[the judges drew them up in the form of a statute, which was entered on the statute roll; and in the reign of Henry the Fifth, to prevent mistakes and abuses, the statutes were drawn up by the judges before the end of the parliament. Under Henry the Sixth, however, bills in the form of Acts, according to the modern custom, began to be introduced.] The style now used in an Act of Parliament, is as follows:-" Be it enacted by the King's most excellent majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same,"

Supposing the bill to commence in the house of commons and to be of a public nature, the persons directed to bring in the bill present it to the house drawn out in a proper form (p). The bill is then read a first time and ordered to be printed; after a convenient interval it is read 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 (q). [The introduction of the bill may be originally opposed, as the bill itself may be at any of its readings; and if the opposition to its introduction succeeds, the bill must be

of our statutes, much information will be found in Reeves Hist. Eng. Law (ed. Finlason), vol. i. p. 250; vol. ii. pp. 514, 656.

(p) See Interpretation Act, 1889, repealing but re-enacting the provisions of 13 & 14 Vict. (1850), c. 21 (often called Lord Brougham's Act) as to shortening the language used in Acts of Parliament. We may also notice here, that, in order to avoid the necessity of repeating in many different Acts the various provisions usually introduced into such

undertakings of a public nature by companies and others, and also in order to secure uniformity, those provisions are now consolidated in divers general Acts; and into any subsequent statute passed with reference to such undertakings, one or more of such "Consolidation Acts," or certain of their clauses (as the case may require), are incorporated by reference. See Ilbert, Legislative Methods and Forms, ch. xi.

(q) Com. Dig. Parl. G. 12, 13, 14.

[dropped for that session, as it must also be, if opposed with success in any of its subsequent stages. Then after the second reading, it is committed, that is, referred to a committee; which is either selected by the house, or consists of the whole house. In order to form a committee of the whole house, the speaker quits the chair, another member being appointed chairman; and the speaker is then free to sit and debate as a private member. In these committees, the bill is debated clause by clause, amendments are made, and blanks are filled in; and sometimes the bill is entirely newmodelled. After it has gone through committee, the chairman reports it to the house, with such amendments as the committee may have made; the house then reconsiders the whole bill once more, and the question is repeatedly put upon every clause and amendment. When the house has agreed or disagreed with the amendments of the committee, and sometimes added new amendments of its own, the bill is ordered to be reprinted (~) ; it is then read a third time, at which stage amendments are also sometimes made to it, and new clauses added. The speaker then again opens the contents, and, holding it up in his hands, puts the question, whether the bill shall pass. If this is agreed to, the title of the Act is next settled; and the title used to be a general one for all the Acts passed in the session, till, in the time of Henry the Eighth, distinct titles were introduced for each chapter (s). After this, the bill is printed fair by the King's printer, and one of the members is directed to carry it to the

(r) 90 Com. Journ. 337; 105 ibid. 372. At this stage of the proceedings, the former practice was to engross the bill on one or more pieces of parchment; but this engrossing was discontinued in 1849. See May's Law of Parl. (10th ed.) p. 471. And see per

Willes, J., Claydon v. Green (1868), L. R. 3 C. P. 511.

(s) It is said that this custom first began in the fifth year of Henry the Eighth. (Reeves, Hist. As Eng. Law, vol. iv. p. 412.) to the relation of the title to the Act, vide sup. vol. i. p. 40.

[lords, and to desire their concurrence; and the member thus deputed, attended by several more, carries it to the bar of the house of lords, and their delivers it to their speaker, who comes down from the woolsack to receive it (t).

