ested. Besides the witnesses, all persons interested should at- Consent of tend the committee to signify their assent; and if dis- Parties interabled from personal attendance, should certify their assent in writing, to be proved by a witness; or in the case of an Irish bill, should signify their assent to an Irish judge, whose certificate will be taken as proof of the fact, unless the committee order otherwise. In Irish bills too, the judge's certificate that the requisite notices and the allegations in the preamble have been proved before him will, unless the committee otherwise direct, be evidence.2 There are special orders relative to the consent to estate,3 inclosure, and navigation bills; and the Lords will expect the consent of the Treasury, and sometimes of the Admiralty and Trinity House, to the rates and duties to be collected by harbour acts. So petitioners for and against the bill should give their Petitioners for attendance; they can, however, be heard against particu- and against. lar clauses only, since the principle of the bill must be opposed at the bar of the House. To establish that an assent or dissent to the bill has been retracted, the signature to the petition withdrawing it must be proved; since the fact cannot be inferred from the mere signature itself.7 There is an order of the House of Lords, that copies Transmission of of all standing orders relating to private bills, shall be Standing Orsent with the bill to the committee.R 9 ders. In naturalization bills, the Lords' committee may sit the Meeting of the day after the second reading. But in all other cases, in Committee. the Commons one, and in the Lords two weeks' notice1o must be hung up in the lobby before the committee can sit. Though under special circumstances, leave may be obtained to sit earlier." The agent likewise soliciting the bill must give to the clerks of the Private Bill office, three clear days' written notice of the day and hour at which the committee is to sit; to be entered by them in the private bill register.12 The committee may sit on the 1 C. 15 Jan. 1705. 2 C. 30 June, 1801. 3 L. 16 Feb. 1705; 22 April, 1799; 16 March, 1792; 9 Dec. 1801. 5 C. 7 May, 1794. 6 26 C. J. 217. 933. 4 C. 30 June, 1801. 7 Where an application is renewed in a subsequent session, for a bill unsuccessful in a former session, and granted, it is a motion of course, to refer the minutes of evidence taken before the former committee to the present committee. 8 L. 16 Feb. 1705. vide etiam 11 March, 1793. 9 C. 15 Feb. 1700. 10 L. 20 April, 1698. 11 18 C. J. 470. 596. 20 C. J. 328, 329. 21 C. J. 326. 25 C. J. 183. 654. 272. 589. 597. 923, 924. 29 C. J. 1050. 31 C. J. 12 C. 5 June, 1810. 26 C. J. 1015. 28 C. J. 390.656. 32 C. J. 873. 33 C. J. 346. 632. 782. Proceedings of day appointed or any future day; and may adjourn from time to time. In the Commons a written notice of the day and hour to which the committee is adjourned must be given, by the committee clerk, to the clerks in the Private Bill office, to be entered by them in the private bill register. Any member may be present at the committee, but those only can vote that compose it. It is not usual for the chairman to vote, unless there is an equality, and then in favour of the bill. The part of a private bill to be first considered by the the Committee. committee, is the preamble. The bill is then debated clause by clause; the witnesses and petitioners heard; the blanks filled up; and amendments made; which last should be written, not upon the bill itself, but upon a separate paper. The amendments being gone through, (of which each is to be voted singly) the question is put, whether the same shall be reported to the House; and if carried, a member of the committee (usually the chairman) is directed to report the same to the House; which direction, ipso facto, dissolves the committee. Report. The report and paper of amendments for the House, is prepared by the committee clerk. In the Commons, the committee clerk, after the report is made out, delivers into the Private Bill office, a printed copy of the bill, with the written amendments made in the committee signed by the chairman.3 And the chairman upon reporting the bill acquaints the House that the allegations therein have been examined, and whether or not the parties concerned have given their consent, to the satisfaction of the committee. In the Lords too, there is a general regulation that the chairman, on reporting a private bill, shall state how far the standing orders of the House respecting it have been observed. And in the Commons, a similar report must be made by the committee on bills for courts for recovering small debts. And the committee on a navigation bill must annex to their report a list of the names of such persons as shall appear to them to have assented, dissented, or remained neuter.7 The chairman, likewise, in the Lords, on reporting amendments, explains to the House the effect and coherence of each amendment; and on the clerk's second reading of 1 C. 5 June, 1810. 2 Schobel. 49. 3 C. 5 June, 1810. 5 L. 16 Feb. 1705; 29 April, 1799. 6 C. 2 Feb. 1787. 