No. 112. Act prohibiting Special Laws in the Territories July 30, 1886 A BILL to prohibit the passage of special or local laws in the Territories and to limit territorial indebtedness was introduced in the House, February 1, 1886, by William M. Springer of Illinois. It was stated that the provisions of the bill were taken verbatim from the constitution of Illinois. The bill was reported with a verbal amendment April 6, and passed the House May 1. The Senate made numerous changes, and passed the amended bill June 17. The House refused to agree to all the Senate amendments, and a conference committee settled the final form of the bill. An amendatory act of July 30, 1886, authorized municipal corporations in the Territories to issue bonds "for sanitary and health purposes, the construction of sewers, waterworks, and the improvement of streets," provided such issue were voted by the taxpayers of the municipality at an election called for the purpose. REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XXIV, 170, 171. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 49th Cong., Ist Sess., and the Cong. Record. The text of the House bill is in the Record, May I ; the amendments reported in the Senate are in ibid., June 17. Report 1327. See also Senate An act to prohibit the passage of local or special laws in the Territories of the United States, to limit Territorial indebtedness, and for other purposes. Be it enacted That the legislatures of the Territories of the United States now or hereafter to be organized shall not pass local or special laws in any of the following enumerated cases, that is to say: Granting divorces. Changing the names of persons or places. Laying out, opening, altering, and working roads or highways. Vacating roads, town-plats, streets, alleys, and public grounds. Locating or changing county seats. Regulating county and township affairs. Regulating the practice in courts of justice. Regulating the jurisdiction and duties of justices of the peace, police magistrates, and constables. Providing for changes of venue in civil and criminal cases. Incorporating cities, towns, or villages, or changing or amending the charter of any town, city, or village. For the punishment of crimes or misdemeanors. For the assessment and collection of taxes for Territorial, county, township, or road purposes. Summoning and impaneling grand or petit jurors. Providing for the management of common schools. The opening and conducting of any election or designating the place of voting. The sale or mortgage of real estate belonging to minors or others under disability. The protection of game or fish. Chartering or licensing ferries or toll bridges. Remitting fines, penalties, or forfeitures. Creating, increasing, or decreasing fees, percentage, or allowances of public officers during the term for which said officers are elected or appointed. Changing the law of descent. Granting to any corporation, association, or individual the right to lay down railroad tracks, or amending existing charters for such purpose. Granting to any corporation, association, or individual any special or exclusive privilege, immunity, or franchise whatever. In all other cases where a general law can be made applicable, no special law shall be enacted in any of the Territories of the United States by the Territorial legislatures thereof. SEC. 2. That no Territory of the United States now or hereafter to be organized, or any political or municipal corporation or subdivision of any such Territory, shall hereafter make any subscription to the capital stock of any incorporated company, or company or association having corporate powers, or in any manner loan its credit to or use it for the benefit of any such company or association, or borrow any money for the use of any such company or association. SEC. 3. That no law of any Territorial legislature shall authorize any debt to be contracted by or on behalf of such Territory except in the following cases: To meet a casual deficit in the revenues, to pay the interest upon the Territorial debt, to suppress insurrections, or to provide for the public defense, except that in addition to any indebtedness created for such purposes, the legislature may authorize a loan for the erection of penal, charitable or educational institutions for such Territory, if the total indebtedness of the Territory is not thereby made to exceed one per centum upon the assessed value of the taxable property in such Territory as shown by the last general assessment for taxation. And nothing in this act shall be construed to prohibit the refunding of any existing indebtedness of such Territory or of any political or municipal corporation, county, or other sub-division therein. SEC. 4. That no political or municipal corporation, county, or other sub-division in any of the Territories of the United States shall ever become indebted in any manner or for any purpose to any amount in the aggregate, including existing indebtedness, exceeding four per centum on the value of the taxable property within such corporation, county, or sub-division, to be ascertained by the last assessment for Territorial and county taxes previous to the incurring of such