In re Opinion of the Justices

• Decision Date: 31 October 1921
• Citation: 239 Mass. 603,133 N.E. 452
• Parties: In re OPINION OF THE JUSTICES.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

239 Mass. 603

133 N.E. 452

In re OPINION OF THE JUSTICES.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts.

Oct. 31, 1921.

Answers to questions propounded to the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court by order of the Senate.

1. States k51-Senate may fix terms of ofcers within its own official life.

Under Const. pt. 2, c. 1, s 2, art. 7, authorizing the Senate to choose its own president and appoint its own officers, and Amendmant, art. 64, providing for the biennial election of Senators, the Senate may fix the terms of its officers for periods not exceeding its own official life, and may limit their term to one year, or provide that it shall be coextensive with the period for which the Senate was elected.

2. States k32-Provision for annual session of general court does not break continuity of Senate.

Under Const. Amend. art. 64, providing for the biennial election of Senators, the provision of section 3 thereof that the General Court shall assemble every year does not break the continuity of the Senate as a legislative body, but simply assures two sessions of one legislative body.

3. States k51-Officers of Senate elected without prescribed term hold office at pleasure of Senate, but in absence of contrary provision for the life of Senate.

Under a vote of the Senate, electing a president and other officers without prescribing their term, such officers hold office during the pleasure of Senate, but, unless contrary action is taken by the Senate, they serve during the life of the Senate as a legislative body.

To the Honorable the Senate of the Commonwealth of massachusetts:

The Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court having considered the questions in the order of May 27, 1921, copy whereof is hereto annexed, respectfully submit these answers:

[1] The Senate is required by chapter 1, § 2, art. 7 of the Constitution to ‘choose its own president, appoint its own officers, and determine its own rules of proceedings.’ Neither this nor any other provision of the Constitution by express words fixes the term for the president or for any of the other officers of the Senate. From the adopting of the Constitution until the year 1920, Senators were elected annually for a term expiring on the day preceding the first Wednesday of the second January after the annual state election at which they were chosen. Chapter 1, § 2, arts. 1-3. Amendments, arts. 10, 15. It follows from these provisions that the officers of the Senate could not serve as a constitutional right for longer than the constitutional life of the Senate itself. The clerk of the House of Representatives of the United States by old usage is said to continue in a new Congress. It was almost inevitable that the membership of the Senate would be altered more or less with every annual election. Each member, whether elected for the first time or re-elected, sat by virtue of a fresh election. The official life of the Senate as a legislative body was thus limited to a single year.

[2] The ratification and adoption of article 64 of the Amendments changed this. Biennial elections are thereby substituted for annual elections. The term of office of each Senator is two years in place of one year as theretofore. The official life of the Senate as a legislative body is thereby lengthened to two years instead of being limited to the one year previously established. The provision in section 3, art. 64 of the Amendments that ‘the general court shall assemble every year,’ does not break the continuity of the Senate as a legislative body. It simply assures two sessions of one legislative body. In this particular the two branches of the General Court now resemble the House of Representatives of the Congress of the...