|
it, goes not to the General Assembly but
goes to any person in office or anybody or
any person, and provides the old pro-
visions providing that the laws should not
be suspended except by act of the General
Assembly.
DELEGATE JAMES (presiding): Dele-
gate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: What I am
suggesting is that in order to suspend ef-
fectively any statutes during an emer-
gency, the General Assembly, prior to such
emergency, would be required to pass leg-
islation saying that under certain circum-
stances and for a designated period of
time the laws shall be suspended, but shall
not be suspended any longer or in any
other period.
What I am saying is that since the
matter you raise now is a question of
statutory jurisdiction, that can be han-
dled by the General Assembly itself. But
you need a constitutional justification for
suspending constitutional provisions, and
that is why this particular amendment
should be adopted.
DELEGATE JAMES (presiding): Dele-
gate Pullen.
DELEGATE PULLEN: A point of in-
quiry.
DELEGATE JAMES (presiding) : Does
Delegate Gallagher yield?
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: Yes.
DELEGATE PULLEN: As a layman I
am curious, not necessarily opposed. What
is the difference between this and martial
law?
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: As I un-
derstand it, martial law is first of all a
condition recognized by the chief executive
who declares that certain area is under
and subject to martial law, and at that
time the military moves in with consider-
able jurisdiction.
This particular provision merely pro-
vides for the orderly continuation of holders
of public office and operation of govern-
ment during emergencies. It requires a
prior act of the General -Assembly in order
to suspend the constitutional provisions
which would otherwise be operative. For
example, the question of who shall be gov-
ernor is already handled by the Constitu-
tion, insofar as succession to the governor-
ship is concerned. Suppose, however, as a
result of the catastrophe that all persons
named in the line of succession were killed,
|
that it would be impossible for the other
machinery to operate to select the governor.
A General Assembly could say under
those circumstances that the survivors of
the General Assembly, even though a
quorum were not present, could elect the
governor, if the General Assembly could
agree among itself as to which of those
worthy gentlemen ought to be governor.
DELEGATE JAMES (presiding) : Your
time has expired.
It is statutory civil law; civil martial
law, I guess you would call it.
Is there any further discussion?
Delegate Lloyd Taylor.
DELEGATE L. TAYLOR: Mr. Presi-
dent, I am going to address this question
to Delegate Gallagher, and maybe the
Chairman of Style and Drafting could
answer the question.
DELEGATE JAMES (presiding) : Dele-
gate Gallagher's time is completed.
DELEGATE L. TAYLOR: In the Style
and Drafting section, Continuity of Gov-
ernment During Emergencies, in line 27 it
says "only to the extent necessary to pre-
serve continuity of state and local public
office." In the amendment submitted by Del-
egate Gallagher in line 13 it says "concern-
ing continuity of state and local public
offices."
It seems that the amendment by Delegate
Gallagher has lost the meaning the Style
and Drafting Committee had in trying to
preserve continuity of state and local pub-
lic offices. In other words, Style and Draft-
ings amendment seems to have a positive
effect, whereas the effect of Delegate Gal-
lagher's amendment concerning continuity
of offices is negative.
DELEGATE JAMES (presiding): Is
the question addressed to Delegate Penni-
man ?
DELEGATE L. TAYLOR: Yes.
DELEGATE PENNIMAN: Delegate
Taylor, I think that we are all agreed now
at this point that the intent of the Com-
mittee on General Provisions and the intent
of the Committee on Style and Drafting has
been best stated by the more recent amend-
ment coming from Delegate Gallagher and
Delegate Sollins.
They pin down, it seems to me, more pre-
cisely in those last five lines, the intention
of the Committee on General Provisions,
|
