have been previously sworn at the bar of the house.1 The orders, which the promoters of a private bill are required to prove in the lords, are, for the most part, similar to those which are established in the commons. 2514. The standing order committee makes a similar report in the lords to the report made by the examiners in the commons, and no bill included in either of the two classes is read a second time before the third day on which the house sits after the bill has been reported from the committee for standing orders. The second reading, as in the commons, affirms the principle of the bill, and is immediately followed by the commitment.2 2515. Unopposed bills are referred to "all the lords present this day," who are presided over by the chairman of the lords' committees, whose duties, in reference to private bills, are similar to those of the chairman of the committee on ways and means in the house of commons. These open committees may be and are attended by any of the lords present; but the business is, in fact, transacted by the chairman, upon whom the responsibility is imposed by the house. He is assisted in his duties by a counsel attached to his office, who previously examines the provisions of every private bill, and points out any variance with the standing orders, or the general laws of the country. The chairman of committees may, in any case, report his opinion to the house, that an unopposed bill ought to be proceeded with as an opposed bill; in which case, it will be referred to another committee, as if it had been treated as an opposed bill in the first instance. 2516. Every opposed bill is referred to a select committee of five lords, who choose their own chairman. Each member of this committee is required to attend during the whole continuance of the inquiry, and none but members can take any part in the proceedings. These committees are appointed by a committee, which is named by the house, at the commencement of every session, consisting of the chairman of committees, and four other lords; whose duty it is, to select and propose to the house the names of the five lords, who are to form a select committee for the consideration of every opposed private bill. 2517. The time for the first meeting of the committee is appointed by the house, and the attendance of the members is very strictly enforced. The duties of the committee on a bill, whether opposed or not, and their proceedings, differ in no material point from those 1 May, 559, 560. 2 May, 563, 564. of committes of the house of commons, which have already been described, except that in the lords, the witnesses are examined upon oath, previously administered to them at the bar of the house. The proceedings upon the report, and on the third reading, are also similar. In the event of any disagreement between the houses, in reference to amendments, the same forms are observed as in the case of public bills.1 2518. In proceedings with reference to divorce bills, the standing orders require, that the party presenting a petition for such a bill, should, previously to presenting the same, produce an official copy of the proceedings in the ecclesiastical court, and of a definitive sentence of divorce therein, a mensa et thoro, at the suit of such party; that if any trial shall have taken place, or any writ of inquiry been executed, within the United Kingdom, relative to the alleged cause of divorce, wherein the petitioner shall have been a party, a report of the proceedings upon such trial or writ of inquiry shall be laid upon the table of the house, before the bill shall be read a second time; that, upon the second reading of the bill, the petitioner shall attend the house, (unless such attendance be specially dispensed with,) in order to be examined at the bar, if the house shall think fit, as to whether there has been any collusion, directly or indirectly, on the part of such party, with the other party, or with any other person, touching the bill of divorce, or the proceedings relating to the alleged ground of the same, either at law, or in the ecclesiastical court, and, whether, at the time of the adultery, the parties were living together or separate.2 2519. The standing orders also provide, that no bill of divorce founded on a petition to dissolve a marriage for the cause of adultery, and to enable the petitioner to marry again, shall be received in the house, unless it provides, that it shall not be lawful for the party, whose marriage with the petitioner shall be dissolved, to intermarry with any offending party, on account of whose adultery with such party, it shall be enacted in the bill that the marriage is dissolved. This clause, though required to be inserted in the bill, is usually struck out by the committee, except in very peculiar cases.3 2520. Notice of the second reading of a divorce bill, with an attested copy of the bill, signed by the clerk's assistant, is required to be served upon the party, husband or wife, as the case may be, against whom the bill is prosecuted, and such service must be proved on the second reading; but, if the party cannot be found, or is in a distant part of the world, service may be made on the agent of such party, upon a petition from the agent of the promoter of the bill, stating the facts, and proof thereof on oath at the bar. On the second reading, counsel are heard and witnesses examined at the bar, in support of the bill, whether there are any opposing petitions or not; and, after the second reading, the bill, instead of being referred to an open committee, or to a selected committee, like other private bills, is committed, like a public bill, to a committee of the whole house.1 2521. In divorce bills, the proceedings of the ecclesiastical court, the sentence of divorce, and the proceedings on the trial, are before the house, but are not admitted as evidence to