RECENT STATE CONSTITUTION-MAKING 75 



sessions, and even these are limited to fifty days in length. A deter- 

 mined effort was made to insert a similar provision in the constitution 

 of Virginia, but it was defeated. In the new constitutions of these two 

 States the power of the legislature to pass special laws is greatly restricted. 

 The conduct of the legislators is responsible for these restrictions. The 

 great number of special laws on trivial matters was one of the most 

 urgent causes of the new constitution in both Alabama and Virginia. 

 Special legislation, however, is abundant in both these constitutions. 

 As an illustration of the manner in which it gets into the constitution, 

 it is said that in the Alabama convention, when the sections relating 

 to indebtedness were under consideration, "one member after another 

 had an exception to introduce and at last, when a delegate protested 

 against such special provisions, twenty cities or towns had been spe- 

 cially favored in the constitution." 1 



Constitutions which are so crowded with special legislation are in 

 need of frequent amendment. The larger a constitution gets, the more 

 subjects on which it legislates, the more often it must be changed. If 

 the entire body of statute law were in the constitution, it would require 

 constant amendment. In such detailed constitutions needing so fre- 

 quent change, provision should be made for their amendment by the 

 legislature alone without submission to the people. A two-thirds vote 

 by two successive legislatures would seem to be amply sufficient to 

 secure safety to popular government. Of course, the more vital points 

 in any constitution should always be submitted to popular vote. It is 

 impossible, however, for the people to act wisely on a large number of 

 amendments at each election. They will not and cannot inform them- 

 selves on all the difficult questions involved. 



It has been pointed out that the distrust of the legislature need be 

 no excuse for filling the constitution with special legislation. There is 

 another way of controlling the legislature, and that is by the initiative 

 and referendum. At present we have in nearly all the States the com- 

 pulsory referendum on all constitutional amendments. By the intro- 

 duction of the optional referendum, a salutary check on any evil legis- 



' Annals of American Academy, Vol. XIX, p. 145. Quoted by R. H. Whitten in New York Slate Library 

 Bulletin, No. 72, p. 2g. 



