[And when both houses have done with any bill, it always is deposited in the house of peers, to wait 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 (a).

The royal assent may be given two ways: 1. In person; when the sovereign comes to the house of peers, in his crown and royal robes, and, sending for the commons to the bar, the titles of all the bills that have passed both houses are read; and the sovereign's answer is declared by the clerk of the parliament in Norman-French (b): a badge (it must be owned) now the only one remaining, of conquest; and which one could wish to see fall into total oblivion, unless it be reserved as a solemn memento to remind us that our liberties are mortal, having once been destroyed by a foreign force. If the sovereign consents to a public bill, the clerk usually declares "le roy (or la reine) "le veut;" if to a private bill," soit fait comme il est desiré." If the sovereign refuses his assent, it is in the gentle language of "le roy (or la reine) s'avisera (c)." When a bill

present the bill, however, is here

necessary, every peer being at liberty to present a bill and lay it on the table of the house. See May, Parl. Pr. (3rd ed.) p. 363.

(a) Com. Journ. 24th July, 1660. When an act of grace or pardon is passed, it is first signed by the sovereign, and then read once only in each of the houses, without any amendment. D'Ewes' Journ.20, 73; Com. Journ. 17th June, 1747.

(b) The language of the statutes prior to the reign of Richard the third is generally in Latin or French; (Christian's Blackstone; Reeves's Hist. of the English Law.) But all Richard the third's statutes are in English, and so they continued to be drawn in all subsequent periods. (Reeves, ibid.)

(c) The words le roi s'avisera corresponds to the phrase formerly used by courts of justice, when they required time to consider of their judg.. ment, viz. curia advisari vult. And there can be little doubt but originally the royal phrase implied a serious intent to take the subject under consideration. The last occasions on which the prerogative of rejecting bills was exerted, were in the year 1692, by William the third, who at first refused his assent to the bill for triennial parliaments, but was prevailed upon to permit it to be enacted two years afterwards (De Lolme, Const. of Eng. p. 404); and in 1707, when Queen Anne refused her assent to a Scotch militia bill. (18 Lords' Journ. 506.)

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[of supply is passed, it is carried up and presented to the sovereign by the speaker of the house of commons (d); and the royal assent is thus expressed, "le roy (or la reine) "remercie ses loyal subjects, accepte lour benevolence, et aussi "le veut." 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 prelats, seigneurs, et commons, en ce present parliament assemblés, au nom de 66 touts vous autres subjects, remercient très humblement votre majesté, et prient à Dieu vous donner en santé bone vie et longue (e)." 2. By the statute 33 Henry VIII. c. 21, 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. 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 (f).] To this may be added, that by the 33rd Geo. III. c. 13, the clerk of parliament is directed to indorse on every act, immediately after the title thereof, the day, month, and year when the same shall have passed, and shall have received the royal assent; and such indorsement shall be taken to be part of the act, and shall be the date of its commencement, where no other commencement shall have been provided (g).

[This statute or act is placed among the records of the kingdom, there needing no formal promulgation to give it the force of a law, as was necessary by the civil law with regard to the emperor's edicts, because every man in England is, in judgment of law, party to the making of an act of parliament, being present thereat by his representatives. However,] the Queen's printer is bound by virtue of his

(d) Rot. Parl. 9 Hen. 4, in Pryn. ; 4 Inst. 28, 22.

(e) D'Ewes' Journ. 35. Sed vide May, Parl. Pr. 372.

(f) See R. v. Justices of Middle

sex, 2 B. & Ad. 818.

(g) As to the law with respect to the time when a statute begins to operate, vide sup. vol. 1. p. 73.

office to print each act [for the information of the whole land (). And formerly, before the invention of printing, it was 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, "publicè proclamari, et firmiter teneri et observari faciat.” And the usage was to proclaim them at his county court and there to keep them, that whoever would might read or take copies thereof; which custom continued till the reign of Henry the seventh (i).

An act of parliament thus made is the exercise of the highest authority that this kingdom acknowledges upon earth. It hath power to bind every subject in the land, and the dominions thereunto belonging; nay, even the sovereign 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 a maxim in law, that it requires the same strength to dissolve as to create an obligation. It is true it was formerly held, that the king might in many cases dispense with penal statutes (k); but now by statute 1 W. & M. sess. 2, c. 2, it is declared that the suspending or dispensing with laws by regal authority, without consent of parliament, is illegal (1).

