applicable, shall have the same force and effect within the said Territory of Wyoming as elsewhere within the United States.

effect.

to continue in

SEC. 17. And be it further enacted, That this act shall when act takes take effect from and after the time when the executive and judicial officers herein provided for shall have been duly appointed and qualified: Provided, That all general territorial laws of the Territory of Dakota in force in any Laws of Dakota portion of said Territory of Wyoming at the time this act force until, &c. shall take effect shall be and continue in force throughout the said Territory until repealed by the legislative authority of said Territory, except such laws as relate to the possession or occupation of mines or mining claims. APPROVED, July 25, 1868.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

Act of February 21, 1871; 16 Stats., 419.

Feb. 21, 1871.

Vol. xvii, p. 16.

lumbia consti

porate for mu

CHAP. LXII.-An Act to provide a Government for the District of Columbia.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives District of Co- of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That tuted a body cor- all that part of the territory of the United States included nicipal purposes. within the limits of the District of Columbia be, and the same is hereby, created into a government by the name of the District of Columbia, by which name it is hereby constituted a body corporate for municipal purposes, and may contract and be contracted with, sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, have a seal, and exercise all other powers of a municipal corporation not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States and the provisions of this act.

Powers, &c.

Governor, ap- SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the executive pointment, and term of office; power and authority in and over said District of Columbia shall be vested in a governor, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and who shall hold his office for four years, and Qualifications; until his successor shall be appointed and qualified. The governor shall be a citizen of and shall have resided within Powers and said District twelve months before his appointment, and have the qualifications of an elector. He may grant pardons and respites for offenses against the laws of said District enacted by the legislative assembly thereof; he shall commission all officers who shall be elected or appointed to office under the laws of the said District enacted as aforesaid, and shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.

duties.

Veto power.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That every bill which shall have passed the council and house of delegates shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the governor of the District of Columbia; if he approve, he shall sign it, but if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to the house in which it shall have originated, who shall enter Veto power of the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two thirds of all the members appointed or elected to the house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of all the

governor.

re

turned within

members appointed or elected to that house, it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both houses shall be determined by the yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall Bills not not be returned by the governor within ten days (Sundays ten days, &c. excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the legislative assembly by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law.

District.

Residence, term

of office, duties.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That there shall be Secretary of the appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a secretary of said District, who shall reside therein and possess the qualification of an elector, and shall hold his office for four years, and until his successor shall be appointed and qualified; he shall record and preserve all laws and proceedings of the legislative assembly hereinafter constituted, and all the acts and proceedings of the governor in his executive department; he shall transmit one copy of the laws and journals of the legislative assembly within thirty days after the end of each session, and one copy of the executive proceedings and official correspondence semiannually, on the first days of January and July in each year, to the President of the United States, and four copies of the laws to the President of the Senate and to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, for the use of Congress; and When to act as in case of the death, removal, resignation, disability, or absence, of the governor from the District, the secretary shall be, and he is hereby, authorized and required to execute and perform all the powers and duties of the governor during such vacancy, disability, or absence, or until another governor shall be duly appointed and qualified to fill such vacancy. And in case the offices of governor and secretary shall both become vacant, the powers, duties, and emoluments of the office of governor shall devolve upon Provision if the presiding officer of the council, and in case that office. or and secretary shall also be vacant, upon the presiding officer of the are vacant, &c. house of delegates, until the office shall be filled by a new appointment.

governor.

offices of govern

sembly.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That legislative power Legislative asand authority in said District shall be vested in a legislative assembly as hereinafter provided. The assembly shall consist of a council and house of delegates. The Council; council shall consist of eleven members, of whom two Number, resishall be residents of the city of Georgetown, and two dence, appoint residents of the county outside of the cities of Washington office, &c. and Georgetown, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, who shall have the qualification of voters as hereinafter prescribed, five of whom shall be first appointed for the term of one year, and six for the period of two years, provided that all subsequent appointments shall be for the term of two years. The house of delegates shall consist of twenty-two mem

House of delegates;

of office, &c.

Districts.

