BlL 
tween 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 Com- 
mons agree to 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, mntatis mu- 
tandis, when the bill begins in the House of 
Lords. But when an act of grace, or par- 
don, is passed, it is first signed by his Ma- 
jesty, and then read once only in each of 
the Houses, w ithout 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 as- 
sent ; except in the case of a bill of supply, 
which after receiving the concurrence of 
the Lords is sent back to the House of 
Commons. The royal assent may be given 
two ways : 1 . In person ; when the King 
comes to the House of Peers, in his crown 
and royal robes, and sending for the Com- 
mons to the bar, the titles of all the bills 
that have passed both houses are read, and 
the King’s answer is declared by the clerk 
of the parliament in Norman French : a 
badge it must be owned (now the only one 
remaining) of conquest ; and which one 
could wish to see fall into total oblivion ; 
unless it be reserved as a solemn memento to 
remind us that our liberties are mortal, 
having been once destroyed by a foreign 
force. If the King consents to a public 
bill, the clerk usually declares, “ Le roy 
le veut.” “ The King wills it so to be ,” if 
to a private bill, “ Soit fait comme il est de- 
sire “ Be it as it is desired.” If the King 
refuses his assent, it is in the gentle lan- 
guage of “ Le roy s’avisera “ The King will 
advise upon it.” When a bill of supply is 
passed, it is carried up and presented to the 
King by the Speaker of the House of Com- 
mons, and the royal assent is thus express- 
ed ; “ Le roy remercie ses loyal subjects, ac- 
cepte leur benevolence, et aussi le voit 
“ The King thanks his loyal subjects, ac- 
cepts their benevolence, and wills it so to 
be.” In case of an act of grace, which ori- 
ginally proceeds from the crown, and has 
the royal assent in the first stage of it, the 
clerk of the parliament thus pronounces the 
gratitude of the subject : “ Les Prclats, 
Seigneurs, et Commons, en ce present par- 
li unent assemblees, au nom de touts vous 
autres subjects, remercient tres humblernent 
votre Majeste, et prient a Dien vous donner 
en sante bone vie et longue “ The Pre- 
lates, Lords, and Commons, in this present 
BIL 
parliament assembled, in the name of all 
your other subjects, most humbly thank 
your Majesty, and pray to God to grant you 
in health long to live.” 
2. By the stat. 33 Hen. III. c. 21, the King 
may give his assent by letters patent under 
his great seal, signed with his hand, and no- 
tified in his absence to both Houses assem- 
bled together in the High House. And When 
the bill has received the royal assent in ei- 
ther of these ways, it is then, and not be- 
fore, a statute or act of parliament. This 
statute or act is placed among the records 
of the kingdom ; there needing no formal 
promulgation to give it the force of a law, as 
was necessary by the civil law with regard 
to the emperor’s edicts ; because every 
man in Britain is, in judgment of law, party 
to the making of an edict of parliament, 
being present thereat by his representatives. 
However, a copy thereof is usually printed 
at the King’s press for the information of the 
whole land. And formerly, before the in- 
vention of printing, it was used to be pub- 
lished by the sheriff of every county ; the 
King’s writ being sent to him at the end of 
every session, together with a transcript of 
all the acts made at that session, com- 
manding him, “ut statutailla, et omnes arti- 
culos in eisdem contentos, in singulis locis 
ubi expedire viderit, publice proclamqri, et 
fir-miter teneri et observari faciat.” And 
the usage was to proclaim them at his 
county court, and there to keep them, that 
whoever would might read or take copies 
thereof ; which custom continued till the 
reign of Henry VII. An act of parliament 
thus made is the exercise of the highest au- 
thority that this kingdom acknowledges 
upon earth. It hath power to bind every 
subject in the land, and the dominions 
thereunto belonging ; nay, even the King 
himself, if particularly named therein. And 
it cannot be altered, amended, dispensed 
with, suspended, or repealed, but in the 
same forms, and by the same authority of 
parliament for it is a maxim in law, that it 
requires the same strength to dissolve as to 
create an obligation. It is true, it was for- 
merly held that the King might in many 
cases dispense with penal statutes ; but now 
by statute 1 Wil. and M. st. 2, c. 2, it is de- 
clared, that the suspending, or dispensing 
with laws by regal authority, without con- 
sent of parliament, is illegal. See Acts. 
BILLARDIERA, in botany, a genus of 
the Pentandria Monogynia class and order. 
Petals five, alternating with the leaflets of 
the calyx ; stigma simple j no nectary ; bc-r- 
