Suchergebnisse

AbstractThe old‐fashioned town meeting is slowly yielding to the limited town meeting—a new experiment seeking to preserve direct legislation and pure democracy. Modern city charters calling for mayors, bureaus, and councils, with emphasis on administration, have not had wide appeal.

Considers (72) H.J. Res. 534. ; Committee Serial No. 16. ; Record is based on bibliographic data in CIS US Congressional Committee Hearings Index. Reuse except for individual research requires license from Congressional Information Service, Inc. ; Indexed in CIS US Congressional Committee Hearings Index Part III ; Considers (72) H.J. Res. 534. ; Committee Serial No. 16. ; Mode of access: Internet.

Direct legislation has returned to excite considerable interest after a quiet period of a few years in which the traditional legislative processes were allowed to operate undisturbed in the states and cities. Old age pension plans put before the voters by initiative petitions in Colorado, California, and Ohio have excited more inspection of direct legislation procedures than at any time in their history. Several studies have been made of the laws governing the initiative and referendum, and also of their operation in the states. No less significant than state-wide initiatives and referenda have been the anti-picketing and labor regulating initiatives in Los Angeles; ordinances in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Oakland, California, requiring two operators on street cars; attacks upon proportional representation in New York by petitions; attempts by labor organizations in Detroit to set policies regarding working conditions on the city's street railways by initiative ordinances; or the attempts by firemen and police in many cities to obtain civil service and pension systems through the same device. Several of these cities now have approximately thirty-five years of experience with municipal direct legislation.Numerous factors in American municipal politics have combined within the past fifty years to develop a sentiment for laying upon the electorate a portion of the responsibility for determining local policy. The idea that the voters of the municipality should be allowed, to decide certain policies was developed chiefly by the home rule movement.

Considers (72) H.J. Res. 276. ; Committee Serial No. 10. Considers legislation to authorize states to sue for recovery of illegal direct taxes from 1866, 1867, and 1868. ; Record is based on bibliographic data in CIS US Congressional Committee Hearings Index. Reuse except for individual research requires license from Congressional Information Service, Inc. ; Indexed in CIS US Congressional Committee Hearings Index Part III ; Considers (72) H.J. Res. 276. ; Committee Serial No. 10. Considers legislation to authorize states to sue for recovery of illegal direct taxes from 1866, 1867, and 1868. ; Mode of access: Internet.

The establishment of equitable rules whereby the constitutional rights of affected interests may be protected against arbitrary invasion from laws adopted by the electorate under the reserved legislative powers of the initiative and referendum remains the most important procedural question in the whole field of direct legislation. In reserving the authority to initiate constitutional and statutory measures without the approval or consent of the popular assembly, and to enact such measures through the medium of a popular referendum, the popular sovereign has created a mechanic of legislation coördinate in authority with the legislature. But in erecting barriers against fraudulent and corrupt practices upon the part of those engaged in the initiation of proposed measures, the state constitutions and laws present the possibility of obstructionist tactics by opponents of the proposals and undue delay in the presentation of the measures to the electorates for decision. The recent political imbroglio in Oklahoma over the adoption of an old-age-pensions amendment to the state constitution emphasizes the difficulties of reconciling these conflicting interests.

This item has been retyped from the original and pagination will differ from the original. ; Art. 233 reads : Willful homicide shall be excusable : 1. when provoked by a severe bodily harm, or by any crime whatsoever against the person, which is liable to a punishment higher than one year's hard labour or imprisonment; 2. when committed in the act of resisting in the daytime, the scaling or the breaking of enclosures, walls, or the entrance of a house or of an inhabited apartment, or of the appurtenances which may have a direct or indirect communication with such house and apartment; 3. when committed by a person who was acting under the immediate influence of an instantaneous passion or mental agitation owing or which he was, in the act of committing the crime incapable of reflection; 4. when committed by a person who acting under the circumstance stated in art : 229, has exceeded the limits imposed by the law, by the authority or by necessity; provided, however, that if any such excess is due to such person being taken unawares, or to fear or fright, the same shall not be liable to punishment. In order to its being declared that the offender was incapable of reflection it is necessary, in cases of provocation, that in the fact the homicide be attributable to heat of blood and not to a deliberate intention to kill or to cause severe bodily harm, and that the cause be such as would, in men of ordinary temperament, commonly produce the effect of rendering them incapable of calculating the consequences of the crime. ; N/A

In 1890, Mr. Edward C. Mason published in his monograph, The Veto Power, the results of his investigation of presidential vetoes down to 1889. In the present note, it is proposed to supplement the earlier study by presenting a short analysis of vetoes between 1889 and 1934.By 1889, the direct veto had been applied to 435 measures. Of this number, however, over 200 were pension bills vetoed during Cleveland's first administration. Of pocket vetoes, there had been only 16. From 1889 to the close of the Seventy-third Congress in June, 1934, the direct veto was exercised 235 times, and 292 pocket vetoes were recorded. In the hundred-year period from 1789 to 1889, 29 vetoes were overridden by Congress; in the 45 years from 1889 to 1934, 22 met reversal. This increase in the number and proportion of vetoes is attributable to the increased amount and broadened scope of legislation resulting from the complexity of our social and political life.

