[Deschler's Precedents, Volume 1, Chapters 1 - 6]
[Chapter 5.  The House Rules, Journal, and Record]
[B. The House Journal]
[Â§ 9. The Journal as Evidence]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[Page 321-322]
 
                               CHAPTER 5
 
                  The House Rules, Journal, and Record
 
                          B. THE HOUSE JOURNAL
 
Sec. 9. The Journal as Evidence

    In keeping with the Journal's status as the official record of the 
House,(11) it is provided by statute(12) that 
extracts therefrom certified by the Clerk(13) are to be 
received in evidence with the same effect as the originals would have. 
However, it has been held that with respect to matters not required by 
the Constitution to be entered on the Journal, such provision is not a 
statutory declaration that the Journal is the highest evidence of the 
facts stated in it or complete evidence of all that occurs in the 
progress of business in the House.(14)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
11. See Sec. 8, supra.
12.  28 USC Sec. 1736.
13. 2 USC Sec. 114 authorizes the Clerk to charge a nominal fee for 
        certified transcripts from the Journal except when required by 
        an officer of the United States in a matter relating to the 
        duties of his office.
14. Field v Clark, 143 U.S. 649 (1892), construing former Revised 
        Statutes Sec. 895, the provisions of which respecting the 
        admissibility and weight to be afforded certified copies of the 
        Journal were essentially the same as those of 28 USC Sec. 1736.
            Collateral references: As to the extent to which resort may 
        be made to legislative journals as an aid in the construction 
        of constitutions or statutes generally, see 70 ALR 5. As to 
        judicial review of parliamentary proceedings generally, see 59 
        Am Jur 2d Parliamentary Law Sec. 15 (1971).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Although the Constitution requires the objections of the President 
to a bill returned by him to be entered upon the 
Journal,(15) the failure of the Journal to show such 
objections as of a certain time is not conclusive in determining 
whether the bill was in fact returned within the period allowed by the 
Constitution,(16) particularly since the President has no 
control over the entries in the Journal.(17)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
15. See Sec. 10, infra.
16. U.S. Const. art I, Sec. 7.
17. Prevost v Morganthau, 106 F2d 330 (70 App. D.C. 306, 1939).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[Page 322]]

    It is expressly provided by statute(18) that certified 
copies of the Journal record of the oath of office personally 
subscribed by Members are admissible in evidence in any court of the 
United States as conclusive proof of the fact that the signer duly took 
the oath of office in accordance with law.(19)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
18. 2 USC Sec. 25.
19. Generally, as to taking the oath, see Ch. 2, supra.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------