General Assembly

“ And the House might have been equally culpable, if they had refusd to chuse a Speaker and Clerk, or to elect Councellors, whereby to compleat the General Court; for in Case of Omission in either part, a Question might arise, Whether the people would have a Legislature. When the General Assembly is thus formd, they are impowerd by the Charter, to make, ordain and establish all Manner of wholesome and reasonable Orders, Laws, Statutes & Ordinances, Directions and Instructions, either with penaltys or without. ”

“ The General Assembly also has the power, by means of general law, to confer upon boards of supervisors of counties and the councils of cities and towns powers of local and special legislation insofar as the delegation of power is not inconsistent with constitutional limitations. ”

“ Powers. General powers of legislation under the constitution. Elects U. S. Senators, County and City Electoral Boards, Auditor of Public Accounts, Second Auditor, Register of the Land Office, Superintendent of Public Printing, the Judges of the Commonwealth; decides contests in the election of Governor and Lieutenant- Governor; confirms or rejects nominations of certain officers made by the Governor, the State Board of Education, etc.
Powers means what the General Assembly has power to do. Legislation is the making of laws. ”

“ All our state constitutions now in force divide the powers of government among three departments,—legislative, executive, and judicial.
The Legislative Department—called in some states the Legislature, in others the General Assembly, and in still others the General Court— consists in every state of two branches or houses, usually known as the Senate and House of Representatives. In six states the legislature meets annually, and in all the rest biennially; the members of both branches are everywhere elected by the people, and serve from one to four years. ”

“ They passed a law, appointing certain members by name, who were then members of the Executive Council, to be a court for the trial of these malefactors, though the constitution had said, in express words, that no person should exercise the powers of more than one of the three departments, legislative, executive and judiciary at the same time. This proves that the very men who had made that constitution understood that it would be alterable by the General Assembly. ”

“ Section 1st Whereas the General Assembly of this Commonwealth taking into their serious Consideration the Representations heretofore made to the Legislatures of the several States in the Union by the United States in Congress Assembled, and also weighing the difficulties under which the Confederated States now labour, are fully convinced of the necessity of revising the federal Constitution for the purpose of making such Alterations and amendments as the exigencies of our Public Affairs require. ”

“ They exercise all the usual legislative, with some executive and judicial powers, subject, however, to a single restriction. Every law passed must be submitted for ratification to the general assembly. ”

“ The general assembly shall have power from time to time to regulate all matters relating to the judges, time, place, and manner of holding elections for senators and delegates, and of making returns thereof, and to divide the several counties into election districts, for the more convenient holding of elections, not affecting their terms or tenure of office. ”

“ Government. The State Constitution was adopted in 1842, replacing the original charter granted by King Charles II. An amendment proposed in the General Assembly must receive the votes of a majority of all the members elected to each House at two consecutively elected Assemblies, and then be approved by three-fifths of the electors present and voting in the town and ward meetings. ”

“ Your Legislature is not only supreme in the usual sense of the word, but they have literally, all the powers of society. Can you—can you possibly grant anything new? Have you any power which is not already granted to your General Assembly? ”

“ The elections and returns shall be conducted, in all circumstances not hereby particularly prescribed, by the same persons and under the same forms, as prescribed by the present laws in elections of senators and delegates of Assembly. The said senators and delegates shall constitute the first General Assembly of the new government, and shall specially apply themselves to the procuring an exact return from every county of the number of its qualified electors, and to the settlement of the number of delegates to be elected for the ensuing General Assembly. ”

“ Legislature--called the general assembly. Representatives are apportioned among the counties according to the free white population; chosen biennially; must be twenty-one years of age, residents of the state two years, and of the county, city or town they represent, one year. Senators are chosen in single districts for four years, one-half of them every two years; must be twenty-seven years of age; residence the same as representatives. The number of representatives may not exceed one hundred; the number of senators may not exceed thirty-three. ”

