Civil Government of Virginia / A Text-book for Schools Based Upon the Constitution of 1902 and Conforming to the Laws Enacted in Accordance Therewith

by William Fayette Fox

PRO TEMPORE is a Latin phrase meaning FOR THE TIME—that is, for a short time or temporarily. The Senate elects one of its own members to preside PRO TEMPORE if the lieutenant-governor happen to be absent, or when he is called upon to act as governor. (See under Powers and Duties of governor, page 28.) The Senate has the power to CONFIRM OR REJECT NOMINATIONS. Many public officers of the State are appointed by the governor, but when he nominates or NAMES a person for a public office he sends the nomination to the Senate, and it may confirm—that is, approve of—the nomination, or it may reject it. If it should reject the nomination, the person nominated is not appointed.

IMPEACHMENT means a charge of dishonesty or serious neglect of duty made against a public official. In an impeachment it is the House of Delegates which must make the charge and act as prosecutor, but it is the Senate which must try the case and pass sentence on the accused, if proved guilty.

House of Delegates.

Number. Composed of one hundred members apportioned by statute among the counties and cities of the State.

Elected. By the people for two years.

Qualifications. Same as for Senators.

Powers. Elects its own Speaker and all other officers; impeaches State officers, and prosecutes them before the Senate. The Clerk of the House of Delegates is also Keeper of the Rolls.

Apportioned means divided or distributed or allotted. A statute is any law, but the word is most commonly understood to mean a law made by a legislature representing the people. The number of delegates appointed to the counties and cities—that is, the number which each is entitled to elect—is decided by statute in proportion to the number of inhabitants.

The chairman of the House of Delegates is called the speaker. The same title is given to the presiding officer of the lower house in nearly every legislature in English-speaking countries.

The rolls are the statutes in written form as passed by the Assembly. A law when proposed in the Assembly is called a bill. To become a statute a bill must be voted on and have a majority three times in the House of Delegates and three times in the Senate and be signed by the governor. Then it is an act, or a Statute, or a law. The copy signed by the governor is an engrossed or written copy, and the official copies of the laws so engrossed are the rolls, and are preserved by the keeper of the rolls, who is the clerk of the House of Delegates.