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BOOK II.

PRACTICE AND PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT.

Chapter
VII.

Table of Contents, see Introduction.

CHAPTER VII.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. MEETING OF A NEW PARLIA

MENT, &c.

tory re

usage.

THE proceedings of Parliament are regulated by ancient Introduc-
usage, by established practice, and by the standing and marks.
sessional orders. Ancient usage, when not otherwise de- Ancient
clared, is collected from the journals, from history and early
treatises, and from the continued experience of practised
members. Modern practice is often undefined in any Modern
written form; it is not recorded in the journals; it is
not to be traced in the published debates; nor is it known
in any certain manner but by personal experience, and by
the daily practice of Parliament, in conducting its various
descriptions of business.

The orders and resolutions for regulating the proceedings
of Parliament are recorded in the journals of both houses,
which may be divided into: 1, standing orders; 2, sessional
orders; and 3, orders or resolutions, undetermined in regard
to their permanence.

practice.

orders.

1. Both houses have agreed, at various times, to standing Standing. orders for the permanent guidance and order of their proceedings; which, if not vacated or repealed,1 endure from one Parliament to another.2

1 In the Lords, the rescinding of
a standing order is termed "vacat-
ing;" in the Commons, “repealing."
The earliest example of a standing
order being repealed was on the 21st
Nov. 1722, 20 C. J. 61.

The resolutions of the House of
Commons, 1st Dec. 1882, constitut-

ing standing committees, were made
standing orders until the end of the
next session; and these standing
orders were subsequently revived
for the session of 1884, 139 C. J. 73
(see p. 393). Similarly the standing
order of the 12th Aug. 1903, enabling
proceedings on the Port of London

Suspension

orders.

p. 517.

Both houses, the Lords, under standing order No. 61, Chapter of standing and the Commons, pursuant to usage, require that notice VII. should be given of a resolution whereby a standing order See motion, is suspended; though, in the Commons, the rule is relaxed Notice if necessity should arise.1 In the Lords, the suspension when requisite, of a standing order is obtained by a distinct resolution see p. 246. to that effect: in the Commons, besides suspension by resolution, the provisions of a standing order can be temporarily set aside by an order of the house, made without previous notice, which prescribes a course of Waiver of action inconsistent with the provisions of a standing order.2 The standing orders of the House of Lords are published from time to time by order of the house. The standing orders of the House of Commons relating to public and private business were first printed in a collected form by the order of the house during the session of 1810;3 and the publication of the standing orders has been continued ever since.1

Sessional orders.

2. At the commencement of each session both houses Appendix I. agree to orders and resolutions, which are renewed from year to year.

resolutions.

notice, see

p. 244.

Orders and 3. The operation of orders or resolutions of either house, of which the duration is undetermined, is not settled upon any certain principle. By the custom of Parliament they See Speaker's would be concluded by a prorogation: but many of them statement, are, as part of the settled practice of Parliament, observed in P. 168, also succeeding sessions, and by different Parliaments, without any formal renewal or repetition."

Bill to be resumed in the following
session lapsed without a motion for
its repeal at the end of the latter
session, 134 Parl. Deb. 4 s. 777.

1 See also S. O. No. 224, Priv. Bus.
21st May, 1891, 352 H. D. 3 s.
1854.

3 Parl. Paper, sess. 1810, 355.

A manual of "Rules, Orders,
and Forms of Proceeding of the
House of Commons, relating to
Public Business," drawn up by the
Clerk of the house, and laid upon

the table by the Speaker, was
printed by order of the house in
each succeeding Parliament from
1854 to 1896. "A Manual of Pro-
cedure in the Public Business of
the House of Commons," prepared
by the Clerk of the house for the use
of members, and laid on the table by
the Speaker on the 21st April, 1904,
was printed by order of the house.

5 For examples of resolutions
being observed as permanent, with-
out being made standing orders,

P. 341.

Chapter
VII.

order in the transaction

and pre

In addition to these several descriptions of internal autho- Statutes rity, by which the proceedings of both houses are regulated, rogative. they are governed, in some few particulars, by statutes and

by royal prerogative.

Second

Method and In this chapter it is proposed to present an outline of Plan of the the general forms of procedure, in reference to the meeting Book. of business, of a new Parliament, adjournments, and prorogations; and, see p. 209. in future chapters, to proceed to the explanation of the various modes of conducting parliamentary business, with as close an attention to methodical arrangement as the diversity of the subjects will allow. Where the practice of the two houses differs, the variation will appear in the description of each separate proceeding: but wherever there is no difference, one account of a rule or form of proceeding may be understood as applicable equally to both houses of Parliament.

