Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, Jan.[January] 31, 1840.

AN ACT providing for the binding of the Laws and Journals.
1

Aud’r, Sec’y[Secretary] and Treasurer shall contract for public binding

Style of binding

Prices for

When additional price may be paid

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That hereafter, until the Legislature shall otherwise direct, that the Auditor of Public Accounts, Secretary of State, and State Treasurer are hereby required to contract with a Book Binder or Binders, on or before the first of September, before the meeting of each Legislature. And it shall be the duty of said Binder or Binders, to

<Page 2>
bind all acts or laws that may be passed, or ordered to be bound: and to fold, stitch, cover with blue paper, and cut the edges of all Journals that may be published; and the said Binder or Binders shall receive for their services the following prices, (viz:) for binding laws, leather backs and paper sides, when the number of pages does not exceed one hundred and fifty, at the rate of twenty cents per hundred pages, that each volume may contain: acts or laws, over one hundred and fifty pages, at the rate of fifteen cents per hundred pages each volume contains: and in case of a revision of the laws, the said Binder or Binders are to furnish leather and full bind, with leather covering (law form,) in a substantial, workman-like manner, all such laws as may be ordered to be bound, for which there shall be added fifteen cents over the price of the half binding for each and every volume so full bound: and for doing up the Journals as above specified, there shall be allowed at the rate of six cents for every one hundred pages each volume may contain.

Duty of Public Printer

Time of delivery of books bound

Exception.

Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of the Public Printer or Printers to deliver to the Public Binder or Binders each form of the Laws and Journals, dry and in good order, as fast as they are printed; and after the last form of the laws is so printed and delivered, the said Binder or Binders shall bind and deliver to the Secretary of State one thousand copies of the laws in fifteen days, and at the rate of one thousand copies every twelve days afterwards, (Sundays excepted). Also, after the last form of the Journals are delivered to said Binder or Binders, they shall do them up as above specified, and deliver at the rate of one thousand copies every ten days, (Sundays excepted.)

Binders to give bond and security

Forfeiture of 6 per cent.

Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of the Public Binder or Binders, to give bond with sufficient security, to be approved of by the Governor, in the penal sum of one thousand dollars for the faithful performance of his or their contracts, agreeable to this act. And a failure on the part of the public Binder or Binders shall subject him or them to a forfeiture of six per cent. per week on the whole amount of their contract.

Duty of Secretary & Auditor

Acts repealed

Sec. 4. That on the fulfilment of the contract for binding the Laws, as also on the fulfilment of the contract for doing up the Journals, the Secretary of State shall certify the fact to the Auditor, who shall issue his warrant on the Treasurer, for the sum due such Binder or Binders; which sum shall be paid out of any money not otherwise appropriated. All acts and parts of acts heretofore passed upon the subject of Public binding, be, and the same is hereby repealed. This act shall take effect from and after its passage; but is in no wise to interfere with the binding of the present session.

Approved, January 31, 1840.

1On December 19, 1839, William Weatherford introduced "A Bill Providing for the Election of a Public Binder, and Defining His Duties,” which was the original title of the bill, in the Senate. The Senate then referred the bill to the Committee on Finance. On December 30, the committee reported the bill without amendment but recommended the rejection of the bill. The Senate then laid the bill on the table. On January 3, 1840, the Senate took up the bill again and referred the bill to the Committee on Military Affairs. On January 10, the committee reported the bill with an amendment, and the Senate once again laid the bill on the table. On January 16, the Senate took up the bill again and ordered the bill to be engrossed and read a third time. On January 18, the Senate passed the bill and amended the bill’s title. On January 25, the House of Representatives referred the bill to the Committee on Finance, which included Abraham Lincoln as a member. On January 29, the Committee on Finance reported the bill without amendment, and the House passed the bill. On January 31, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 11th G. A., special sess., 207, 256, 279; Illinois Senate Journal. 11th G. A., special sess., 209, 214, 225-26.