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XXI.

Chapter Addresses are presented for treaties with foreign powers, for despatches to and from the governors of colonies, and for returns connected with the army, the civil government, and the administration of justice. Where returns relate to the expenditure of public money upon any Crown property, they are obtained by order, and not by address.1

turns to

have not

When an address for papers has been presented to the When reCrown, the parties who are to make them appear to be addresses within the immediate reach of an order of the house; as been made. orders of the House of Commons for addresses have been read, and certain persons who had not made the returns required, have been ordered to make them to the house forthwith.2 In other cases, however, further addresses have been moved, praying the Crown to give directions that papers be laid before the house forthwith.3

When it is discovered that an address has been ordered Orders discharged. for papers which should properly have been presented to the house by order, the error is corrected by discharging the order for the address, and ordering that the papers be laid before the house. In the same manner, when a return has been ordered, for which an address ought to have been moved, the order is discharged, and an address is presented instead. Where the order for a return is found not to comprise all the particulars desired, it is usual to discharge the order, and make another in a corrected form. Sometimes, however, without discharging the order, public papers or other particulars have been ordered to be added to the return, or the resolution for an address has been read, and another address ordered for the additional information." An order has been made that certain particulars specified in

6

1 Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, 19th April, 1826; Greenwich Park, 3rd June, 1850; Marble Arch, 18th March, 1852; Richmond Park, 12th June, 1854; Metropolitan Parks, 28th July, 1854; St. James's Park, 21st April, 1856, and 20th May, 1857. In the latter case the right of the house to order such a return having been ques

tioned, was conclusively established.

2 90 C. J. 413. 650; 95 ib. 448.

* 95 ib. 220; 102 ib. 692; 120 ib. 70.

92 ib. 580, &c.

5 Ib. 365; 104 ib. 623, &c.

6110 ib. 56. 230; 116 ib. 99; 117 ib. 337; 121 ib. 143; 123 ib. 69; 126 ib. 330; 127 ib. 277.

7109 ib. 288.

Returns relating to the other house.

Subjects of

returns.

XXI.

an order for a return shall be separately stated,' while an Chapter
order for a return,2 or so much of an order as related to
certain portions of a return, has been discharged. A return
which has been presented has also been ordered to be
amended. Orders of a former session relating to papers
are also amended, or otherwise dealt with, as circumstances
may require. The addition of particulars to a return, not Similar
action by
specified in the order of the house, has been ruled by Mr. the Lords,
Speaker to be an irregularity.5

If one house desires any return relating to the business
or proceedings of the other, neither courtesy nor custom
allows such a return to be ordered: but an arrangement is
generally made, by which the return is moved for in the
other house; and, after it has been presented, a message is
sent to request that it may be communicated. Or a message
is sent requesting that a return of certain matters may be
communicated; and such return is prepared and communi-
cated accordingly. But it is not usual to send a message
for a return which has been obtained from other departments,
by order or address. For such a return it is more regular
to move in the usual manner.8

see p. 539.

P. 407.

Returns may be moved for, either by order or address, Documents laid before relating to any public matter, in which the house or the select comCrown has jurisdiction.9 They may be obtained from all mittees, see public offices, and from corporations, bodies, or officers Restriction constituted for public purposes, by Acts of Parliament of moving or otherwise: but not from private associations, such as for returns. Lloyd's, for example, 10 nor from individuals not exercising public functions. The papers and correspondence sought

on power

1 127 C. J. 277.

2 148 ib. 589.

3 126 ib. 89.

• 122 ib. 322; 123 ib. 178 (by address).

5 338 H. D. 3 s. 1717.

111 ib. 250. 270. 294. In 1856, a notice had been given of a return of fees on private bills in both houses, but on an intimation from the Speaker, the return was confined to the House of Commons, 111

C. J. 120

123 io. 212; 127 ib. 141.
8 Ib. 396. 408.

• To secure regularity in the form
of these returns, it was recommended
by the printing committee, 1841,
that every member be advised, be-
fore he gives notice of a motion for
a return, to consult the librarian,
Parl. Paper, 1841 (181); see also
Report, 17th March, 1857 (122).
10 11 H. D. 271.

XXI.

Chapter from government departments should be of a public and official character, and not private or confidential. On the 3rd July, 1884, notice having been taken that the order for an address for a copy of Dr. Crichton Browne's treatise on Education, related to a private matter over which the house had no jurisdiction, and involved a question of copyright, the order was discharged.1 The Documents opinions of the law officers of the Crown, given for the debate, see guidance of ministers, in any question of diplomacy or

cited in

p. 338.

Effect of a

prorogation, see P. 44.

state policy, being included in the class of confidential
documents, have generally been withheld from Parlia-
ment. In 1858, however, this rule was, under peculiar
and exceptional circumstances, departed from, and the
opinions of the law officers of the Crown upon the case of
the Cagliari were laid before Parliament.2

But however ample the power of each house to enforce the
production of papers, a sufficient cause must be shown for
the exercise of that power; and if considerations of public
policy can be urged against a motion for papers, it is either
withdrawn, or otherwise dealt with according to the judg-
ment of the house.

