v City of Gainesville, 60 Fla. 338, 53 So. 739.

The number of a bill pending in the legislature is no part of the act. Ib. Unless it appears that the Constitution has been violated or that a bill shown by the journals of the legislature to have been duly passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives, is in fact not the bill proclaimed to be a statutory enactment, the court will not declare the statute inoperative merely because the entries in the journal of the House of Representatives are not in exact order of actual or logical procedure or sequence. Goff v Rickerson, 61 Fla. 29, 54 So. 264.

Where the Constitution provides that each house of the legislature shall keep a journal of its proceedings which shall be published, and expressly requires that the vote on a final passage of every bill shall be taken by yeas and nays, to be entered on the journal of each house, the journals are conclusive on the point whether the yea and nay vote was so taken and entered. Amos v Mosley, 74 Fla. 555, 77 So. 619.

Where the journal entries as to the legislative proceedings are explicit, and conflict even with legislative acts regularly authenticated, the journals are superior. Ib.

Journals of a branch of the legislature are public records. They prove their own authenticity. Being kept in virtue of a provision of law, judicially known to the judge, their existence and function in legislation are also judicially known. Ib.

Section 13. The doors of each house shall be kept open during its session, except the Senate while sitting in executive session; and neither shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, or to any other town than that in which they may be holding their session. Section 14. Any bill may originate in either house of the legislature, and after being passed in one house may be amended in the other.

A statute containing thirty-one sections passed the Senate, and in the House it was amended by striking out everything after the enacting clause and inserting in lieu thereof eight new sections. This amendment was concurred in by the Senate. Certain sections of the original bill were enrolled with the eight amendatory sections. In this condition the bill was signed by officers of the Senate and of the house and approved by the Governor. The provisions of the spurious sections as to some matters covered by the genuine sections are different in their legal effect from those of the genuine sections: Held, the entire bill is of no effect as a law. State v Deal, 24 Fla. 293, 4 So. 899.

A wrong date in the message from one house of the legislature to the other transmitting a bill may be self-correcting and treated as a clerical misprision. Rushton v State, 58 Fla. 94, 50 So. 486.

Where the journals clearly show that a bill was passed by the house by its full title and was transmitted to and read by the Senate by the same title, and that the bill was passed by the Senate by an abbreviated but not misleading title, but it appears that though the journal entries as to the title were not uniform, the same bill by a sufficient title was considered in and passed by each house, the act is not void on the ground that it appears the same bill was not passed by each house. State v Bethea, 61 Fla. 60, 55 So. 550.