Veto
Ve´to Pronunciation: vē´tōd
| n. | 1. | |
| 1. | An authoritative prohibition or negative; a forbidding; an interdiction. |
| 2. | A power or right possessed by one department of government to forbid or prohibit the carrying out of projects attempted by another department; especially, in a constitutional government, a power vested in the chief executive to prevent the enactment of measures passed by the legislature. Such a power may be absolute, as in the case of the Tribunes of the People in ancient Rome, or limited, as in the case of the President of the United States. Called also the veto power. |
| 3. | The exercise of such authority; an act of prohibition or prevention; as, a veto is probable if the bill passes. |
| 4. | A document or message communicating the reasons of the executive for not officially approving a proposed law; - called also veto message. |
| v. t. | 1. | To prohibit; to negative; also, to refuse assent to, as a legislative bill, and thus prevent its enactment; as, to veto an appropriation bill. |
VETO, legislation. This is a Latin word signifying, I forbid.
2. It is usually applied to the power of the president of the United
States to negative a bill which has passed both branches of the legislature.
The act of refusing to sign such a bill, and the message which is sent to
congress assigning the reasons for a refusal to sign it, are each called a
veto.
3. When a bill is engrossed, and has received the sanction of both
houses, it is transmitted to the president for his approbation. If he
approves of it, he signs it. If he does not, he sends it, with his
objections, to the house in which it originated, and that house enter the
objections on their journals, and proceed to reconsider the bill. Coast. U.
S. art. I, s. 7, cl. 2. Vide Story on the Const. Sec. 878; 1 Kent, Com. 239.
4. The governors of the several states have generally a negative on the
acts of the legislature. When exercised with due caution, the veto power is
some additional security against inconsiderate and hasty legislation, or
where bills have passed through prejudice or want of due reflection. It was,
however, mainly intended as a weapon in the hands of the chief magistrate to
defend the executive department from encroachment and usurpation, as well as
a just balance of the constitution.
5. The veto power of the British sovereign has not been exercised for
more than a century. It was exercised once during the, reign of Queen Anne.
Edinburgh Rev. 10th vol. 411, &c.; Parke's Lectures, 126. But anciently the
king frequently replied Le roy s'avisera, which was in effect withholding
his assent. In France the king had the initiative of all laws, but not the
veto. See 1 Toull. art. 39; and see Nos. 42, 52, note 3.
absolute veto,
ban,
block,
constitute,
decline,
decree,
defeat,
disallow,
disallowance,
embargo,
enact,
enact laws,
executive veto,
filibuster,
get the floor,
have the floor,
interdict,
interdiction,
item veto,
kill,
killing,
legislate,
limited negative,
limited veto,
lobby through,
logroll,
negative,
nix,
ordain,
outlaw,
pass,
pigeonhole,
pocket,
pocket veto,
preclude,
preclusion,
prevent,
prevention,
prohibit,
prohibition,
proscribe,
proscription,
put in force,
put through,
quash,
quashing,
railroad through,
reject,
rejection,
roll logs,
rule against,
rule out,
senatorial courtesy,
stop,
stoppage,
suspensory veto,
table,
taboo,
take the floor,
turn down,
veto message,
veto power,
yield the floor