If parties neglect to make returns in reasonable time, they Returns are ordered to make them forthwith:3 or so much of returns not made. as has not been made. If they continue to withhold them, they are ordered to attend at the bar of the house; 5 and unless they satisfactorily explain the causes of their neglect, and comply with the order of the house, they will be censured or punished according to the circumstances of the case. A person has been reprimanded by the Lords for having made a return to an order, which he was not required or authorized to make, and for framing it in a form calculated to mislead the house (see also p. 538).7

When Parliament is prorogued before a return is presented, the order for the return should be renewed in the

1 139 C. J. 336.

2149 H. D. 3 s. 178.

390 C. J. 413; 114 ib. 371; 119

ib. 291; 121 ib. 475.

5 75 ib. 404; 89 ib. 386; 96 ib. 363.

90 ib. 575; 81 L. J. 134.

7 82 ib. 89.

• 131 ib. 354.

Papers presented by

XXI.

ensuing session, as if no order had previously been given; Chapter
because a prorogation puts an end to almost every pro-
ceeding pending in Parliament; yet returns are often pre-
sented by virtue of addresses in a preceding session, without
any renewal of the address,1 and occasionally in compliance
with an order of a former session.2 Orders have also been
made which assume that an order has force from one session
to another. For example, returns have been ordered "to be
prepared in order to be laid before the house in the next
session; " and orders of a former session have been read,
and the papers ordered to be laid before the house forthwith."
And the order for an address made by a former Parliament
has been read, and the house being informed that certain
persons had not made the return, they were ordered forth-
with to make a return to the house."

Besides the modes of obtaining papers by order and by command, address, both houses of Parliament are constantly put in and by Act. possession of documents by command of his Majesty, and in compliance with Acts of Parliament.

Forms observed in presenting papers.

Judgment rolls, exhibits, and certified copies of documents relating to appeals, are delivered in at the bar of the House of Lords, upon oath. Other papers and returns were formerly delivered at the bar, upon oath, in the same manner: but now they are either presented by a minister of the Crown, or are forwarded by the department to the Clerk of the Parliaments, for presentation. In the Commons, when a minister of the Crown has any papers of special importance to present, he goes to the bar, and, on being called by the Speaker, he brings them up; 6 and they are ordered to lie upon the table: but the more usual practice is to deliver them to the clerks at the table. When such papers are presenta- brought up, they are generally ordered to lie upon the table, as a matter of course: but upon the question that they do

Debate on

tion.

198 C. J. 428; 103 ib. 579. 775; 104 ib. 239. 284, &c.; 106 ib. 5; 108 ib. 209.

2 99 ib. 301; 103 ib. 131; 104 ib. 35. 88. 133, &c.; 106 ib. 24; 108 ib. 293; 129 ib. 7; 135 ib. 126, &c.

378 ib. 472; 80 ib. 631.

6

78 ib. 72; 114 ib. 371.

5 90 ib. 413.

By usage, such papers are only to be presented by privy councillors.

Chapter
XXI.

lie upon the table, the mover can found a statement to the
house, and a debate can arise; 1 though not without objection
being taken to a course which brought on debate under
inconvenient conditions.2

tion of

O. 111,

Papers commanded to be presented to either house by Presentahis Majesty may be delivered during a parliamentary command recess to the clerk of the parliaments in the case of the papers during House of Lords and to the librarian in the case of the recess. House of Commons, and such delivery is to be deemed to be the presentation of them to the house. A list of the papers so delivered is entered in the journal of each house Appendix I. on its re-assembling and the order that they do lie upon the table is then made.9

H. L.

8. o. 96,

H. C.,

In the Lords, if a paper relating to judicial proceedings is sought to be delivered, the person bringing it is called to the bar, sworn, and examined respecting it but if it be an ordinary paper, he is called in, delivers the paper at the bar, and is directed to withdraw. In the Commons, it was formerly the custom to present papers in this manner but by resolution 7th April, 1851, accounts and other papers which are laid before the house by Act of Parliament, or the order of the house, are presented, by See motions the deposit of the papers in the office of the Clerk of the out notice, house. A minister may move for a return from his own department, without notice, and immediately present it, in compliance with the order which has just been made.1 Occasionally, blank papers, familiarly known as "dum- "Dummies," are presented, instead of the real documents, a practice which the exigencies of public business render necessary but if used as a colourable compliance with an

made with

p. 245.

:

18th July, 1857, Sir G. Lewis on an estimate of the cost of the Persian War, 146 H. D. 3 s. 1132; Mr. Lowe, 13th Feb. 1862, and Mr. Bruce, 5th May, 1865, on papers relating to education, 165 ib. 191; 178 ib. 1535; Mr. Bruce, 10th Feb. 1873, on the Royal Parks (Rules), 214 H. D. 3 s. 199; Mr. Gladstone, 23rd June, 1884, on Egypt (the proposed con

ference), 289 H. D. 3 s. 1104; and
19th Feb. 1885, on affairs in the
Soudan, 294 ib. 873.

2 178 ib. 1535.

3 129 L. J. 7; 152 C. J. 4, &c.
• See debate on the attorney-
general's motion for copy record
(Mr. Davitt), 27th Feb. 1882, 266 H.
D. 3 s. 1804; 137 C. J. 75.

mies."

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