“ The whole is applicable, we think, fully, even to “Congress” itself. Write “our General Legislature” in place of “Parliament,” “assembly” instead of “congress,” for “Bristol” read “Virginia,” and we see no difficulty whatever.
Our general legislature is not an assembly of ambassadors from different and hostile interests, which interests each must maintain as an agent, and advocate against the other agents and advocates; but our general legislature is a deliberative [Mr. B. has italicized deliberative] assembly of one nation, with one interest, that of the whole. ”

“ Every measure of the Assembly must secure the approval of the Legislative Council, the members of which were appointed for life by the governor-general, and added to this the measure must then receive the royal assent before it became operative. ”

“ Grand National Assembly powers that devolve to the Council of State between assembly sessions, or in the event of exceptional circumstances that prevent the assembly from acting, include the authority to appoint and recall members of the Council of Ministers, members of the Supreme Court, and the prosecutor general. ”

“ Having been informed that upon Petition of the Commissioners from Our late General Assembly, Our Council thought fit, that you should meet for discharging of that Trust imposed on you by Us, and Our Parliament, whereby all fair means may be used to prevent such Troubles and Divisions, as may interrupt or endanger the common Peace of Our Kingdom. And as it ought to be the continual study of all Good and Pious Princes, to preserve their People, so certainly it is the Duty of all Loyal and Faithful Subjects, to maintain the Greatness, and Just Authority of their Princes ”

“ It is general rule that tax laws are strictly construed against government and in favor of the citizen (Georgia Paper Stock Co. v. State Tax Bd., 174 Ga. 816, 164 S. E. 197 (1932) ) ; but the cardinal rule is to ascertain the intention of the General Assembly in passing the legislation. ”

“ You have called for a Free General Assembly: His Majesty hath granted you one, most Free on his part, and in his intentions; but as you have handled and marred the matter, let God and the World judge, whether the least shadow or footstep of Freedom can be discerned in this Assembly, by any man who hath not given a Bill of Divorce both to his Understanding and Conscience. With what wresting and wringing your last Protestation charges His Majesties last Gracious Proclamation in the point of Prelimitations, is both known and misliked by many even of your own pretended Covenant ”

“ My Lord gave in his commission to Mr Thomas Sandilands, as deputed by his father, Mr J. Sandilands, commissar of Aberdeen, clerk to the last General Assembly. His Grace harangued none at all, as we expected he would. We found him oft, thereafter, as able to have spoken well what he pleased, as any in the house. I take the man to be of a sharp, ready, solid, clear wit; of a brave and masterly expression; loud, distinct, slow, full, yet concise, modest, courtly, yet simple and natural language. If the King have many such men, he is a well-served Prince. ”

“ Courts obligated to refrain from ascribing unreasonable intention to General Assembly.—Even though the literal language of an Act may be plain and unequivocal, it is the duty of the courts, in determining the legislative intent, to refrain from ascribing to the General Assembly a wholly unreasonable intention or an intention to do a futile and useless thing. ”

“ The General Assembly recalls that the San Francisco Conference adopted a resolution according to which paragraph 2 of Article 4 of chapter II of the United Nations Charter "cannot apply to States whose regimes have been installed with the help of armed forces of countries which have fought against the United Nations so long as these regimes are in power." ”

“ All words of General Assembly, however numerous, ought to be preserved, and effect given to whole, if it can be done. No doubt courts could sometimes better legislation by rejecting some of the words delivered to them by the General Assembly for construction, but to do this, courts have no power. Butterworth v. Butterworth, 227 Ga. 301, 180 S. E. 2d 549 (1971) .
In the construction of a statute the legislative intent must be determined from a consideration of it as a whole. ”

“ The United Nations, meeting in its first General Assembly, is keenly aware of the problems and political aspirations of the peoples who have not yet attained a full measure of self-government and who are not directly represented here. ”

“ Therefore the General Assembly instructs the Secretary-General to open negotiations with a view to the re-consideration, in the light both of the General Convention adopted by the United Nations and of the considerations above, of the provisions under which the specialized agencies at present enjoy privileges and immunities. ”