State ex rel. State Pharmaceutical Ass'n v. Michel

Citations

• 52 La. Ann. 936

Syllabus

<p>Syllabus.</p> <p>1. A Bill which has passed Both Houses of tñe General Assembly and been signed by tile presiding officers thereof is presented to the Governor within the meaning of the Constitution when the eicrk of the House of Representatives or Secretary of the Senate carries the same to the Executive office and offers or tenders it to the Governor, or his Secretary.</p> <p>2. The mandato of the Constitution is not that the Governor must act, in the way of a veto, within five days of his reception of a bill, but within five days of its presentation to him.</p> <p>3. The day on which the hill is presented is not to be included in the computation of the five days, but the last day of the specified period is to be computed.</p> <p>4. A “day” in this sense begins at 12 o’clock midnight and extends through twenty-four hours to the next 12 o’clock midnight.</p> <p>5. There is a general rule that where a limitation of time is fixed within which a particular act or thing is required to be done, if done at all, after which performance, or the doing of the thing, would be without effect, if the time limited exceed a week, an intervening Sunday is included in the computation ; if less than a week, Sunday is excluded.</p> <p>6. when the time stipulated is such that it does not necessarily include Sunday, Sunday is excluded from the computation without express mention of the fact; when the time stipulated must necessarily include Sunday, to exclude that day from the computation there must be an express declaration to that effect.</p> <p>7. It follows that if one of the five days accorded the Chief Executive in which to return a bill with his objections happens to be Sunday, the same is not to be computed as one of the constitutional “five days”.</p> <p>S. This view is strengthened by the general policy of the law in regard to the first day of the week, which by statute in Louisiana is made a day of “public rest”, and by the sentiment prevailing in Christian countries.</p>