Council of Revision

The Council of Revision was, under the provisions of the Constitution of the State of New York of 1777, the legal body that revised all new legislation made by the New York State Legislature.

The council was composed by "the Governor, the Chancellor, and the Justices of the Supreme Court, or any two of them". The governor presided but, only if the other members' vote was tied, cast the deciding vote.

The Constitution said that "all bills which have passed the Senate and the Assembly shall, before they become laws, be presented to the said Council for their revisal and consideration; and if ... it should appear improper to the said Council, or a majority of them, that the said bill become a law of this State, that they return the same, together with their objections thereto in writing, to the Senate or House of Assembly, in whichsoever the same shall have originated, who shall ... proceed to reconsider the said bill." The bill could then be enacted as law, over the objections of the Council, by a two-thirds majority in each house of the legislature.

The whole number of bills passed by the legislature under this constitution was 6,590. The Council of Revision objected to 128, of which 17 were passed notwithstanding these objections.

The Council of Revision was abolished by the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1821. At the time of its abolition, the members were Governor DeWitt Clinton, Chancellor James Kent, Chief Justice Ambrose Spencer, and Associated Justices Joseph C. Yates, Jonas Platt, William W. Van Ness and John Woodworth.

Since the abolition of the Council of Revision, the power of veto to new legislation has been vested in the governor alone, whose veto can be overridden by a two-third majority in the state legislature.

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