PARLIAMENT. 



423 



ftantory parliaments were banished to Tours, Com- 

 piegne, Orleans. But the resistance of the parlia- 

 ments could not always be thus overcome. The 

 pMrliaments, whose members had bought their places 

 for the sake of the dignity, showed great obstinacy, 

 and it was sometimes necessary to yield to them 

 Hence Louis XV., towards the end of his reign, 

 adopted a bolder and more fundamental measure : 

 all the old parliaments were abolished in 1771, the 

 sums for which the places had been bought were paid 

 back, the new places filled by the king only, and the 

 old members, in part, banished to small and remote 

 towns, and, in part, imprisoned. For a long time no 

 lawyer was willing to plead before the new courts ; 

 and when, at length, the administration of justice 

 was recommenced, the king died, and Louis XVI. 

 restored the old parliaments. They immediately 

 renewed their opposition to the court, the ministers, 

 and the superior clergy ; refusing every thing, just 

 and unjust, desired by the court. The archbishop of 

 Sens abolished them again in 1788 ; but the courts 

 established by him were acknowledged by no one. 

 At length, the parliament declared that the assembly 

 of the states-general alone was capable of granting 

 what the government desired, and thus gave the 

 signal to that revolution in which it was one of the 

 first things overthrown. In the article France, divi- 

 sion, France before the Revolution, we have spoken 

 of the political influence of these bodies upon the 

 whole organization of government. They assumed all 

 characters, the judicial, legislative, and often execu- 

 tive. We refer, for further information, to Meyer's 

 Esprit, Origins et Progres des Institutions Judiciares 

 des principaux Pays de C Europe (Hague, 1819.) 



Parliament of Great Britain. A sketch of its 

 constitutional power and organization is given in the 

 article Britain. At present we shall only give some 

 particulars respecting the forms of doing business in 

 parliament. The method of making laws is much 

 the same in both houses. In each house the act of 

 the majority binds the whole ; and this majority is 

 declared by votes openly given; not privately, or by 

 ballot. To bring a bill into the house of commons, 

 if the relief sought by it is of a private nature, it is 

 first necessary to prefer a petition, which must be 

 presented by a member, and usually sets forth the 

 grievance desired to be remedied. This petition 

 (when founded on facts that may be disputed) is re- 

 ferred to a committee of members, who examine the 

 matter alleged, and report to the house ; and then 

 (or otherwise upon the mere petition) leave is given 

 to bring in the bill. In public matters, the bill is 

 brought in upon motion made to the house, without 

 any petition. (In the house of lords, if the bill be- 

 gins there, it is, when of a private nature, referred 

 to two of the judges, to examine and report the state 

 of the facts alleged, to see that all necessary parties 

 consent, and to settle all points of technical pro- 

 priety.) This is read a first time, and, after a con- 

 venient interval, a second time ; and, after each 

 reading, the speaker puts the question whether it 

 shall proceed any further. The introduction of the 

 bill may be originally opposed, as the bill itself may, 

 at either of the readings ; and if the opposition suc- 

 ceeds, the bill must be dropped for that session ; as 

 it must, also, if opposed with success in any of the 

 subsequent stages. After the second reading, it is 

 committed, that is, referred to a committee, which is 

 either selected by the house in matters of small im- 

 portance, or else, if the bill is a matter of great or 

 national consequence, the house resolves itself into 

 a committee of the whole house. A committee of 

 the whole house is composed of every member ; and, 

 to form it, the speaker quits the chair (another mem- 

 ber being appointed chairman), and may sit and de- 



bate as a private member. In these committees, the 

 bill is debated clause by clause, amendments made, 

 the blanks filled up, and sometimes the bill entirely 

 new-modelled. After it has gone through the com- 

 mittee, the chairman reports it to the house, with 

 such amendments as the committee have made ; and 

 then the house re-consider the whole bill again, and 

 the question is repeatedly put upon every clause and 

 amendment. When the house have agreed or dis- 

 agreed to the amendments of the committee, and 

 sometimes added new amendments of their own, the 

 bill is then ordered to be engrossed, or written in a 

 strong, gross hand, on one or more long rolls of 

 parchment sewed together. When this is finished, 

 it is read a third time, and amendments are some- 

 times then made to it; and if a new clause be added, 

 it is done by tacking a separate piece of parchment 

 on the bill, which is called a rider. The speaker 

 then again opens the contents, and, holding it up in 

 his hands, puts the question whether the bill shall 

 pass. If this be agreed to, the title is then settled. 

 After this, one of the members is directed to carry it 

 to the lords, and desire their concurrence, who, at- 

 tended by several more, carries it to the bar of the 

 house of peers, and there delivers it to their speaker, 

 who comes down from his woolsack to receive it. It 

 there passes through the same forms as in the other 

 house (except engrossing, which is already done), and 

 if rejected, no more notice is taken, but it passes 

 sub silentio, to prevent unbecoming altercations. But 

 if it be agreed to, the lords send a message by two 

 masters in chancery (or, sometimes, in matters of 

 high importance, by two of the judges,) that they 

 have agreed to the same ; and the bill remains with 

 the lords, if they have made no amendment to it. 

 But if any amendments are made, such amendments 

 are sent down with the bill to receive the concurrence 

 of the commons. If the commons disagree to the 

 amendments, a conference usually follows between 

 members deputed from each house, who, for the most 

 part, settle and adjust the difference ; but if both 

 houses remain inflexible, the bill is dropped. If the 

 commons agree to the amendments, the bill is sent 

 back to the lords by one of the members, with a 

 message to acquaint them therewith. The same 

 forms are observed, mutatis mutandis, when the bill 

 begins in the house of lords. But when an act of grace 

 or pardon is passed, it is first signed by his majesty, 

 and then read once only in each of the houses, without 

 any new engrossing or amendment. And when both 

 houses have done with any bill, it always is deposited 

 in the house of peers, to wait the royal assent, except 

 in the case of a money bill, which, after receiving 

 the concurrence of the lords, is sent back to the house 

 of commons. The answer to the question put by the 

 speaker, or the chairman, in the house of commons, 

 s Aye, or No; and, in the house of peers, Content, or 

 Not Content. 



The royal assent to bills may be given, 1. in per- 

 son. When the king is to pass bills in person, he 

 appears on his throne in the house of peers, in his 

 oyal robes, with the crown on his head, and attended 

 )y his great officers of state and heralds, and sends 

 'or the house of commons to the house of peers ; the 

 speaker carries up the money bill, or bills, in his 

 land ; and, in delivering them, he addresses his 

 majesty in a solemn speech, in which he seldom fails 

 ,o extol the generosity and loyalty of the commons, 

 and to tell his majesty how necessary it is to be 

 Vugal of the public money. The titles of all bills 

 hat have passed both houses are read; and the king's 

 answer is declared by the clerk of the parliament in 

 Gorman-French. If the king consents to a public 

 )ill, the clerk usually declares, Le roy le veut (The 

 cing wills it so to be); if to a private bill, Soil fait 



