BOOK II. PRACTICE AND PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT. Chapter 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- The orders and resolutions for regulating the proceedings 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 orders for the permanent guidance and order of their proceedings; which, if not vacated or repealed,1 endure from one Parliament to another.2 1 In the Lords, the rescinding of The resolutions of the House of ing standing committees, were made Suspension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 1 See also S. O. No. 224, Priv. Bus. 3 Parl. Paper, sess. 1810, 355. A manual of "Rules, Orders, the table by the Speaker, was 5 For examples of resolutions P. 341. Chapter 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 a seat in the house by a member on It may be observed that Parlia- Commons attend in of Peers. VII. The five lords commissioners, being in their robes, and Chapter 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; 2 The forms here described have Chapter 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- a speech from the throne (1707), 15 |