II 



PARLIAMENT. IMPERIAL. 



PARLIAMENT. IMPERIAL. 



sit 



of eontrorwtod election by the oommoasl I* the passing of bilk ; Mid 

 Ik* Mod* of proceed^ vnth ri^ to U* inay be briefly describl 



BILLS, PCWJC AXD Pur ATI. 



Bilk are divided into two e\mm inrh as are of a public nature 

 UM gmasl interests of the state, and such M relate only to 



local or" private matter*. The former are introduced directly by the 

 motion* of members; the latter are brought in upon petitions from the 

 parties interested, after UM neoemry notices nave been given and 

 all form* required by the sanding orders have been complied with. 



. few eroprinos. publiebills may originate in either house, 

 they be for granting supplies of any kind, or involve directly or 

 dy the lwyT, or a,,proprlation of any Ux<,r fine upon the 



- * 



people. The exelunre right of the common, to deal with all legula- 

 tion of this nature aflecU wry extensively the practice of introducing 

 private bills into either houee. Thus, all those which authorise the 

 levying of local tolls or rates are brought in u|n petition to the lower 

 boos*. These compose by far the greater part of all private bills. Ail 

 meson es of local improvement, whether for enclosing lands, lighting, 

 BEliiiliM and improving towns, establishing police, or making roads, 

 bridges, railways, canals, or other public works, originate in the 

 r i~.; though in the session of 1860, in consequence of the 

 pressure of business, many bills of this kind were first introduced in 

 the House of Lords. On the other hand, many bills of a personal 

 nature are always sent down from the lords, such as bills affecting 

 private estates, divorce bills, and bills for the naturalisation of aliens. 

 Bills affecting the peerage must originate in the lords, and acts of grace 

 with the crown, where the prerogative of mercy is vested. 



Pn.rra of Bilit : Puttie Bill*. Motions for leave to bring in bills 

 of a public nature are not very frequently refused. The more usual 

 time for opposing any measure in its progress is on the second reading. 

 when all the provisions are known, and the general principle and effect 

 of them may be considered. When leave is given to bring in a bill, 

 certain members are ordered to prepare it, being the proposer and 

 seconder of the motion, to whom others are sometimes added. It is 

 then brought in and read a first time, and a day is fixed for the second 

 reading, which generally leaves a sufficient interval for the printing and 

 circulation of the bill. 



It has been already said that the second reading is the occasion on 

 which a bill is more particularly canvassed. Its principle is at that 

 time made the subject of discussion, and if it meet with approval, the 

 bill is committed, either to a committee of the whole house or to a 

 select committee, to consider its several provisions in detail. A com- 

 mittee of the whole house is in fact the house itself, in the absence of 

 the Speaker from the chair ; but the rule which allows members to 

 speak as often as they think fit, instead of restricting them to a single 

 speech, as at other times, affords great facilities for the careful examina- 

 tion and full discussion of details. The practice of referring bills of 

 an intricate and technical description to select committees has become 

 very prevalent of late years, and might be extended with advantage. 

 Many bills are understood by a few members only, whose observations 

 are listened to with impatience, and thus valuable suggestions are often 

 withheld in the house, which in a committee might be embodied in 

 the bill By leaving such bills to a select committee, the house is 

 enabled to attend to measures more generally interesting, while other 

 business, of perhaps equal importance, is proceeding at the same time ; 

 and it has always the opportunity of revising amendments introduced 

 by the committee. 



Before a bill goes into committee there are certain blanks for dates, 

 amount of penalties, 4c., which are filled up in this stage. Bills of 

 importance are often recommitted, or in other words, pass twice, and 

 even in some instances three or four times through the committee. 

 When the proceedings in committee are terminated, the bill is reported 

 with the amendments to the house, on which occasion they are agreed 

 to, amended, or disagreed to, as the case may be. If many amend- 

 ment* have been made, it is a common and very useful practice to 

 reprint the bill before the report is taken into consideration. After 

 the report has been agreed to, the bill with the amendments is ordered 

 to be mgmesnd previous to the third reading. A proposition was 

 made not lung since, but without success, for discontinuing the custom 

 of engrossment upon parchment, and for using an examined copy ol 

 the printed bill, signed by the clerk of the house, for all the purposes 

 for which the engrossed copy is now required. 



The third reading is a stage of great importance, on which the 

 entire measure is reviewed, and the house determines whether, after 

 the amendments that have been made on previous stages, it is fit on 

 the whole to pus and become law. The question, "that thin bill do 

 pass," which immediately succeeds the third reading, is usually no 

 more than a form, but there have been occasions on which thai 

 question has been opposed, and even negatived. The title of the bill 

 is settled last of all. 



An interval of tome days usually elapses between each of the prin 

 cipol stages of a bill ; but when there is any particular cause for haste, 

 and there is no opposition, these delays are dispensed with, and the 

 bill is allowed to pan through several stages, and occasionally through 

 all, on the same day. 



