Opinion
No. 5-1429
Opinion delivered January 13, 1958.
1. TIME — LEGISLATIVE BILL, DATE OF RECEIPT OF. — Governor's receipt for Legislative bill showing that it was received by him at 3:27 P. M. on Friday, March 5, held sufficient to establish time of such receipt. 2. TIME — LEGISLATIVE BILL, EXCLUSION OF FIRST OR LAST DAY IN COMPUTING PERIOD FOR VETO OF. — In computing the time which the Governor has for returning a bill to the Legislature under Article 6, 15 of the Constitution, the first day on which the bill is received is to be excluded and the last day included. 3. TIME — LEGISLATIVE BILL, ACCOMPLICES OF PERIOD FOR VETO. — Legislative bill was delivered to Governor on Friday and the Legislature adjourned at noon on Thursday following. HELD: Since the day on which it was received is disregarded and the Constitution excepts Sunday in calculating the five day period, the bill had not become a law before the Legislature adjourned.
Appeal from Pulaski Chancery Court, First Division; Murray O. Reed, Chancellor; affirmed.
Q. Byrum Hurst and Virginia H. Ham, for appellant.
Bruce Bennett, Atty. General; Roy Finch, Jr., Chief Asst. Atty. General, for appellee.
House Bill No. 268 of the 1957 General Assembly, purporting to change the method of selecting jury commissioners in the eighteenth judicial circuit, was vetoed by the Governor two weeks after the legislature had adjourned. This suit was brought by the prosecuting attorney for a decree declaring the attempted veto to have been ineffective and for a writ of mandamus requiring the Secretary of State to enroll the measure as a valid act. It is the plaintiff's theory that when the legislature adjourned the bill in question had already remained with the Governor for a sufficient time to become a law without his approval. The chancellor upheld the Governor's veto and accordingly dismissed the complaint.
Article 6, 15, of the Constitution reads in part: "If any bill shall not be returned by the Governor within five days, Sunday excepted, after it shall have been presented to hint, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the General Assembly, by their adjournment, prevent its return, in which case it shall become a law, unless he shall file the same, with his objections, in the office of the Secretary of State and give notice thereof by public proclamation within twenty days after such adjournment."
The decisive question is whether the specified period of five days elapsed between the presentation of this bill to the Governor and the subsequent adjournment of the General Assembly. The Governor's receipt for the bill shows that it was received by him at 3:27 p.m. on Friday, March 8, which sufficiently establishes this fact. Whaley v. Independence County, 212 Ark. 320, 205 S.W.2d 861. The legislature adjourned at noon on Thursday, March 14, without any action on the bill having been taken by the Governor.
On these facts the bill did not become a law by reason of the Governor's failure to return it before the legislative adjournment, It is the settled rule in this state that in the computation of time the first day is to be excluded and the last day included. Peay v. Pulaski County, 103 Ark. 601, 148 S.W. 491; State v. Hunter, 134 Ark. 443, 204 S.W. 308. This method of calculation is not restricted to the field of statutory construction; it has also been followed in the interpretation of the Constitution. Pafford v. Hall, 217 Ark. 734, 233 S.W.2d 72. In the case at bar we must therefore disregard Friday, March 8, the day on which the Governor received the bill. He was accordingly entitled to act on the measure within the ensuing five days, Sunday excepted, which were Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Since the legislature adjourned at noon on the fifth day the bill had not yet become a law, and the Governor's veto power was therefore extended by the terms of the Constitution.
Affirmed.