Declining prestige of legislative bodies has recently prompted inquiries looking to self-appraisal and reform in Congress and in legislatures of a number of the states. Dissatisfaction with the traditional organization and procedure of state legislatures has grown among legislators, who undertake the perplexities of present-day law-making with inadequate assistance and ineffective machinery. Legislation was seldom a simple problem, but it is today more difficult than at any time in our national history. As the responsibilities thrust upon legislatures are increased, so must the tools and processes of legislation be improved if the quality of legislation is to meet the needs which call it forth.To assist in the reappraisal and review of state legislative organization and procedure, twelve general suggestions for strengthening state legislatures have been reported to the Council of State Governments by a committee of state officials. Appointed in November, 1945, by the Board of Managers of the Council, the Committee on Legislative Processes and Procedures developed its report after broadly surveying legislative theory and practice and selecting for recommendation to the states those measures of most general application. Dealing with the problems of state legislatures generally, the committee decided at an early date to direct its attention to the strengthening of state legislatures as presently constituted. Questions of reapportionment, of representation in the legislature, proportional representation, unicameralism, and certain mechanics of procedure such as electrical voting were not treated in the final report.

Modern civilization and modern science are in constant interplay and the relation of the state to medicine is simply one aspect of a much broader relationship—the changing sphere of government in the lives of the people. Industrialism has meant a large increase in population and the concentration of this population in huge cities. Factories and machine processes play a dominant role. Education has become almost universal. Research, inventions, still more research, and new applications of this research change industrial technology overnight. And the habits of living of the people through the development of apartment houses, radio, automobiles, aeroplanes, are also revolutionized. The pace quickens.The myriad problems of post-War international relations and national security, of currency and tariffs, of economic adversity and unemployment, the mounting public debt—all have thrust upon national and local governments a huge weight of responsibility. The depression has forced governments to assume control of basic economic activities, and, according to present indications, the trend will continue in the direction of more rather than less state activity.Governments have shown an increasing tendency to assume responsibility for the individual's general welfare. Modern industrialism and modern science have produced insecurity for a large section of the population—an uncertainty of life and limb and of employment, a risk of poverty in old age—that labour legislation and social insurance attempt to meet. Almost every type of social legislation has a direct or indirect effect upon the public health. Factory Inspection Acts, minimum wage legislation, control of the hours of work, housing schemes, health insurance, and workmen's compensation laws, illustrate the range of state activity in the field of public health. Legislation affecting medical care and public health agencies is simply a part of a much larger whole—the vast system of state activities and laws which has for its objective the greatest welfare of the people.

The bureau chiefs are the key figures in national administration. The units that they direct are inclusive enough to lend themselves to the purposes of supervision and coördination and to bring their heads in touch with the machinery of budget-making and legislation, but sufficiently focused to preserve for them a saving contact with details and technique. The importance of their positions can hardly be exaggerated.Who are the present bureau chiefs? What has been their training? To what extent have they been recruited within the services they now direct, and to what extent from outside? What factors have influenced their selection? How long have they been in office? Judging by their experience as well as by the frequency with which their predecessors have been changed, how secure seems to be their tenure? These are the questions to which this paper is addressed. Its purpose is modest; it is not expected to uncover findings not already known, at least in general terms. A systematic canvass of the bare facts, however, will help to a more precise understanding of the actual situation and perhaps facilitate discussions of our working theory of the relation of politics to administration. The time is opportune for taking stock. Within the past fifteen years each of the great parties has swept into the seats of power after a period of deprivation.In determining the scope of this inquiry, the term bureau is used somewhat broadly, to denote any major subdivision of an executive department.

