[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 109th Congress]
[109th Congress]
[House Document 108-241]
[Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
[Page 173]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 173]]
 

                    sec. xvi--order respecting papers

Sec. 352. Safekeeping of papers and integrity of bills. The Clerk is to let no journals, records, accounts, or papers be taken from the table or out of his custody. 2 Hats., 193, 194.
Mr. Prynne, having at a Committee of the Whole amended a mistake in a bill without order or knowledge of the committee, was reprimanded. 1 Chand., 77. A bill being missing, the House resolved that a protestation should be made and subscribed by the members ``before Almighty God, and this honorable House, that neither myself, nor any other to my knowledge, have taken away, or do at this present conceal a bill entitled,'' &c. 5 Grey, 202. After a bill is engrossed, it is put into the Speaker's hands, and he is not to let any one have it to look into. Town, col. 209. In the House an alleged improper alteration of a bill was presented as a question of privilege and examined by a select committee. It being ascertained that the alteration was made to correct a clerical error, the committee reported that it was ``highly censurable in any Member or officer of the House to make any change, even the most unimportant, in any bill or resolution which has received the sanction of this body'' (III, 2598). Engrossed bills do not go into the Speaker's hands. Enrolled bills go to him for signature.