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1876.] OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES. 403
of the majority of the committee is in substance nothing more
than an announcement, in advance, of the determination of
the committee to do its entire duty, if certain circumstances
shall hereafter arise. It seems to the undersigned that if
the committee has no present duty to discharge in the pre-
mises, such an announcement might have been postponed
until the happening of the circumstances indicated. Indeed,
the minority cannot help thinking, that the actual discharge
of the duty itself would have been the most conclusive and
satisfactory mode of establishing the purpose to perform it.
Except, therefore, as an argumentative comment on the
communication of Mr. Harris, which it embraces, the
report has no parliamentary significance which the un-
dersigned are able to discover. From the course of observa-
tion and argument adopted by the majority, the undersigned
are compelled also gravely to dissent. It is very Far from
being true, they think, as a general principle of American
law, that "the right to assume the functions of an elective
office depends, in the first instance wholly and exclusively
upon the returns or certificates of election," or that "those
persons who have been duly returned and declared elected
are always considered to be rightfully entitled to their re-
spective offices, until their election is investigated and set
aside." The principle thus assumed by the majority to be
universal, applies only and of necessity, to legislative bodies.
As there is no exterior tribiunal authorized to judge of the
election and qualification of their members, it is manifest
that they could never be organized, unless upon the basis of
the prima facie evidence furnished by the returns. It is,
therefore, indisputable, that the returns should be treated in
the first instance as entitling the persons returned to their
seats. But, in regard to other elective offices, there is no
such rule, because there is no such necessity, and unless there
be a special provision to the contrary, it is believed by the
undersigned to be a principle of obvious soundness and gen-
eral recognition, that the returns confer no immediate right
to be inducted into office, except in those cases exclusively
where that right has not been impeached, Where the elec-
tion or qualification of the parties returned is disputed, the
sole effect of the returns is to throw the burden of proof on
the parties disputing them. This rule is nowhere more fully
recognized than in the Constitution of this State, where
special provision is made (Art. 4, sects. 11 and 12), for the
immediate issuing of commissions to officers of certain
enumerated classes, who shall appear by the returns to have
been elected, leaving their election at the same time expressly
open to contest, notwithstanding.
The undersigned believe it to be a correct principle of
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