(h) 101 Com. Journ. 51. By 41 Geo. 3, c. 90, s. 9, copies of acts of Great Britain and Ireland, printed by the king's printer prior to the Union, are conclusive evidence of the act, as between the two countries. And it may also be observed, that by 8 & 9 Vict. c. 113, ss. 3, 4, it is provided, that all copies of private acts, and of the journals of either house, if purporting to be printed by the printers to the crown or either house of parliament, shall

be admitted as evidence thereof; but if any person shall print such documents, falsely purporting to be printed by the crown or parliament printer, or shall knowingly tender the same in evidence, he shall incur the penalties of felony.

(i) 3 Inst. 41; 4 Inst. 26. (k) Finch's L. 82, 234; Bacon's Elem. c. 19.

(1) See further as to statutes and the rules relative to their construction, sup. vol. 1. p. 69-81.

[VII. There remains only, in the seventh and last place, to add a word or two concerning the manner in which parliaments may be adjourned, prorogued, or dissolved (m).

An adjournment is no more than a continuance of the session from one day to another, as the word itself signifies and this is done by the authority of each house separately every day; and sometimes for a fortnight or a month together, as at Christmas or Easter, or upon other particular occasions. But the adjournment of one house is no adjournment of the other (n). It hath also been usual, when the sovereign hath signified his pleasure that both or either of the houses should adjourn themselves to a certain day, to obey the royal pleasure so signified, and to adjourn accordingly (o). Otherwise, besides the indecorum of a refusal, a prorogation would assuredly follow; which would often be very inconvenient to both public and private business for a prorogation puts an end to the session; and then such bills as are only begun and not perfected, must be resumed de novo (if at all) in a subsequent session; whereas, after an adjournment, all things continue in the same state as at the time of the adjournment made, and may be proceeded on without any fresh commencement.

A prorogation is the continuance of the parliament from one session to another, as an adjournment is a continuation of the session from day to day. This is done by the royal authority, expressed either by the lord chancellor in the presence of the sovereign, or by commission from the crown, or frequently by proclamation (p). Both houses are neces

(m) Com. Digest, Parliament, N. O. P.

(n) 4 Inst. 28.

(0) Com. Journ. passim; e.g. 11th June, 1572; 5th April, 1604; 4th June, 14th Nov., 18th Dec. 1621; 11th July, 1625; 13th Sept. 1660; 25th July, 1667; 4th Aug. 1685; 24th Feb. 1691; 21st June, 1712; 16th April, 1717; 3rd Feb. 1741;

10th Dec. 1745; 21st May, 1768.

(p) At the beginning of a new parliament, when it is not intended that the parliament should meet at the return of the writ of summons for the dispatch of business, the practice is to prorogue it by a writ of prorogation, Com. Journ. 26th Nov. 1790; ibid. 3rd Nov. 1761. On the day upon which the writ of

[sarily prorogued at the same time; it not being a prorogation of the house of lords, or commons, but of the parliament. The session is never understood to be at an end until a prorogation; though unless some act be passed or some judgment given in parliament, it is in truth no session at all (q). And formerly the usage was, for the sovereign to give the royal assent to all such bills as he approved, at the end of every session, and then to prorogue the parliament; though sometimes only for a day or two(r); after which all business then depending in the houses was to be begun again which custom obtained so strongly, that it once became a question (s), whether giving the royal assent to a single bill did not of course put an end to the session. And, though it was then resolved in the negative, yet the notion was so deeply rooted, that the statute 1 Car. I. c. 7, was passed to declare that the king's assent to that and some other acts should not put an end to the session; and, even so late as the reign of Charles the second we find a proviso frequently tacked to a bill (t), that his majesty's assent thereto should not determine the session of parliament. But it now seems to be allowed, that a prorogation must be expressly made, in order to determine the session.] The prorogation is to a day fixed. But by 37 Geo. III. c. 127, and 39 & 40 Geo. III. c. 14, the sovereign may at any time, without regard to the period to which parliament may stand prorogued or adjourned (if the adjournment be for more than fourteen days), appoint it to re-assemble for dispatch of business, at the expiration of fourteen days from the date of the proclamation.

summons is returnable, the members of the house of commons who attend do not enter their own house, or wait for a message from the lords, but go immediately up to the house of lords, where the chancellor reads the writ of prorogation. Ibid. When it is intended that parliament should meet upon the day to which it is

prorogued for dispatch of business, notice is given by a proclamation to that effect. (Christian's Blackstone.) (q) 4 Inst. 28; Hale of Parl. 38; Hut. 61.

(r) Com. Journ. 21st Oct. 1553. (s) Com. Journ. 21st Nov. 1554. (t) See, for example, stat. 12 Car. 2, c. 1; 22 & 23 Car. 2, c. 1.