indebtedness; and all bonds or obligations in excess of such amount given by such corporation shall be void : That nothing in this act contained shall be so construed as to affect the validity of any act of any Territorial legislature heretofore enacted, or of any obligations existing or contracted thereunder, nor to preclude the issuing of bonds already contracted for in pursuance of express provisions of law; nor to prevent any Territorial legislature from legalizing the acts of any county, municipal corporation, or sub-division of any territory as to any bonds heretofore issued or contracted to be issued. SEC. 5. That section eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, title twenty-three, of the Revised Statutes of the United States be amended to read as follows: "The legislative assemblies of the several Territories shall not grant private charters or special privileges, but they may, by gen eral incorporation acts, permit persons to associate themselves together as bodies corporate for mining, manufacturing, and other industrial pursuits, and for conducting the business of insurance, banks of discount and deposit (but not of issue) loan, trust, and guarantee associations, and for the construction or operation of rail-roads, wagon-roads, irrigating ditches, and the colonization and improvement of lands in connection therewith, or for colleges, semenaries, churches, libraries, or any other benevolent, charitable, or scientific association." SEC. 6. That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to abridge the power of Congress to annul any law passed by a Territorial legislature, or to modify any existing law of Congress requiring in any case that the laws of any Territory shall be submitted to Congress. SEC. 7. That all acts and parts of acts hereafter passed by any Territorial legislature in conflict with the provisions of this act shall be null and void. APPROVED, July 30, 1886. No. 113. Electoral Count Act February 3, 1887 A BILL to regulate the electoral count was introduced in the Senate, December 8, 1885, by Edmunds of Vermont, and referred to the Committee on Privileges and Elections. The bill was reported on the 17th without amendment, and February 2, after debate, was recommitted. was reported on the 25th, and March 17 passed the Senate. amendments was reported in the House April 15, but the without further action. December 9 the bill was taken up, and, with various amendments, passed. A conference committee settled the final form of the bill. REFERENCES. A substitute The bill with session closed Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XXIV, 373-375. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 49th Cong., and the Cong. Record. The text of the Senate bill is in the Record, March 17; the amendments reported in the House are in ibid., December 9, 1886. See also House Report 1638, 49th Cong., Ist Sess. An act to fix the day for the meeting of the electors of President and VicePresident, and to provide for and regulate the counting of the votes for President and Vice-President, and the decision of questions arising thereon. Be it enacted. That the electors of each State shall meet and give their votes on the second Monday in January next following their appointment, at such place in each State as the legislature of such State shall direct. SEC. 2. That if any State shall have provided, by laws enacted prior to the day fixed for the appointment of the electors, for its final determination of any controversy or contest concerning the appointment of all or any of the electors of such State, by judicial or other methods or procedures, and such determination shall have been made at least six days before the time fixed for the meeting of the electors, such determination made pursuant to such law so existing on said day, and made at least six days prior to the said time of meeting of the electors, shall be conclusive, and shall govern in the counting of the electoral votes as provided in the Constitution, and as hereinafter regulated, so far as the ascertainment of the electors appointed by such State is concerned. SEC. 3. That it shall be the duty of the executive of each State, as soon as practicable after the conclusion of the appointment of electors in such State, by the final ascertainment under and in pursuance of the laws of such State providing for such ascertainment, to communicate, under the seal of the State, to the Secretary of State of the United States, a certificate of such ascertainment of the electors appointed, setting forth the names of such electors and the canvass or other ascertainment under the laws of such State of the number of votes given or cast for each person for whose appointment any and all votes have been given or cast; and it shall also thereupon be the duty of the executive of each State to deliver to the electors of such State, on or before the day on which they are required by the preceding section to meet, the same certificate, in triplicate, under the seal of the State; and such certificate shall be inclosed and transmitted by the electors at the same time and in the same manner as is provided by law for transmitting by such electors to the seat of |