establish the fact of adultery. Of that fact, the house may be satisfied by other testimony offered at the bar; and if that fails, the bill will not be read a second time, even when there is no opposition to it.2 2522. When the petitioner for a divorce bill states that the witnesses necessary to substantiate the allegations of the bill, are in India, the speaker of the house in which the petition is presented, is authorized by the statute of 1 Geo. IV. c. 101, to issue a warrant for the examination of witnesses to the judges of the several supreme courts in India; and the evidence taken before them, accompanied by a declaration that the examinations have been fairly conducted, is declared by the same statute to be admissible in either house of parliament. When a warrant has been issued under this act, the proceedings are suspended until the return of the same, and are not discontinued by any prorogation or dissolution previously occurring; but may be resumed and proceeded upon in a subsequent session or parliament, in the same manner, and with the like effect, as if no dissolution or prorogation had taken place.3 2523. In the house of commons, the manner of dealing with divorce bills is peculiar, and differs from the mode of proceeding upon other bills. At the commencement of each session, a committee is appointed, consisting of nine members, of whom three are a quorum, and which is denominated "the select committee on divorce bills." To this committee, all divorce. bills are referred, after the second reading, with an instruction to hear counsel and examine witnesses for the bill; and to hear counsel and examine witnesses against the bill, if the parties concerned think fit to be heard by counsel, or to produce witnesses. By the terms of the in 1 May, 574. 2 May, 574. 3 May, 575. struction, the promoter is bound to examine witnesses, or otherwise to substantiate the allegations of the bill; but the party opposing is at liberty to be heard or not, as he or she shall think proper. At the same time, a message is sent to the lords, to request them to communicate a copy of the minutes of evidence taken before them upon the bill, or for the depositions transmitted from India. When these are communicated, they are referred to the committee on the bill. The latter are made evidence by the statute above mentioned. The former seem to be nothing more than memoranda, by which the committee may aid themselves in examining the witnesses.1 The committee is also directed by the standing orders, to require. evidence, that an action for damages has been brought against the person supposed to be guilty of adultery, and judgment for the plaintiff had thereupon; or sufficient cause to be shown, why such action has not been brought, or such judgment not obtained. 2524. Where petitioners have been required to be in attendance in the house of lords, whilst the bill was pending there, to be examined as to collusion, if the house thinks proper, the committee of the commons is, in all cases, to require their attendance before it, for the same purpose. The committee is required to report the bill to the house, whether it shall or shall not have agreed to the preamble, or gone through the several clauses, or any of them. 2525. In the progress of private bills from the lords through the commons, they are subject to the same rules, and pass through the same stages, and with the same intervals and notices, as those which have been already detailed in reference to private bills originating in the commons; but if received at the close of a session, more indulgence is usually shown in dispensing with the orders of the house, and in permitting them to pass with less delay.2 CHAPTER SEVENTH. OF PRIVATE BILLS AFTER RECEIVING THE ROYAL ASSENT; AND 2526. All private bills, during their progress in the commons, are known only by the general denomination of private bills; but in the lords the term "private" is applied technically to estate bills only, all other bills being distinguished as "local" or "personal," although no such distinction is expressed in the standing orders. After receiving the royal assent, private bills are divided into three classes: 1. Local and personal, declared public; 2. Private, printed by the queen's printers; and 3. Private, not printed. 2527. (1.) Every local and personal act passed previous to the year 1850, contained a clause, declaring that it "shall be a public act, and shall be judicially taken notice of as such," and receives the royal assent as a public act. This practice commenced in the reign of William and Mary, and was soon extended to nearly all private acts by which felonies were created, penalties inflicted, or tolls imposed.1 2528. (2.) From 1798 to 1815, the private acts, not declared public, were not printed by the queen's printers, and could only be given in evidence by obtaining authenticated copies from the statute rolls in the parliament office; but since 1815, the greater part of the printed acts have been printed by the queen's printers, and contain a clause declaring that a copy so printed "shall be admitted as evidence thereof by all judges, justices, and others." 2529. (3.) The last class of acts consists of those which still remain unprinted. These are name, naturalization, divorce, and other strictly personal acts, of which a list is always printed by the queen's printers, after the titles of the other private acts. 2530. The main distinction in law between these classes of acts 1 But by Lord Brougham's act of 1850, for shortening the language of acts of parliament, it is enacted, that every act" shall be deemed and taken to be a public act, and shall be judicially taken notice of as such, unless the contrary be expressly provided and declared by such act;" and the public clause will consequently be omitted from all future local and personal acts. Such acts were printed |