This statement of the progress of bills applies equally to both 



houses of parliament There is, however, a slight distinction in the 

 :itle of a bill while pending in the lords, which is always " intituled 

 an act," whether it has originated in the lords or has been brought up 

 from the commons. 



When the commons have passed a bill, they send it to the lords by 

 one of their own members, who is usually accompanied by others. 

 The lords send down bills by two masters in chancery ; unless they 

 relate to the crown or the royal family, in which case they are generally 

 sent by two judges. 



I'nmit liiUi. In deliberating upon private bills )>arliament may lie 

 considered as acting judicially. The conflicting interests of private 

 parties, the rights of individuals, and the protection of the public, have 

 to be reconciled. Care must be taken, in furthering an apparently 

 useful object, that injustice be not done to individuals, although the 

 public may derive advantage from it. Vigilance and caution slmuM 

 be exercised lest parties professing to have the public interests in view 

 should be establishing, under the protection of a statute, an injurious 

 monopoly. The rights of landowners amongst themselves, and of the 

 poor, must be scrutinised in passing an enclosure bill. Every descrip- 

 tion of interest is affected by the making of a railway. 



The inquiries that are necessary to be conducted in order to deter- 

 mine upon the merits of private bills are too extensive for the house 

 to undertake, and it has therefore been usual to delegate them to com- 

 mittees. To prevent parties from being taken by surprise, the stand- 

 ing orders require certain notices to be given (to the public by adver- 

 tisement, and to parties interested by personal service) of the intention 

 to petition parliament. The first thing which is done on receiving the 

 petition therefore, is to inquire whether these notices have been 

 properly given, and if all other forms prescribed by the standing orders 

 have been observed. This inquiry is confided to the examiners of 

 private bills, two officers who act for both houses, who report their 

 determination to the house. When a private bill has been read a 

 second time, it is conimmitted, according to its character, to the com- 

 mittee of selection, to the general committee on railway and canal 

 bills, or to the select committee on divorce bills. The committee of 

 selection consists of the chairman of the standing orders committee and 

 five other members nominated by the house, of whom three arc a 

 quorum. This committee classifies the bills, and nominates the chair- 

 man and members of the committee for each. The railway aud divorce 

 committees proceed in the like manner. For every opposed railway, 

 canal, or road bill, the committee consists of five members not 

 interested in the bill in progress. Unopposed bills are referred to the 

 chairman of the committee of ways and means and two other members. 

 The committees on opposed bills may hear counsel and examine 

 witnesses, divisions amongst the committee are decided by a majority, 

 and the result of their labours is reported to the house. 



Public bills are occasionally referred to select committees ; these, 

 however, must also pass through a committee of the whole house. 



It will not be necessary to pursue any further the progress of private 

 bills, which differs only from that already described in respect of bills 

 of a public nature, in the necessity for certain specified intervals 

 between each stage, and for notices in the private bill office. 



In the House of Lords, when a private bill is unopposed, it is com- 

 mitted to the permanent chairman of committees, and any other peers 

 may attend ; but when a bill is to be opposed, the committee on stand- 

 ing orders inquires whether the standing orders have been complied 

 with, and if so, the bill is referred to a committee of five, and a similar 

 course is followed to that of the lower house. 



In order to ensure a proper acquaintance with the provisions of 

 private bills, some of which are very voluminous, the House of 

 Commons have adopted a rule requiring breviates of the bills to 

 be laid before them six days before the second reading, and breviates 

 of the amendments made by the committee, before the house take the 

 report into consideration. 



Conference* between the two Jloiusa. ;The progress of bills in each 

 house of parliament having been detailed, it still remaina to describe 

 the subsequent proceedings in case of difference between them. W 1 i.-n 

 a bill has been returned by either house to the other, with amendments 

 which are disagreed to, a conference is desired by the house which 

 disagrees to the amendments, to acquaint the other with reasons for 

 such disagreement ; in order, to vise the words of Hatsell, " that after 

 considering those reasons, the house may be induced, either not to 

 insist upon their amendments, or may, in their turn, assign such 

 arguments for having modi- them, as may prevail upon the other house 

 to agree to them. If the house which amend the bill are not satisfied 

 and convinced by the reason* urged for disagreeing to the amendments, 

 but persevere in insisting upon their amendments, the form is to 

 desire another conference; at which, in their turn, they state their 

 arguments in favour of the amendments, and the reasons why they 

 cannot depart from them ; and if, after such second conference, the 

 house resolve to insist upon disagreeing to the amendments, they 

 ought then to demand a ' free conference,' at which the arguments on 

 both sides may be more amply aud freely discussed. If this measure 

 should prove ineffectual, and if, after several free conferences, neither 

 house can be induced to depart from the point they originally 

 1 upon, nothing further can be done, and the bill must be lost." 

 Whether the conference be desired by the lords or by the commons, 

 tin' former have the sole right of appointing the time and place of 



