[Deschler's Precedents]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access]
[DOCID:52093c05_txt-9]
[Page 320-321]
CHAPTER 5
The House Rules, Journal, and Record
B. THE HOUSE JOURNAL
Sec. 8. In General; Purpose and Use
The Constitution requires the House of Representatives to keep a
Journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish it excepting
such parts as may in its judgment require secrecy.(1)
Accordingly, it is the Journal of the House and not the Corgressional
Record that is the official record of the proceedings of the
House,(2) and as such it is appropriately afforded judicial
notice by both federal and state courts.(3)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. U.S. Const. art. I, Sec. 5, by which an identical requirement is
imposed upon the Senate.
2. 4 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 2727.
3. 31 CJS Evidence Sec. 43.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The object of the constitutional clause exacting the keeping of the
Journal is to ensure publicity to the proceedings of the House and a
correspondent responsibility of the Members to their respective
constituents.(4) And, in consonance with such purpose,
Jefferson's Manual, although providing that the Clerk is not to let the
Journal be taken out of his custody,(5) also emphasizes that
as an official record the Journal is open to inspection by every Member
and that anyone may take and publish votes therefrom.(6)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. 2 Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, Sec. Sec. 837-839.
5. House Rules and Manual Sec. 352 (1973).
6. House Rules and Manual Sec. 582 (1973).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Clerk is required to print and distribute the Journal at the
close of each session to the Members and others designated by the House
rules.(7) Further, various statutes provide for the
distribution of the Journal to the libraries and document rooms of both
Houses of Congress, and to the Secretary of the Senate, the Clerk of
the House, and several other governmental officials, agencies, and
departments.(8)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Rule III clause 3, House Rules and Manual Sec. 641 (1973) (which
also requires that the Clerk send a copy of the Journal to the
Executive and to each branch of the legislature of each state).
8. See, for example, 2 USC Sec. Sec. 145, 146; 44 USC Sec. Sec. 713,
1714, 1718.
-------------------Effect of Variance Between
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Journal and Congressional Record
Sec. 8.1 The Senate Journal is the official record of Senate pro
[[Page 321]]
ceedings, and where there is a variance between a Journal and a
Record entry, the Journal is controlling.
On Jan. 8, 11 165,(9) in response to a parliamentary
inquiry of a Senator who asked whether the record of the Journal Clerk
or the record of an official reporter of debates took precedence in the
event that there was any variance between them, the President pro
tempore(10) said that the Journal is mentioned in the
Constitution, and all the precedents support the Journal as the proper
record.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. 111 Cong. Rec. 452, 89th Cong. 1st Sess.
10. Carl Hayden (Ariz.).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------