7 C. 7 May, 1794. the amendments, the lord on the woolsack does the same.1 In this House also, if there are no amendments, and the report is not special, it is made the same day that the committee break up. But in the Commons, the report cannot be till notice in writing of the day on which the bill is to be reported has been given by the agent soliciting the bill to the clerks in the Private Bill office (to be entered by them in the private bill register,) at least one clear day before the day of the report. In navigation bills, seven days must intervene between the report and the consideration thereof; and three days before it is considered, printed bills must have been delivered to the committee. The Commons invariably limit a time for receiving reports on private bills; though under special circumstances, to be disclosed on motion, they will receive a report after the time elapsed. On the report, amendments are sometimes made to the Amendments. bill. But the House will not enlarge the times or dates appointed by the bill for effectuating any purpose; nor increase the penalties; though it will occasionally shorten the dates and lessen the penalties; without recommitting the bill; but such amendments are rarely proposed. When therefore such, or any other material alterations are wished to be made in the bill, after it has gone through a committee, it is most advisable to have the bill reported; and the House on being informed by the member who makes the report that it will be necessary to make some further alterations in the bill, it will be recommitted for that purpose.5 On the report, the House has been very cautious not to Penalty clause. receive a clause, in which any pecuniary fine is imposed, the Speaker being in the chair; but to commit such clause to a committee of the whole House; or if that is thought inconvenient, to recommit the bill to the committee from whence it was reported, that the imposing of such pecuniary fines might at least receive the consideration and sanction both of a committee and of the House." The amendments, if any, which are made upon the re- Entry of port and upon the third reading, are entered by one of the Amendments. clerks in the Private Bill office, upon the printed copy of the bill, as amended by the committee; which clerk signs the copy as amended, in order to its being deposited and preserved in the office. If the House are not satisfied with the report, or consider that the subject has not been sufficiently canvassed, they will recommit either the whole bill or some particular part of it, in order to receive further information, or more narrowly to inquire into the nature and expediency of the measure.1 Upon the report being agreed to, the bill with the amendments will be ordered to be engrossed. In the Lords, before a navigation bill can be read a third time, certain documents are necessary.2 Such are the regulations, general and particular, prescribed for the passing of private bills. It remains to consider in which House a private bill should originate. And the rule upon this subject is, that all bills which may in their consequences affect the right of the peerage; bills for the restitution of honours or in blood, for reversal of outlawries; and bills of judicature, that is, for giving judgment in a legislative way, must begin with the Lords. And that all bills by which money is authorized to be raised upon his Majesty's subjects, for any purpose or in any shape whatever; either by collecting tolls, rates, or duties, or by inflicting pecuniary penalties and fines for offences; or which may by construction be considered as imposing a burden on the people, must begin in the House of Commons. Of this sort, are bills for inclosing and draining lands, making turnpike roads, navigations, canals, forming harbours, paving and lighting streets, building bridges, erecting poor-houses, churches, gaols, for uniting parishes, and making parishes distinct, regulating county or poor-rates, erecting courts for recovering small debts, confirming or prolonging letters patent. So likewise where, from the different constitution or modes of proceeding in either house, there is a greater. propriety in commencing a bill in one than the other, it should be done, though not enjoined by any positive rule; unless indeed the bill contains clauses which render it. necessary that it should be commenced in the other house. Hence the practice is, for divorce and estate bills to commence in the Lords. Naturalization and name bills are begun indifferently in either house. 13 Hats. 158. 26 C. J. 51. 30 C. J. 70. 63 SECTION III. Of the Meeting of Parliament. A NEW parliament meets at the return day of the writ, Day of meeting. unless the king is pleased to postpone the meeting to a future day; which may be done by a writ patent under the great seal tested before the day of the return, directed prælatis, magnatibus, proceribus hujus regni, ac militibus, civibus, et burgensibus, &c. and read on the return day in the House of Lords, before the Peers and such of the Commons as choose to attend. In such case, the parliament begins at the day to which it was prorogued, and not before.2 The constituent parts of a parliament are, the king's Constituent Majesty, sitting there in his royal political capacity, and parts. the three estates of the realm; the Lords spiritual, the Lords temporal (who sit together with the king in one house), and the Commons, who sit by themselves in another, anciently St. Stephen's chapel. And the king and these three estates, together, form the great corporation or body politie of the kingdom, of which the king is said to be caput, principium et finis. For upon their coming together the king meets them, either in person or by representation; without which, there can be no beginning of a parliament: and he also has alone the power of dissolving them. Where the king is absent from the kingdom, a special commission may go to the capitalis justiciarius of the realm, to hold and proceed in parliament. And if the custos of the realm be engaged or otherwise disabled, the commission may be to hold it in the name of the king, or of himself." Where the king is at home, but disabled by sickness or infirmity, the commission issues to certain lords of parliament; and though parliament has been opened by the king in person, it may, after prorogation, be summoned before commissioners.8 Parliament. On the appointed day, the parliament being assembled, Opening of the the king sets forth in the House of Lords, the causes of 14 Inst. 7. 2 Ibid. $ 4 Inst. 6. 41 Com. 153. 5 4 Inst. 6. 6 Cott. Ab. 19. 7 4 Inst. 6. Rush. 33. Ha, Parl. 3. |