Previous Service in the Legislature of Members of Assembly for 1885.

Garbutt, Phillip

Gould, G. H. P..

Hagan, Edward P..

Haggerty, James

Hasbrouck, G. D. B.

Haskell, E. F.

ORGANIZATION.

No specific provision is made by law for conducting the proceedings at the organization of the Legislature. The statute provides that "the Legislature shall assemble at the Capitol, in the city of Albany, on the first Tuesday of January of every year." (R. S., 5th ed., § 1, tit. 2, chap. VII, part I.)

In the absence of any statutory provision, it has been usual for the Clerk to call the members to order, and after the administration of the official oath by the Secretary of State, to receive and put a motion for the election of Speaker, and conduct the proceedings generally until a Speaker is chosen. But it is within the prov ince of the members to elect a temporary presiding officer, if they so desire, in cases where the election of Speaker is protracted. The Clerk is furnished by the Secretary of State with an official list of the members elect, which he calls in the alphabetical order of their counties. Each member, as his name is called, presents himself in front of the Clerk's desk,

and is sworn by the Secretary of State, or, in his absence, some other officer authorized to administer the oath, after which he signs the roll containing the official oath. The oath may, however, be taken previously, before any Justice of the Supreme Court, the Secretary of State, the Attorney-General, the Lieutenant-Governor, any Judge of a County Court, the Mayor or Recorder of any city, or the Clerk of any county or Court of Record. The oath, wherever taken, must be duly subscribed, certified, and filed in the office of the Secretary of State.

Members who are absent at the organization may be sworn by the Speaker, if they have not previously taken the oath.

It is not necessary for any member to present his certificate of election unless his claim should be disputed. The certified list of the Secretary, presented by the Clerk, is sufficient to entitle any member who is named therein to be sworn, unless it should be proved erroneous by the production of a proper certificate from the county The Clerk attends to the filing of the oaths of all members who are sworn in the Assembly Chamber,

can vassers.

After all are sworn, if a quorum be present, the House is competent to proceed to business.

The caucus of each party, for the nomination of its candidates for Speaker, Clerk, etc., is held in the Capitol on the evening previous to the organization, convening at seven o'clock. The party having the largest number of members