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When a bill has passed the House of Lords, it is sent down 

 to the House of Commons usually by two of the masters in 

 chancery, and sometimes, in the case of measures of great 

 importance, by one or more of the judges, who make three 

 obeisances as they advance to the speaker, and, after one ol 

 them has rend the title of the bill, deliver it to him, desiring 

 that it may be taken into consideration. When a bill, on 

 the other hand, is sent up from the Commons to the 

 Lords, it is sent by several members (the speaker being fre- 

 quently one), who, having knocked at the door of the Lords' 

 house, are introduced by the usher of the black rod, and 

 then advance to the bar, making three obeisances. The 

 speaker of the house, who is usually the lord chancellor, 

 then comes down to the bar, and receives the bill, the mem- 

 ber who delivers it to him stating its title, and informing 

 him that it is a bill which the Commons have passed, and 

 to which they desire the concurrence of their lordships. A 

 bill thus received by the one house from the other is almost 

 always read at least a first time ; but it does not appear to 

 be a matter of course that it should be so read. It then 

 goes again through the same stages as it has already passed 

 through in the other house. 



The bill may be debated on any one of the motions which 

 we have mentioned, and it commonly is so debated more 

 than once. It is usual, however, to take the debate upon 

 the principle of the proposed measure either on the motion 

 fur leave to bring in the bill, or on that for the second 

 reading; the delails are generally discussed in the com- 

 mittee. Amendments upon the bill, going either to its 

 entire rejection, or to its alteration to any extent, may be 

 proposed on any occasion on which it is debated after it'luu 

 beui brought in. Before it is committed also certain in- 

 structions to the committee may be moved, upon which the 

 committee must act. 



Aft-jr the report of the committee has been received, and 

 the amendments which it proposes agreed to, the speaker 

 puts the question that the bill so amended be engrossed ; 

 that is to say. written in a distinct and strong band on 

 parchment. In this shape it remains till it receives the 

 royal assent ; it is not engrossed a second time in the other 

 hoii.-.c. Whatever clauses are afterwards added to it are 

 called riders, and must be engrossed on separate sheets of 

 parchment and attached to it. 



Bills of all kinds may originate in either house, except 

 what arc called money bills, that is, bills for raising money 

 -i_v sjxicies of taxation, which must always be brought 

 first i:ito the House of Commons. The Commons also will 

 reject any amendment made upon a money bill by the 

 Lords. And the Lords have a standing order (the XC., dated 

 'Jnd March, 1664) against proceeding with any bill for resti- 

 tution in blood which shall not have originated in their own 

 House: all such acts, and all others of royal grace and 

 favour to individuals, are signed by the king bei'ore being 

 laid before parliament, where they are only read once in 

 each house, and cannot be amended, although they may be 

 rejected. [See ASSENT, ROYAL.] 



When a bill has passed the Commons and is to be sent 

 up to the Lords, the clerk writes upon it Soil bailie uu.r 

 ^n^rieurs; and upon one which has passed the Lords and 

 is to be sent down to the Commons, the clerk of the Lords 

 writes S'lit bailie aiix Cummunn. I fit is afterwards passed 

 by the Commons, the clerk writes up >n it Les Communs 

 'ml nssentes. All bills of supply, after being passed by the 

 I^rds, are returned to the House of Commons, in which 

 they had originated, and there remain till they are brought 

 to the House of Lords by the speaker to receive the royal 

 it : all other bills are deposited with the Lords till 

 the royal assent is given to them. 



A bill, after it has been introduced, may be lost either by 

 the royal assent being refused (of which, however, there is 

 I!-) instance in recent times), or by a motion for its rejection 

 b 'ing carried in any of its stages in its passage through 

 either house, or by any of the motions necessary to advance 

 it on its progress being dropped or withdrawn. The rejec- 

 tion of thu bill may be effected by the motion in its favour 

 simply negatived, or by a counter-motion being car- 

 ried to the effect that the next reading be deferred till a day 

 by which it is known that parliament will have been pro- 

 rogued (generally till that day six months, or that day three 

 month?.), or by the carrying of an amendment entirely 

 (1 to the measure. The motion for carrying it forward 

 on any of its stages may be dropped either by the House 

 iiot RMembliug ou the day for which the order made re- 



specting that motion stands, or simply by no member ap 

 peariug to make the motion. When a motion has once 

 been made, it can only be withdrawn by consent of the 

 House. 



