BILL in Parliament

BILL in Parliament, a draft of a proposed act or statute, public or private, containing the heads or substance of a measure submitted to parliament, and subject before passing to modifications in the way and manner to be afterwards described, or to rejection ex toto.

To bring a bill into the house, if the relief sought by it be of a private nature, it is first necessary to present a petition setting forth the grievance desired to be remedied. This petition, when founded on facts that may be or actually are disputed, is referred to a committee of members, who examine the matter alleged, and report thereon to the house; and then (or otherwise upon the mere petition) leave is given to bring in the bill. In public matters, the bill is brought in upon motion made to the house, without any petition at all. Formerly all bills were drawn in the form of petitions, which were entered upon the rolls of parliament, with the king's answer subjoined, not in any settled form of words, but as the circumstances of the case required; and at the end of each parliament the judges drew them in the form of a statute, which was entered on the statute-books. To prevent mistakes and abuses, the statutes were in the reign of Henry V. drawn up by the judges before the end of the parliament; and in the reign of Henry VI. bills in the form of acts according to the modern custom were first introduced.

The persons directed to bring in the bill present it in a competent time to the house, drawn out on paper, with a multitude of blanks, or void spaces, where any thing occurs that is dubious, or necessary to be settled by the par-

liament itself, such especially as the precise dates, the nature and quantity of penalties, or the sums of money to be raised. In the house of lords, if the bill originates there, and is of a private nature, it is referred to two of the judges, who examine and report on the state of the facts alleged, and settle all points of technical propriety. This is read a first time, and at a convenient distance a second time; and after each reading, the speaker opens to the house the substance of the bill, and puts the question, whether it shall proceed any further. The introduction of the bill may be originally opposed, as the bill itself may also be at any of the readings; and, if the opposition succeed, either at the commencement or at any of the subsequent stages, the bill must be dropped for that session.

After the second reading, it is committed, or, in other words, referred to a committee; and this is either selected by the house, as happens in matters of minor importance, or else, upon a bill of consequence, the house resolves itself into a committee of the whole. A committee of the whole house is composed of every member; and, to form it, the speaker quits the chair, another member being appointed chairman, and may sit and debate as a private member. In these committees the bill is debated clause by clause, amendments are made, the blanks are filled up, and sometimes the bill is entirely new-modelled. After it has gone through the committee, the chairman reports it to the house, with such amendments as the committee may have made; and then the house considers the whole bill again, and the question is repeatedly put upon every clause and amendment. When the house has agreed to the amendments of the committee, and sometimes added new amendments of its own, the bill is then ordered to be engrossed, or written in a strong gross hand on one or more rolls of parchment fastened together; after which it is read a third time, when amendments are sometimes made on it; and if a new clause be added, it is done by tacking a separate piece of parchment to the bill, which is called a rider. The speaker then states the contents generally; and, in holding it up in his hands, puts the question, whether the bill shall pass. If the decision be in the affirmative, the title is then settled; and this used to be a general one for all the acts passed in the session, till the fifth year of Henry VIII., when distinct titles were introduced for each chapter. One of the members is then directed to carry it to the lords and desire their concurrence; and he, attended by several more, carries it accordingly to the bar of the house of peers, and there delivers it to their speaker, who comes down from his woolsack to receive it.

In the house of peers, it passes through the same forms as in the other house, except engrossing, which is already done; and if it be rejected, no more notice is taken of it, and it is allowed to drop sub silentio, to prevent unbecoming altercations. But if it be agreed to, the lords send a message by two masters in chancery, or sometimes by two of the judges, that they have agreed to the same; and the bill remains with them if they have made no amendments on it. But if any amendments be made, such amendments are sent down with the bill to receive the concurrence of the commons; and if the commons disapprove of the amendments, a conference usually follows between members deputed from each house, who for the most part settle and adjust the difference; but if both houses remain inflexible, the bill is dropped. If the commons agree to amendments, the bill is sent back to the lords by one of the members, with a message to inform them of this concurrence. The same forms are observed, mutatis mutandis, when the bill originates in the house of lords. But when an act of grace or pardon is passed, it is first signed by his majesty, and

then read once only in each of the houses, without any new engrossing or amendment. And when a bill has passed through its various stages in both houses, it is deposited in the house of peers, to await the royal assent; except in the case of a bill of supply, which, after receiving the concurrence of the lords, is sent back to the house of commons.

The royal assent may be given two ways:—First, in person, when the king comes to the house of peers, in his crown and royal robes, and, summoning the commons to the bar, the titles of all the bills that have passed both houses are read; and the king's answer is declared by the clerk of the parliament in Norman-French. If the king consents to a public bill, the clerk usually declares, Le roy le veut, "the king wills it so to be;" if to a private bill, Soit fait comme il est désiré, "be it as it is desired." If the king refuses his assent, it is in the qualified terms of Le roy s'avisera, "the king will advise upon it." When a bill of supply is passed, it is carried up and presented to the king by the speaker of the house of commons, and the royal assent is thus expressed: Le roy remercie ses loyals subjects, accepte leur benevolence, et aussi le veut; "the king thanks his loyal subjects, accepts their benevolence, and wills it so to be." In case of an act of grace, which originally proceeds from the crown and has the royal assent in the first stage of it, the clerk of the parliament thus pronounces the gratitude of the subject: Les prélats, seigneurs, et commons, en ce présent parlement assemblés, au nom de tous vos autres subjects, remercient très humblement votre majesté, et prient à Dieu vous donner en santé bonne vie et longue; "the prelates, lords, and commons in this present parliament assembled, in the name of all your other subjects, most humbly thank your majesty, and pray to God to grant you in health and wealth long to live."

Secondly, the king may give his assent by letters patent under his great seal, signed with his hand, and notified in his absence to both houses assembled together in the high house; or he may appoint a commission under the great seal, consisting of peers of parliament, and including the lord high chancellor for the time being, who are empowered and authorized to adhibit the royal assent to such bills as are then in a state to receive the sanction of the third estate of the realm. And when the bill has received the royal assent in either of these ways, it is then, and not before, a statute or act of parliament.

The new statute or act is then placed among the records of the kingdom, no formal promulgation being requisite to give it the force of a law, as was the case by the civil law with regard to the imperial constitutions, because every man in Britain is, in the presumption of law, a party to the making of a statute or act of parliament, being held to be present thereat by his representatives. The act, however, is usually printed at the king's press for the information of the lieges; and formerly, before the invention of printing, it used to be published by the sheriff of every county; the king's writ being sent to him at the end of every session, together with a transcript of all the acts made at that session, commanding him, ut statuta illa, et omnes articulos in eisdem contentos, in singulis locis ubi expedire viderit, publice proclamari, et firmiter teneri et observari faciat. The usage then was to proclaim them at the county court, and there to keep them, that whosoever chose might read or take copies of them; which custom continued till the reign of Henry VII.

An act of parliament thus made is the exercise of the highest authority which this kingdom acknowledges upon earth. It has power to bind every subject in the united kingdom, and the dominions thereunto belonging,—nay, even the king himself, if particularly named therein; and it cannot be altered, amended, dispensed with, suspended,

or repealed, but in the same forms and by the same authority of parliament; for it is an inviolable maxim in law, that it requires the same strength to dissolve as to create an obligation.