Opinion of the Justices

To His Excellency the Governor and the Honorable Council:

The undersigned Justices of the Supreme Court make the following answer to the inquiry contained in your resolution filed June 17, 1953.

The general rule applicable to the action of legal bodies in this jurisdiction, in the absence of constitutional or statutory direction to the contrary, was stated in the leading case of Attorney-General v. Shepard, 62 N. H. 383, 384, as follows: “In the absence of express regulation, a proposition is carried in a . . . legislative assembly, by a majority of the votes cast .... The exercise of…