Bill con ferring large powers upon a government depart ment. Bill containing a government guarantee. Bill concerning Turkish loans. Public bills intro to be a public bill, as it merely sought powers for public Chapter bodies who already had a statutory interest in the property.1 In 1900, on the second reading of a private bill promoted by the Metropolitan Water Companies, the Speaker called the attention of the house to the large and important powers which were proposed to be conferred by it upon a public department (the Local Government Board), and which, according to the practice of the house, ought to be secured by a public rather than by a private bill; and the bill was accordingly withdrawn.2 In 1861, the Red Sea and India Telegraph Bill, which amended a private Act, was introduced and proceeded with as a public bill, as it concerned the conditions of a government guarantee.3 In 1877, notices were given of a private bill for settling a scheme of arrangement for the Turkish loans of 1854, 1855, and 1871 but its subject was obviously not one to be dealt with by a private bill, and it was not proceeded with. When a private bill is thus withdrawn, a public bill for duced vice the same purpose has in many cases been introduced in bills with its place, and passed; but a bill, begun as a private bill, cannot be taken up and proceeded with as a public bill.4 private drawn. 1 128 C. J. 114. 115. 140. In 1905 a public bill for the establishment of a central Canal Trust was introduced, containing a provision which did not apply to canals generally, but which compulsorily transferred to the trust the undertakings of certain canal companies, only, who were specified in a schedule. The notices, that would have been necessary in such a case with regard to a private bill, not having been given, the bill was ordered to be withdrawn (160 C. J. 201. 210. 214216). Another bill was then similarly introduced which had the same general object; but it contained a different provision respecting the specified undertakings (requiring that the Canal Trust should take steps to acquire them by agreement or through a Provisional Order), and to this bill the standing orders re- 2 Metropolitan Water Companies 3 116 C. J. 36, etc.; Mr. Speaker Denison's Diary, p. 78. In 1865, the promoters of the Middlesex Industrial School Bill, dissatisfied with some amendments made in committee, determined to XXV. XXV. public Acts bills. Chapter It has been questioned whether public Acts may Repeal of properly be repealed or amended by a private bill; and the by private inconvenience of their repeal or amendment by an Act which, being passed as a private bill and being of a local character, is not printed among the public general Acts, has sometimes been urged as a reason for refusing to sanction this course.1 No rule, however, has been established which precludes the promoters of a private bill from seeking the repeal or amendment of public Acts. A private bill is itself an exception, of some degree, from the general law, or seeks for some powers which the general law does not afford; and the fact that it provides for a repeal or an 2 abandon it; whereupon Mr. Pope 1 In 1832 a public General Act 2 The provisions of some public general Acts are regularly amended, in some degree, with regard to par- In 1894, a bill to consolidate and 2 XXV. amendment of public Acts is far from always being a fatal chapter objection to its being introduced as a private bill.1 But the scope of the public Acts which a private bill proposes to repeal or to amend, and the nature and degree of the proposed repeal or amendment, have to be considered; and provisions of this kind in private bills demand peculiar vigilance, lest public laws be lightly set aside for the benefit of particular persons or places. On the 14th February, 1895, in the case of the London Valuation and Assessment Bill (introduced for the purpose of forming a common basis of imperial and local taxation), objection was taken to proceeding with the bill as a private bill, on the ground that it entirely changed the law of assessment and rating, and repealed numerous Public Acts of Parliament. Mr. Speaker stated that the Acts proposed in this instance to be repealed were of vast magnitude and covered a vast area: that the Bill affected not only local rating but imperial taxation, involved interests which were much more than local, and proposed to create a new Court of Record in the matter of assessment; and that, in view of its scope, it ought to be introduced as a public, and not as a private, bill.3 amending the statutory powers of the Thames Conservancy, were both passed as private bills, although in each case various public Acts were repealed (57 & 58 Vict. (local and personal) c. ccxiii. and clxxxvii.). 1 Mr. Speaker Peel (30 Parl. Deb. 4 s. 708-709). 2 Ib.; and Mr. Speaker Gully (38 Parl. Deb. 4 s. 335). 3 150 C. J. 32. 38; 30 Parl. Deb. 4 s. 706-710. This ruling was cited in support of similar objections taken on two subsequent occasions -but in each case unsuccessfully— to private bills. On 6th March, 1896, on the second reading of the Belfast Corporation Bill (to extend the city of Belfast and for other purposes), it was objected that, as the bill dealt with very large interests, embraced a very large area, and also repealed important sections Chapter fication of their identical classifica When a public Act is repealed or amended by one passed The classias a private bill, the fact is noted in the annual volume of bills as the public general Acts; but these volumes do not include public or private those Acts themselves which have been passed as private during bills. Nor do they now contain public Acts which are passage through purely local in character. With regard to Acts passed Parliaprior to 1798, it is difficult to determine whether they ment not were, in fact, public or private, the only Acts included in with their the latter category being estate, divorce, naturalization, tion when and other Acts of a personal character, while Acts for the passed and printed as making of roads, bridges, &c., and for other local improve- Acts. ments, were printed with the public Acts. In 1798 the distinction between "Public General Acts" and "Local and Personal Acts was first introduced into the Statute book; and from that year until 1868 the classification of the printed Acts into one or other of these two divisions was determined by whether they had originated as public or as private bills. But since 1868, public bills of a local character have, when passed, been printed among the local Acts of each year.2 In treating of petitions, the origin of private bills has Origin of private been already glanced at (see p. 523): but it may be referred bills. to again, in illustration of the distinctive character of such bills, and of the proceedings of Parliament in passing them. The separation of legislative and judicial functions is a refinement in the principles of political government and jurisprudence, which can only be the result of an advanced civilization. In the early constitution of Parliament these functions were confounded; and special laws for the benefit that the powers asked for should be the action of the House on other In the "Table showing the 2 As to the Classification of Local private bills. XXV. of private parties, and judicial decrees for the redress of Chapter Peculiarity Passing now to existing practice, the proceedings of Par- The functions of in passing In passing public bills, Parliament acts strictly in its Parliament legislative capacity: it originates the measures which appear for the public good, it conducts inquiries, when are purely necessary, for its own information, and enacts laws aclegislative. cording to its own wisdom and judgment. The forms public bills in which its deliberations are conducted are established |