The subject allotted to me was "Retail Business Under the Price Ceiling," which I propose to deal with under three general headings: (1) some of the immediate problems that arose; (2) the effects of this legislation to date; (3) some problems we see ahead.Let us keep in mind that price ceiling legislation is only one of several methods that the government is using to avoid inflation, and that all are interdependent to some degree. Constantly increasing taxation in all its forms, and borrowing, in war savings stamps, certificates, and bonds, is siphoning off some of the excess spending power. Industrial rationing and priorities have been in effect for some time. Subsidies to agriculture, importers, and primary producers are now being paid. But there are already grave doubts if even all of these controls are enough. Forced savings, direct rationing to consumers, and many other controls may be just around the corner.It is well to remember, too, that price ceiling legislation is even now less than six months old. It is still in the heat of a distilling process. The outbreak of war in the East and the tremendous loss of supply occasioned thereby was, and still is, a severe jolt. That it has withstood this shock so well up to date is at least encouraging. That the United States has adopted the Canadian plan with very few changes is evidence that they consider our controls effective so far and had no better ideas to offer. It seems reasonable to expect that both countries working on the same plan will relieve some of our difficulties, and our services as the guinea pig of experimentation should be of some assistance to them. In any comparisons, however, that may be made between the two countries, it must be remembered that the United States's spiral of prices was much more rapid than ours and continued for a longer period. Their ceiling prices are, therefore, on a generally higher level in most commodities.

As one of the most significant of recent developments in public administration, the government corporation has been the subject of much study and discussion. Apparently without exception, interest has centered around the corporate agencies of the federal government and their operations. The time is perhaps overdue to point out that an increasing number of our state governments are depending upon corporations of their own for financing, constructing, and operating a wide variety of enterprises, including tollbridges, sewage disposal plants, water resources and hydro-electric projects, housing programs, construction of university buildings, planetariums, public markets, and health resorts. The creation of the large majority of these state and local "authorities," as they are ordinarily termed, is the direct outgrowth of the New Deal's public works and housing programs. In December, 1934, President Roosevelt wrote the 48 governors suggesting legislation which through "revision of the procedure relative to municipal financing" would enable the states to take "full advantage" of any public works program that Congress might continue. The legal division of P.W.A. was placed at the disposal of the states, and much of the stimulation as well as the form of "authority legislation" must be credited to its staff. In some states, only through separate corporations and the device of revenue bonds could state constitutional limitations upon borrowing be circumvented and state participation in the public works program made possible. Administrative advantages of the public corporation were also considered of importance, however, and in states where constitutional obstacles were not met, these seem to have been the determining factor in the creation of corporate agencies.

Report with details about a study by a lawyers committee of "matters triable under the Resolution" by the [ACLU] Board, which allowed for "any question other than a direct attack upon the power of the President or the military commanders to set up military zones and remove citizens." ; Report on Lawyers Committee to Study Evacuation Cases; American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California Records--Case Files, 1934-1993--Endo, Mitsuye, 1942-1944, MS 3580-1127; California Historical Society.

The problem of judicial review, which has been considered in some de-tail, seems a fertile field for reform. Without intending to deprecate the ability and conscientiousness of the judiciary of the state, the continued dominance of administrative procedure by this group will effectively prevent the development of an efficient body of administrative servants to discharge the ever increasing functions which are being delegated to them. Cooperation and mutual respect between the judge and the administrator are the foundation stones upon which any satisfactory system must be con-structed. This requires considerable legislation and an awareness on the part of the judge of the multiform problems which confront administrative agencies. The administrator must recognize his duty to, respect the rights of individuals. This duty is not completely fulfilled if the persons dealt with cannot recognize that justice has been done. There can be improvement both in administrative practices and in judicial responses. Essentially, the problem is the defense of democratic institutions while recognizing the necessity for government supervision. Our society is no longer a simple agrarian one and there are forces too great to be controlled by individual effort. No amount of piety or wit can block this current and no oratory can return us to those simpler days. Our task is to establish a dynamic balance among competing claims, to direct these forces in the manner which will best serve the interests of all the people.

One of the great elements of stability in the British constitution has been the sovereignty of parliament. The fact of parliamentary sovereignty has given the British constitution a flexibility which has enabled it to serve the changing needs of different periods by modifying the inflexibility of the common law by direct changes in positive law. Even before the period of deliberately created law the fiction of the king's conscience enabled the courts of equity to introduce an element of peaceful change into the legal structure of England.The supremacy of the will of parliament involved in the notion of parliamentary sovereignty presupposes two things. Firstly, it assumes a single supreme legislature, and secondly it assumes the superiority of legislation over the will of the courts. If, as Walter Bagehot contended, the efficient secret of the British constitution lay in the almost complete fusion of the executive and legislative functions, it equally depended upon the supremacy of the legislative branch over the judiciary. It was no abrogation of that theory that it was the business of the courts to determine whether the subject was bound by the words of a particular expression of the will of the legislature. That was merely a protective device against an administrative abuse of power. What that theory cannot logically contain is the notion that the courts could say that the legislature was or was not exceeding its powers in legislating. For by definition those powers are unlimited.