5404. MONEY BILLS, Virginia Constitution and.—
Had those who framed the
[Virginia] Constitution, as soon as they had
completed that work, been asked, man by
man, what a money bill was, it is supposed
that, man by man, they would have referred
for answer to the well known laws and usages
of Parliament, or would have formed their
answer on the Parliamentary idea of that
term. Its import, at this day, must be the
same as it was then. And it would be as
unreasonable, now, to send us to seek its
definition in the subsequent proceedings of
that body, as it would have been for them,
at that day, to have referred us to such proceedings
before they had come into existence.
The meaning of the term must be supposed
complete at the time they use it; and to be
sought for in those resources only which existed
at the time. Constructions, which do
not result from the words of the legislator,
but lie hidden in his breast, till called forth,
ex post facto, by subsequent occasions, are
dangerous, and not to be justified by ordinary
emergencies.—
Congress Report.
Ford ed., ii, 138.
(1778)
