226 



CONGKESS, UNITED STATES. 



members of the New Jersey Legislature against 

 the admission of Mr. Stockton to a seat. 



The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom were 

 referred the credentials of John P. Stockton, claim- 

 ing to have been elected a Senator from the State of 

 New Jersey for six years from the 4th day of March, 

 1865, together with the protest of certain members 

 of the Legislature of said State against the validity 

 of his election, submit the following report : 



The only question involved in the decision of Mr. 

 Stockton's right to a seat is whether an election, by 

 a plurality of votes of the members of the Legisla- 

 ture of New Jersey, in joint meeting assembled, in 

 pursuance of a rule adopted by the joint meeting 

 itself, is valid. The protestants insist that it is not, 

 and they deny Mr. Stockton's right to a seat, be- 

 cause, as they say, he was not appointed by a ma- 

 jority of the votes of the joint meeting of the Legis- 

 lature. 



The legislative power of the State of New Jersey 

 is vested by the State constitution in a Senate and 

 General Assembly, which are required, for legislative 

 purposes, to meet separately ; but which, for the 

 appointment of various officers, are required to as- 

 semble in joint meeting, and when so assembled are, 

 by the constitution itself, styled the " Legislature in 

 joint meeting." 



The constitution of New Jersey does not prescribe 

 the manner of choosing United States Senators, as, 

 indeed, it could not, the Constitution of the United 

 States having vested that power, in the absence of 

 any law of Congress, exclusively in the Legislature ; 

 but it does constitute the two Houses one body for 

 the purpose of appointing certain State officers. The 

 statute of New Jersey declares that " United States 

 Senators on the part of the State shall be appointed 

 by the Senate and General Assembly in joint meet- 

 ing assembled ;" but it does not prescribe any rules 

 for the government of the joint meeting, nor declare 

 the manner of election. 



The practice in New Jersey has been for the joint 

 meeting to prescribe the rules for its own govern- 

 ment. 



In 1794 fifteen rules were adopted, the first two of 

 which are as follows : 



1. That the election of State officers durina; the present 

 session be vvea, voce, unless when otherwise ordered ; and 

 that all officers be put in nomination at least one day before 

 their election. 



2. That the chairman shall not be entitled to vote except 

 in case of a tie, and then to have a casting vote. 



The other thirteen rules related chiefly to the 

 method of conducting the proceedings. Each joint 

 meeting which has since assembled nas adopted its 

 own rules, usually those of the preceding joint meet- 

 ing, sometimes, however, with additions or excep- 

 tions. 



In 1851 the following additional rule was adopted : 



Resolved, That no person shall be elected to any office, at 

 anv joint meeting during the present session, unless there be 

 a majority of all the members elected personally present, 

 and agreeing thereto. 



In 1855 the joint meeting, after adopting the fifteen 

 rules of the preceding joint meeting, added the fol- 

 lowing : 



That all candidates for office, upon receiving a majority of 

 the votes cast by this joint meeting, shall be declared duly 

 elected. 



The joint meeting of 1861 adopted the rules of the 

 preceding joint meeting for_ its own government, 

 among which were the following : 



1. That the election of State officers during the present 

 session be viva vooe, unless when otherwise ordered. 



15 That in all questions the -.hairman of the joint meet- 

 Ing be called upon to vote in nib turn, as one of the repre- 

 sentatives in the Senate or Assembly, but that he have no 

 casting vote as chairman. 



16. That all candidates for office, upon receiving a majority 

 af the votes cast by this joint meeting, shall be declared to 

 be duly elected. 



The same rules were adopted by each joint meet- 

 ing from 1861 to 1865. 



The joint meeting which assembled February 15, 

 1865, and at an adjourned session of which Mr. 

 Stockton was appointed Senator, adopted, at its first 

 meeting, the rules of the preceding joint meeting, 

 except the sixteenth rule, iu lieu of which the fol- 

 lowing was adopted : 



Resolved, That no candidate shall be declared elected un- 

 less upon receiving a majority of the votes of all the mem- 

 bers elected to both Houses of the Legislature. 



After having appointed various officers under tho 

 rules which had been adopted at the assembling of 

 the joint meeting, the following rule was adopted: 



Resolved, That the vote for county judges and commis- 

 sioners of deeds be taken by acclamation, and tbat the coun- 

 ties in which vacancies exist be called in alphabetical order. 



Acting under this rule, quite a number of officers 

 were appointed by acclamation. Not completing its 

 business, the joint meeting adjourned from time to 

 time till March 15th, when the following rule was 

 adopted : 



Resolved, That the resolution that no candidate shall bo 

 declared elected unless upon receiving a majority of the 

 votes of all the members elected to both Houses of the Le- 

 gislature be rescinded, and that any candidate receiving a 

 plurality of votes of the members present shall be declared 

 duly elected. 



Every member of both Houses, eighty -one in all, 

 was present and voting when the above resolution 

 was passed, and it was carried by a vote of 41 in the 

 affirmative, of whom eleven were senators and thirty 

 representatives, to 40 in the negative, of whom ten 

 were senators and thirty representatives. The joint ' 

 meeting then proceeded to the election of a United 

 States Senator, with the following result : 



Hon. John P. Stockton, 40 votes ; Hon. J. C. Ten 

 Eyck, 37 votes; J. W. Wall, 1 vote; P. D. Vroom, 

 1 vote ; F. T. Frelinghuysen, 1 vote ; H. S. Little, 1 

 vote. 



Whereupon John P. Stockton, having received a 

 plurality of all the votes cast, was declared duly 

 elected. The joint meeting then proceeded to the 

 election of various other officers, having completed 

 which it rose. 



The credentials of Mr. Stockton are under the 

 great seal of the State, signed by the Governor and in 

 due form. No objection appears to have been made 

 at the time to the election. Its validity is now called 

 in question by a protest, dated March 20, 1865, and 

 signed by eight senators and thirty members of the 

 General Assembly. The Constitution of the United 

 States declares that the Senate of the United States 

 " shall be composed of two Senators from each State, 

 chosen by the Legislature thereof," and that " the 

 times, places, and manner of holding election for 

 Senators and Eepresentatives shall be prescribed in 

 each State by the Legislature thereof," but Congress 

 may at any time by law make or alter such regula- 

 tions, except as to the places of choosing Senators. 



The right to choose United States Senators in a 

 joint meeting of tho two Houses which compose the 

 Legislature of a State has been too long and too fre- 

 quently exercised to be now brought in question. 

 This has been the manner of election in some States 

 from the beginning, and is now the manner of most 

 of them. 



For the purpose of choosina United States Sena- 

 tors the joint meeting of the two Houses is regarded 

 as the Legislature, and especially would this be so in 

 New Jersey, where the joint meeting is by the con- 

 stitution of the State denominated a Legislature. It 

 has uniformly been held that when the two branches 

 of a Legislature meet in joint convention to elect a 

 United States Senator they are merged into one, and 

 act as one body, so that an election may be effected 

 against the entire vote of the members of one House 

 if the person voted for receive the requisite number 

 of votes from the members of the other. It being. 



