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Papers to lie upon

the table.

Distribution of

papers. Lords.

XXI.

order of the house, it is open to grave objections. It was Chapter
therefore ordered, 20th March, 1871, that papers are to
"be laid upon the table in such a form as to ensure a Unprinted
speedy delivery thereof to members; "1 and this order was
communicated to the several public departments.

When accounts and papers are presented, they are ordered
to lie upon the table, when an order has been made, that
the paper be taken into consideration on a future day; and
on the consideration thereof a motion has been founded.2
If necessary, the papers are ordered to be printed, or are re-
ferred to committees, or abstracts are ordered to be made
and printed. Sometimes papers of a former session are
ordered to be printed or reprinted.

8

Papers printed by order of the Lords are, on application, distributed gratuitously to members of the House of Commons, and to other persons with orders from peers. They Commons. are also accessible to the public by sale. The Commons have more fully applied the principle of sale, as the best mode of distribution to the public. Each member, under the regulations now in force, can, on application, receive a copy of every paper printed by the house: but he is not entitled to more than one copy, without obtaining an order from the Speaker. Certain reports and papers, viz. reports of royal commissions and of select committees, and all papers relating to the estimates, are distributed to every member as a matter of course, without application.5

Delivery to members by the

The Vote Office is charged with the delivery of printed papers to members of the house, who should leave their Vote Office. addresses at the office, in order that papers may be forwarded to them, either during the session or in the recess. To facilitate the distribution of parliamentary papers, they are sent through the post-office, to all places in the

Transmission by

post.

1 126 C. J. 96.

2 125 ib. 8. 27.

3

Reports of Printed Papers committee, 1835 (61. 392); 90 ib. 544. This rule is not strictly enforced, as regards bills and estimates before the house, which may generally be obtained by members, on application

at the Vote Office.

5 In sessions 1888, 1889, 1890, and 1894, select committees were appointed in the Commons, "to superintend the form, and to regulate the distribution of parliamentary papers," 143 ib. 485; 144 ib. 20; 145 ib. 64; 149 ib. 52.

papers, see

P. 543

XXI.

Chapter United Kingdom, at a rate of postage not exceeding one halfpenny for every two ounces in weight, whether prepaid or not, provided they be sent without a cover, or with a cover open at the sides, and without any writing or marks upon them. The members of both houses are also entitled, during a session, to send, free of postage, all Acts of Parliament, bills, minutes, and votes, by writing their names upon covers provided for that purpose, in the proper offices.

See also

ment of

By these various regulations, the papers laid before Par- Arrangeliament are effectually published and distributed, and each parliapaper is distinguished by a sessional number at the foot of mentary the page, and by the date at which the order for printing is made; and they are classified and arranged in volumes at the end of each session.

papers.

papers.

Papers which are not printed are open to the inspection Unprinted In some cases, of members in the library of the house. papers of a local or private character have been ordered to be printed at the expense of the parties if they think fit.1 In other cases, they have been ordered to be returned to a public department. Sometimes part of a return only has been ordered to be printed. The orders of a former session, that a return do lie upon the table, and be printed, have been discharged; and papers have been withdrawn that have been laid upon the table.*

Administrative orders and regulations relating to prisons, Orders and p. 217, n. 1. education, charities, endowed schools, and other matters are laid before regulations presented to both houses, in pursuance of Acts of Parlia- Parliament, which come into operation, unless disapproved of by either house, within a certain number of days.5 These days

1 101 C. J. 990; 113 ib. 42. 363;

115 ib. 505; 116 ib. 125.

2100 ib. 880; 125 ib. 80.
3124 ib. 209; 125 ib. 70.

128 ib. 10; 134 ib. 18; 135 ib.
232; 160 ib. 21.

By statute 34 & 35 Vict c. 63, s. 2, a copy of any application for a charter for the foundation of a college or university referred for

consideration and report to a com-
mittee of the privy council shall,
with a copy of the charter applied
for, be laid before both houses of
Parliament for a period of not less
than thirty days before any such
report shall be submitted to his
Majesty. See also Education Act,
1902, 2 Edward VII., c. 42 s. 11 (8).

ment.

Disapproval

thereof.

