The New International Encyclopædia/Veto

VETO (Lat., I forbid). In its most general application, the power of the chief executive of a government to negative the acts and resolutions of the legislature. There are several forms and degrees of veto power, namely, the suspensive, qualified, and absolute vetoes, and the so-called ‘pocket’ veto. The suspensive veto is the form employed in France, where the President is empowered to suspend the operation of any law passed by the legislature and demand its reconsideration by that body. If, however, the bill is repassed by the ordinary majority it becomes a valid law, notwithstanding the disapproval of the President. The qualified veto is the form most generally employed in constitutional States. It allows the executive a negative on all bills passed by the legislature, subject to the power of the legislature to override the effect of the veto by an extraordinary majority. The absolute veto is one which cannot be overridden by the legislature either by the usual or extraordinary majority. The ‘pocket’ veto will be defined later in the article.

The veto is the remnant of the more extensive legislative power formerly possessed by the Crown. This power was gradually cut down until only the veto power remained. In Great Britain the right of veto was unquestioned from the time of the Tudors until the Revolution of 1688. From then it was used more sparingly until 1708, when the refusal of Queen Anne to give her assent to a militia bill was the last instance of its exercise by an English sovereign.

In the American colonies the royal governors, were given the authority to veto any measure passed by the colonial legislatures, while in all the colonies except Rhode Island and Connecticut and possibly Maryland the King or the proprietaries had an absolute veto on all measures, even though approved by the Governor. In the Constitutional Convention of 1787 Gerry introduced the principle of the Massachusetts veto and after much discussion it was ultimately adopted. The clause provides that every bill which shall have passed the two Houses shall be presented to the President for his signature; if he approve it he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it with his objections to the House in which it originated. The two Houses are then required to enter the objections upon their respective journals and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration two-thirds of each House shall approve the measure it shall become law, notwithstanding the executive veto. If any bill is not returned by the President within ten days (Sundays not included) after presentation to him it shall become law without his signature unless Congress by adjournment prevent its return. This is the so-called ‘pocket’ veto. The most notable instances of the exercise of the veto power by the chief executive of the United States were the vetoes of the bills for the recharter of the United States Bank by Presidents Jackson and Tyler; the veto of the Civil Rights, Freedmen's Bureau, and Reconstruction bills by President Johnson; and the veto of the currency-inflation bill by President Grant. The veto power was used rather sparingly by the first six Presidents. President Cleveland during his first term vetoed 301 bills, or nearly twice as many as had all his predecessors combined. The majority of President Cleveland's vetoes were private pension bills which had passed with little or no opposition, and only two of these were passed over his veto. The principle of the veto has been incorporated in all the State Constitutions except those of Delaware, North Carolina, Ohio, and Rhode Island, in which the legislative authority is vested in the Legislature alone. Consult Mason, The Veto Power (Boston, 1891).