1

a new Par

On the day appointed by royal proclamation for the first Meeting of meeting of a new Parliament for despatch of business 1 (see liament. p. 45), the members of both houses assemble in their respective chambers. In the House of Lords, the lord chancellor acquaints the house "that his Majesty, not thinking it fit to be personally present here this day, has been pleased to cause a commission to be issued under the great seal, in order to the opening and holding of this Parliament."

may be cited the rules that the
Speaker cannot take the chair if
forty members are not present (5th
Jan. 1640); that a member may
not speak twice to the same question
(23rd June, 1604), that the same
question be not proposed again
during the same session (2nd April,
1604), and that no member may
speak after the voices are fully taken;
the formal reading of a bill at the
opening of a session; several resolu-
tions regarding procedure on peti-
tions; the resolution prohibiting
members from engaging in the
management of private bills; the
time for presenting estimates;
the rules of the committee of
supply; and the means of securing

a seat in the house by a member on
a select committee. See also the
Speaker's statement after he had
put in force the resolution regard-
ing the exclusion of strangers, 4th
March, 1876, 227 H. D. 3 s, 1405.
1420.

It may be observed that Parlia-
ment is generally summoned to meet
on a Tuesday or Thursday, which
are convenient days for the arrival
of members. In 1809, Monday hav-
ing been proposed for the meeting,
Mr. Wilberforce protested that it
would involve travelling on Sunday,
and the day was accordingly
changed, 3 Wilberforce's Diary,
397. 398; 1 Walpole, Life of Spencer
Perceval, 302.

Commons attend in

of Peers.

VII.

The five lords commissioners, being in their robes, and Chapter
seated on a form between the throne and the woolsack,
then command the gentleman usher of the Black Rod to let
the Commons know "the lords commissioners desire their
immediate attendance in this house, to hear the commission
read."

Meanwhile, the clerk of the Crown in chancery has dethe House livered to the Clerk of the House of Commons a Return Book of the names of the members returned to serve in the Parliament; after which, on receiving the message from the Black Rod, the Clerk, and the House of Commons, go up to the House of Peers. The lord chancellor there addresses the members of both houses, and acquaints them that his Majesty has been pleased "to cause letters patent to be issued, under his great seal, constituting us, and other lords therein named, his commissioners, to do all things in his Majesty's name, on his part necessary to be performed in this Parliament." The letters patent are next read at length by the Clerk; after which the lord chancellor, acting in obedience to these general directions,' again addresses both houses, and acquaints them

"That his Majesty will, as soon as the members of both houses shall be sworn, declare the causes of his calling this Parliament; and it being necessary a Speaker of the House of Commons should be first chosen, that you, gentlemen of the House of Commons, repair to the place where you are to sit, and there proceed to the appointment of some proper person to be your Speaker; and that you present such person whom you shall so choose, here, to-morrow (at an hour stated), for his Majesty's royal approbation." "

2

On the opening of a new Parliament, the commissioners, without express directions to that effect in the commission, direct the Commons to elect a Speaker, and afterwards signify the king's approval. But whenever a vacancy occurs in the office of Speaker, during a session, a special commission is required to signify the king's approval. Mr. Speaker Shaw Lefevre, 1839; Mr. Speaker Brand, 1872, 127 C. J. 23;

Mr. Speaker Peel, 1884, 139 ib. 75;
Mr. Speaker Gully, 1895, 150 ib.
149; Mr. Speaker Lowther, 1905,
160 ib. 249.

2 The forms here described have
been in use, with little variation,
since the 12th Anne (1713). Before
that time the sovereign usually came
down on the first day of the new
Parliament, a custom continued by
George III. until 1790, 46 C. J. 6.
On one occasion Queen Anne came

Chapter
VII.

change of

during

In 1868, an exceptional course, in the opening of Parlia- Proceedment, was rendered necessary by peculiar circumstances. ings on Parliament had been dissolved in November, and was summoned to meet on Thursday, 10th December. A week recess. before this time, however, the ministers had resigned, and a new administration was formed, which was sworn in on the 9th December. To have prorogued Parliament, at so short a notice, would have been inconvenient; while without any ministers in the House of Commons, and without previous consultation, it was not possible to open Parliament in the accustomed manner, with a Queen's speech and addresses from both houses. A precedent was found in December, 1765, when the Rockingham ministry having come into office during the recess, the king opened Parliament in a speech, in which he stated that, as matters of importance had occurred in the American colonies, he had called Parliament together to give an opportunity of issuing writs to supply the many vacancies which had occurred in the House of Commons, in order that Parliament might be full for the consideration of the weighty matters which would, after the Christmas recess, be brought before them. This precedent, however, was open to objection, as the speech, having all the usual solemnities, required addresses in answer, and was, in fact, the occasion of amendments and debates. The following course was therefore taken on this and on several subsequent occasions. Instead of a Queen's speech, the lords commissioners, under the great seal for opening and holding the Parliament, announced that, as soon as the members of both houses were sworn, the causes of her Majesty's calling this Parliament would be declared, and directed the Commons to choose their Speaker. After the election of the Speaker, and some days spent in the swearing in of members of both houses, the lords commissioners informed Parliament that they had it further in command to acquaint both houses that since the time when her Majesty had

down three times, viz. to open Par-
liament, to approve the Speaker, and
to declare the causes of summons in

a speech from the throne (1707), 15
C. J. 393.

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