In the house of lords, the bill then passes through the same forms as in the house of commons, and, if rejected, no more notice is taken; but the matter passes sub silentio, to prevent unbecoming altercations. But if it is agreed to, the lords send a message, (which upon matters of high dignity or importance used to be conveyed by two of the judges,) that they have agreed to the same; and the bill remains with the lords, if they have made no amendment to it. But if any amendments are made, such amendments are sent down with the bill, to receive the concurrence of the commons; and if the commons disagree with the amendments, a conference sometimes follows between members deputed from each house, or else the commons may appoint a committee to draw up the reasons for disagreeing with the lords' amendments. The houses, for the most part, settle and adjust the differences; but if both remain inflexible, the bill is dropped (u). If, however, the commons agree to the amendments, the bill is sent back to the lords by one of the members, with a message to acquaint them therewith. The same forms are observed, mutatis mutandis, when the bill begins in the house of lords (r). When both houses have done with any bill, it is deposited in the house of peers, to wait the royal assent, except in the case of the Appropriation Bill (which includes all the items of supply), for this, after

(t) Cf. Anson, Law and Custom, vol. i. p. 256.

(u) Com. Dig. Parliament, G. 24. See as to the real preeminence of the Commons in legislation, Anson, ubi supra, pp. 263, 264.

(x) No motion or permission to 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, Law of Parl. (10th ed.) p. 436.

[receiving the concurrence of the lords, is sent back to the house of commons (a), and eventually taken by the speaker to the lords to receive the assent of the Crown, when the commons attend in the lords to hear the prorogation (b).

The royal assent may be given either in person or by commission. First, where it is given in person, the king comes to the house of peers, and, sending for 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 (c). If the king consents to a public bill, the clerk usually declares "le roy (or la reine) le veult; " if to a private bill, "soit fait comme il est desiré." If the king refuses his assent, it is in the gentle language of "le roy (or la reine) s'avisera (d); but when a money bill is passed, the royal assent is thus expressed, "le roy (or la reine) remercie ses bons subjects, accepte lour benevolence et aussi le reult." In case of an Act of grace, which originally proceeds from the Crown, and has the royal assent in its first stage, 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 touts vous autres "subjects, remercient très humblement votre Majesté, et "prient à Dieu vous donner en santé bone vie et longue" (e).

66

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

(b) Rot. Parl. 6 Hen. 4, in Pryn.; 4 Inst. 22, 28.

(c) The language of the statutes prior to the reign of Richard the Third, is generally Latin от French. But all Richard the Third's statutes are in English,

and so they have continued to be
drawn in all subsequent periods.

(d) The words le roi s'avisera
correspond to the phrase formerly
used by courts of justice, when
they required time to consider of
their judgment, viz., curia adrisari
vult. And there can be little
doubt but originally the phrase
implied a serious intent on the
part of the monarch, to take the
subject into consideration.

(e) D'Ewes' Journ. 35. But see May, Law of Parl. (10th ed.) p. 484.

[Secondly, the royal assent may be given by commission : this is by virtue of the statute 33 Hen. VIII. (1542), c. 21, which enabled the king to 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 higher house. 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 (ƒ);] and by the Acts of Parliament (Commencement) Act, 1793, the clerk of parliament is directed to indorse on every Act, immediately after the title thereof, the day, month, and year when the same passed, and received the royal assent. Such indorsement is part of the Act, and is the date of the commencement of the Act, where no other time for its commencement is prescribed (g).

[The statute or Act is placed among the records of the kingdom, there needing no formal promulgation of it 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 King's printer is bound, by virtue of his office, to print each Act for the information of the whole land (h). invention of printing, all Acts

(f) R. v. Justices of Middlesex (1831), 2 B. & Ad. 818.

(g) As to the law with respect to the time when a statute begins to operate, see also sup. vol. i. p. 37.

(h) 104 Com. Journ. 51. Public statutes (as to which ride sup. vol. i. p. 36) need no proof in courts of justice, being judicially noticed, and by the Crown Debts Act, 1801, s. 9, copies of Acts of Great Britain and Ireland, printed by the king's printer prior to the Union, are made conclusive

And, formerly, before the used to be published by the

evidence of the Acts, as between the two countries. By the Evidence Act, 1845, ss. 3, 4, all copies of private Acts, and of the journals of either house, if purporting to be printed by the printers to the Crown, or to either house of parliament, are admitted as evidence thereof; and by the Documentary Evidence Act, 1882, s. 2, if purporting to be printed under the superintendence or authority of her Majesty's stationery office.