3

XXI

are calculated, in the absence of any statutory direction to Chapter
the contrary, not according to the days on which the
House of Commons actually sits, but of days during the
session of Parliament.2 Unless it be otherwise expressly
enacted by statute, this period must be comprised in the
same session, a prorogation or dissolution being conclusive
of such proceedings or business pending at the time (see
p. 44). If such a paper be laid in dummy (see p. 541) the
time during which proceedings under the statute might
be taken has been held by the Speaker to run from the
day upon which a full, though not necessarily a printed,
copy of the paper was available for members.5

The method by which either house of Parliament sig-
nifies its disapproval, or proposes an alteration, of these
orders and regulations should, unless otherwise directed by
statute, be the presentation of an address to his Majesty. Procedure

1 See 40 & 41 Vict. c. 57, s. 69;
2 Edward VII. c. 42, s. 11 (8), &c.
2 Letter from the Clerk of the
house to the secretary of the Home
Office, 23rd March, 1866 (No. 36720-
45).

3 See University Act, 40 & 41

Vict. c. 48, s. 50.

See Speaker's ruling (Educational Endowments, Scotland), 28th Feb. 1887, 311 H. D. 3 s. 852.

569 Parl. Deb. 4 s. 627. 647; 96 ib. 1007.

on an

address, see p. 452.

Chapter
XXII.

Table of Contents, see In

troduction.

Part I.

THE

CHAPTER XXII.

PARLIAMENT, AND CHARGES UPON PEOPLE.

Part I. The Crown.

Part II. The House of Lords (p. 573).

Part III. The House of Commons (p. 586).

Part IV. Procedure in the Committees of Supply,
and Ways and Means, &c. (p. 603).

the Crown

THE SOVEREIGN, being the executive power, is charged Control of CROWN. With the management of all the revenue of the state, and with over public all payments for the public service. The Crown, therefore, expendi acting with the advice of its responsible ministers, makes revenue. known to the Commons, the pecuniary necessities of the government; the Commons, in return, grant such aids or supplies as are required to satisfy these demands; and they provide by taxes, and by the appropriation of other sources The posi- of the public income, the ways and means to meet the supplies which they have granted. Thus the Crown demands money, the Commons grant it, and the Lords assent to the grant: but the Commons do not vote money unless it be required by the Crown; nor do they impose or augment taxes, unless such taxation be necessary for the public service, as declared by the Crown through its constitutional advisers (see p. 564).

tion of the Lords regarding public money, see

p. 573.

of each

year.

The demand by the Crown for grants of aid and supply Demand for supply for the service of each financial year is made in the speech at the from the throne at the opening of Parliament. The sove- opening reign addresses the Commons, demands the annual supply financial for the public service, and acquaints them that estimates will be laid before them of the amount that will be required. Proceed- The form in which the Commons vote those supplies is conings in committee sequently a resolution that each sum "be granted to his of supply, Majesty ; nor is a grant of supply, even when endowed with the force of law, available for use until the sovereign

see p. 614,

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The royal

order (supply grants).

Presenta

tion of the annual

estimates.

Estimates for the

puts it at the disposal of the treasury by a royal order under Chapter the sign manual.1

XXIL

Part I.

System re

Other demands for a supply from the sovereign may also be made during the progress of the session by messages garding desiring pecuniary aid, by a demand for a vote of credit (p. 554), or by the presentation of an estimate.

Presentation of the annual estimates.-In accordance with the royal direction, estimates are laid before the House of Commons, stating the specific grants of money which will, during the current year, be required for the army, navy, and civil services; and by resolution, 19th February, 1821, the house directs that whenever Parliament assembles before Christmas, the estimates for the naval and military services should be presented before the 15th day of January then next following, if Parliament be then sitting; and that such estimates should be presented within ten days after the opening of the committee of supply, when Parliament does not assemble till after Christmas. The directions given by this resolution are observed, as far as possible, by the army, navy, and civil service departments.

Until 1854, estimates were not presented in respect of revenue de- the revenue departments. Prior to that year, the charges partments. of collecting the revenue were deducted by each depart

Militia

estimates.

ment from the gross sums collected. This practice, which
withdrew the full produce of the taxes, and the cost of
collection, from the immediate control of Parliament, was
condemned by a resolution of the house, 30th May, 1848;
and, pursuant to an Act passed in the year 1854, the whole
of the net revenue derived from taxation is paid into the
exchequer, and the cost of the revenue departments is
included among the annual estimates.3

The rule that estimates of public expenditure cannot
be presented to Parliament, save by royal command, was
formerly set aside in the case of the charge for the dis-
embodied militia. The Commons there took the initiative:
the estimate was prepared by a committee, and was

1 Public Income, &c., Parl. Paper [366], sess. 1869, part ii. p. 651.

2 76 C. J. 87.

103 ib. 580; 109 ib. 467.

cash re

ceipts, see n.

3, p. 591.

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