142 BINNEY'S CASE.—2 BLAND.

however the terms of such an enactment are not in themselves
doubtful, no snch evidence can be introduced, since that would
be not to obviate, but to create doubts. Attorney-General v. Par-
ker, 3 Atk. 576; Bex v. Varlo, Cowp. 248; Withnell v. Gratham, 6
T, R. 388; 5 Cruise Dig. tit. 33. In regard to such private Acts
the petition of the applicant, and the votes and proceedings of
the two Houses of the General Assembly may, perhaps, be received
as evidence affecting the rights of the parties, and guiding the con-
struction of such private legislative enactments, (o) But in all

(o) O'NEALE'S CASE.—On the 20th day of December, 1794, the following
resolution was propounded in the House of Delegates respecting Lawrence
O'Neale, then a delegate from Montgomery County.

" Whereas, John Hamilton, of Prince George's County, did petition this
General Assembly for an Act to authorize the issuing of a patent on a sur-
vey made for him of a tract of land, in Prince George's County, called
Hamilton's Purchase, containing two hundred and forty-eight and a half
acres of land, stating that the record of the original patent thereof had
been lost; and whereas, by a certificate exhibited with the said petition,
signed by the register of the land office, it appeared by an entry made in
the margin of the record of the warrant on which the said survey was made,
that a patent had issued; but that there was no record of the patent or certi-
ficate remaining in the land office; and whereas, Lawrance O'Neale. Esquire,
a member of this house, after the exhibition of the said petition, and the
reading and reference thereof to a committee for consideration, did make
application to the register of the land office for a warrant of proclamation
to affect the land included in the said survey; and this General Assembly
being of opinion, that such conduct is a violation of the rights of the people
of this State, and the duty of a representative.

"Resolved, That the said Lawrence O'Neale be expelled, and he is hereby
expelled from this house; and his seat as a delegate for Montgomery County
declared to be, and it is hereby vacated.

" Ordered, That the said resolution have a second reading to-morrow, that
the said Lawrence O 'Neale be furnished with a copy thereof, and that he
have permission to- be heard by counsel at the bar of the house; and that
summonses issue for John Callahan and Henry Whitcraft, to appear at the
bar of the house on to-morrow,"

On the next day the house took into consideration the resolution respecting
Lawrence O'Neale, agreeably to the order of the day; and. after hearing Mr.
Pinkney at the bar of the house in behalf of the said Lawrence O'Neale,
the question was put, that the house assent to the said resolution.—Yeas 29,
nays 84. So it was determined in the negative.

On motion, the question was put, That this house do highly disapprove of
the conduct of Lawrence O'Neale, Esquire, as a member of this house, in
entering an application at the land office for a proclamation warrant to affect
the land of John Hamilton, after a disclosure of the facts existing in the
said case by the petition of the said John Hamilton preferred to this house—
Yeas 61, nays 2. So it was resolved in the affirmative.

Immediately after which an Act was passed, reciting that, whereas, it may
happen that facts may be disclosed by petitions preferred to the General
Assembly, of which advantage may be taken, to the injury of the party
petitioning; therefore it was enacted, that whenever a petition shall be pre-
sented to the Legislature by any person to confirm his title, the claim of such