1589. CONGRESS, Sessions of.—[further continued] .
Congress separate in
two ways only to wit, by adjournment or
dissolution by the efflux of their time. What
then constitutes a session with them? A
dissolution certainly closes one session, and
the meeting of the new Congress begins another.
The Constitution authorizes the
President, “on extraordinary occasions, to
convene both Houses, or either of them.”
If convened by the President's proclamation,
this must begin a new session, and of course
determine the preceding one to have been a
session. So, if it meets under the clause of
the Constitution, which says, “the Congress
shall assemble, at least once in every year, and
such meeting shall be on the first Monday in
December, unless they shall by law appoint
a different day,” this must begin a new session.
For even if the last adjournment was
to this day, the act of adjournment is merged
in the higher authority of the Constitution,
and the meeting will be under that, and not
under their adjournment. So far we have
fixed landmarks for determining sessions.
In other cases, it is declared by the joint vote
authorizing the President of the Senate and
the Speaker to close the session on a fixed
day.—
Parliamentary Manual. Washington ed. ix, 79.