Residence.

delegates;

Number, term bers, possessing the same qualifications as prescribed for the members of the council, whose term of service shall continue one year. An apportionment shall be made, as nearly equal as practicable, into eleven districts for the appointment of the council, and into twenty-two districts for the election of delegates, giving to each section of the District representation in the ratio of its population as nearly as may be. And the members of the council and of the house of delegates shall reside in and be inhabitants of the districts from which they are appointed or First election. elected, respectively. For the purposes of the first election to be held under this act, the governor and judges of the supreme court of the District of Columbia shall designate Elections of the districts for members of the house of delegates, appoint a board of registration and persons to superintend the election and the returns thereof, prescribe the time, places, and manner of conducting such election, and make all needful rules and regulations for carrying into effect the provisions of this act not otherwise herein provided for: when to be Provided, That the first election shall be held within Plurality to sixty days from the passage of this act. In the first and all subsequent elections the persons having the highest number of legal votes for the house of delegates, respecvote is equal, or tively, shall be declared by the governor duly elected in case of va-members of said house. In case two or more persons voted for shall have an equal number of votes for the same office, or if a vacancy shall occur in the house of delegates, the governor shall order a new election. And the persons thus appointed and elected to the legislative assembly shall Time and place meet at such time and at such place within the District as the governor shall appoint; but thereafter the time, place, and manner of holding and conducting all elections by the people, and the formation of the districts for members of the council and house of delegates, shall be prescribed by law, as well as the day of the commencement of the regular Sessions not to sessions of the legislative assembly: Provided, That no days, except the session in any one year shall exceed the term of sixty days, except the first session, which may continue one hundred days.

held.

elect.

New election, if

cancy.

of meeting.

exceed sixty

first.

Part of District

may be divided

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the legislative into townships. assembly shall have power to divide that portion of the District not included in the corporate limits of Washington or Georgetown into townships, not exceeding three, Township offi- and create township officers, and prescribe the duties thereof; but all township officers shall be elected by the people of the townships respectively.

cers.

Voters, their

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That all male citizens qualifications, of the United States, above the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been actual residents of said District for three months prior to the passage of this act, except such as are non compos mentis and persons convicted of infamous crimes, shall be entitled to vote at said election, in the election district or precinct in which he shall then reside, and shall have so resided for thirty days immedi

frage not to be

ately preceding said election, and shall be eligible to any office within the said District, and for all subsequent elections twelve months' prior residence shall be required to Right of sufconstitute a voter; but the legislative assembly shall have abridged. no right to abridge or limit the right of suffrage. SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That no person who Certain persons has been or hereafter shall be convicted of bribery, per- membership in jury, or other infamous crime, nor any person who has been or may be a collector or holder of public moneys. who shall not have accounted for and paid over, upon final judgment duly recovered according to law, all such moneys due from him, shall be eligible to the legislative assembly or to any office of profit or trust in said District.

disqualified from the assembly or holding office.

Oath of mem

bers of the legis

lative assembly.

SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That members of the legislative assembly, before they enter upon their official duties, shall take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and will faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; and that I have not knowingly or intentionally paid or contributed anything, or made any promise in the nature of a bribe, to directly or indirectly influence any vote at the election at which I was chosen to fill the said office, and have not accepted, nor will I accept, or receive, directly or indirectly, any money or other valuable thing for any vote or influence that I may give or withhold on any bill, resolution, or appropriation, or for any other official act.' Any member who shall refuse to Refusal to take take the oath herein prescribed shall forfeit his office, and oath to forfeit ofevery person who shall be convicted of having sworn falsely to or of violating his said oath shall forfeit his office and be disqualified thereafter from holding any be perjury. office of profit or trust in said District, and shall be deemed guilty of perjury, and upon conviction shall be punished accordingly.

fice.

False oath, &c.

to disqualify and

to

islative assem

SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That a majority of Quorum of legthe legislative assembly appointed or elected to each house bly shall constitute a quorum. The house of delegates shall be the judge of the election returns and qualifications of

Members.

of each new as

its members. Each house shall determine the rules of its Rules. proceedings, and shall choose its own officers. The governor shall call the council to order at the opening of each new assembly; and the secretary of the District shall call Organization the house of delegates to order at the opening of each sembly. new legislative assembly, and shall preside over it until a temporary presiding officer shall have been chosen and shall have taken his seat. No member shall be expelled by either house except by a vote of two-thirds of all the members appointed or elected to that house. Each house Punishment for may punish by imprisonment any person not a member contempt. who shall be guilty of disrespect to the house by disorderly or contemptuous behavior in its presence; but no such imprisonment shall extend beyond twenty-four hours at one time. Neither house shall, without the consent of

Expulsion of

members.