If a bill has been lost in any of these ways, the rule is 

 that the same measure cannot be again brought forward the 

 same session. ' It however appears,' says Mr. Hatsell, in 

 treating of this subject in his Precedents, ' from several of 

 the cases under this title, as well as from every day's prac- 

 tice, that this rule is not to be so strictly and verbally ob- 

 served as to stop the proceedings of the House : it is rather 

 to be kept in substance than in words; and the good sense 

 of the House must decide, upon every question, how far it 

 comes within the meaning of the rule.' In fact there are 

 several remarkable examples of the regulation being en- 

 tirely disregarded. And sometimes a short prorogation has 

 been made merely to allow a bill which had been defeated 

 to be again introduced. 



\Vhen a bill which has passed one house has been 

 amended in the other, it must be returned, with the amend- 

 ments, to be again considered in the house from which it 

 had come ; and it cannot be submitted for the royal assent 

 until the amendments have been agreed to by that house. 

 Incase of a difference of opinion between the two houses, 

 the subject is frequently ordered to be discussed in a con- 

 ference. [See AMKNDMENT.] 



According to the standing orders of the House of Lords 

 (see Order CXCVI1I. of 7th July, 1819), no bill regulating 

 the conduct of any trade, altering the laws of apprentice- 

 ship, prohibiting any manufacture, or extending any patent, 

 can be read a second time until a select committee shall 

 have inquired into and reported upon the expediency of the 

 proposed regulations. By the standing orders of the Com- 

 mons, no bill relating to religion, or trade, can be brought 

 into the House until the proposition shall have been first 

 considered and agreed to in a committee of the whole house ; 

 and the house will not proceed upon any bill for granting 

 any money, or for releasing or compounding any sum of 

 money owing to the crown, but in a committee of the whole 

 house. No bill also can pass the house affecting the pro- 

 perty of the crown or the royal prerogative, without his ma- 

 jesty's consent having been first signified. 



Private bills are such as directly relate only to the concerns 

 of private individuals, or bodies of individuals, and not to 

 matters of state or to the community in general. In some 

 cases it might be doubtful whether an act ought to be con- 

 sidered a public or a private one ; and in these cases a 

 clause is commonly inserted at the end of the act to remove 

 the doubt. Private bills in passing into laws go through 

 the same stages in both houses of parliament with public 

 bills ; but relating as they do for the most part to matters 

 as to which the public attention is not so much alive, 

 various additional regulations are established with regard 

 to them, for the purpose of securing to them in their pro- 

 gress the observation of all whose interests they may 

 affect. No private bill, in the first place, can be introduced 

 into either house except upon a petition stating its object 

 and the grounds upon which it is sought. Nor can such 

 petitions be presented after a certain day in each session, 

 which is always fixed at the commencement of the session, 

 and is usually within a fortnight or three weeks thereafter. 

 In all cases the necessary documents and plans must be 

 aid before the house before it will proceed in the matter, 

 and it must also have evidence that sufficient notice in every 

 respect has been given to all parties interested in the mea- 

 sure. To a certain extent the consent of these parties is 

 required before the bill can be passed. For the numerous 

 rules, however, by which these objects are sought to be se- 

 cured, we must refer to the Standing Orders themselves. 

 An account of the principal steps necessary to be taken in 

 the case of the most important description of private bills, 

 those for enabling associations of individuals to undertake 

 the formation of roads, canals, and other such works, aiid 

 of the progress of such bills through the two houses, may 

 je found in the first number of the Companion to the 

 Neu'spaper, p. 11. 



An important respect in which the passage through par- 

 -iament of a private bill differs from that ot a public bill is 

 the much higher amount of fees paid in the case of the 

 former to the clerks and other officers of the two houses. 

 Although the high amount of the fees payable on private 

 bills has beon the subject of much complaint, and is un- 

 doubtedly, in some cases, a very heavy tax, it is to be re 



