PARLIAMENT. 
616 
to the bar, the titles of all the bills that have palled both 
lioufes are read ; and the king’s anfwer is declared by the 
clerk of the parliament in Norman French. If the king 
contents to a public bill, the clerk ufually declares, “Ze 
roy le veut; The king wills it fo to be.” If to a private 
bill, “ Soit fait comme il eft d&firi; Be it as it is defired.” 
If the king refutes his aflent, it is in the gentle language 
of “ Le roy s'avifera ; The king will advife upon it.” 
When a bill of fupply is palled, it is carried up and pre- 
fented to the king by the Speaker of the houfe of com¬ 
mons ; and the royal aflent is thus exprefl'ed : “ Le roy 
rcmercie Jes loyal fubjeds, accepte leur benevolence, et ainfi 
le veut; The king thanks his loyal fubjedts, accepts their 
benevolence, and wills it fo to be.” In cate of an ait of 
grace, which originally proceeds from the crown, and has 
the royal aflent in the firft ttage of it, the clerk of the 
parliament thus pronounces the gratitude of the fubjedt; 
“ Les prelats, Jeigneurs, et commons, en ce prefent parlia¬ 
ment ajfembles, au nom (le touts vous autres fubjeds, remer- 
cient tres humblement votre majefil, et prient il Dieu vous 
donner en fante bonne vie et longue; The prelates, lords, 
and commons, in this prefent parliament aflembled, in the 
name of all your other fubjedts, mott humbly thank your 
majefty, and pray to God to grant you in health and 
wealth long to live.” 
By the flat. 33 Hen. VIII. c. 21. which was pafled to 
attaint queen Katharine of treafon, it was enadted, that 
the king’s aflent by letters patent under his great feal, 
flgned with his hand, and notified in his abfenceto both 
houfes aflembled together in the lords’ houfe, ever was 
and fliould be of like force, as if given by the king in 
perfon. 
When the bill has received the royal aflent in either 
of thefe ways, it is then, and not before, a ftatute or aft 
of parliament; and, being certified into chancery, is 
placed among the records of the kingdom; and, being 
printed by the king’s printer, copies are diftributed among 
the feveral courts of juftice and magiftracy throughout 
the kingdom at the public expenfe, and thus promul¬ 
gated more effedtually than heretofore by proclamation 
made thereof by the flierilfs of counties, &c. 
An ad of parliament, thus made, is the exercife of the 
higheft authority that this kingdom acknowledges upon 
earth. It hath power to bind every fubjedt in the land, 
and the dominions thereunto belonging; nay, even the 
king himfelf, if particularly named therein. And it can¬ 
not be altered, amended, difpenfed with, fufpended, or 
repealed, but in the fame forms and by the fame autho¬ 
rity of parliament: for it is a maxim in law, that “ it re¬ 
quires the fame ftrength to diffolve as to create an obliga¬ 
tion.” It was formerly held, that the king might in 
many cafes difpenfe with penal flatutes. But now, by 
flat. 1 Will. & M. A. 2. c. 2. it is declared, that the fuf- 
pending or difpenfing with laws by regal authority, with¬ 
out confent of parliament, is illegal. 
An adjournment of parliament is a continuance of the 
feffions from one day to another, as the word itfelf figni- 
fies; and this is done by the authority of each houfe fe- 
parately every day, and fometimes for a fortnight or 
month together. But the adjournment of one houfe is 
no adjournment of the other. 
A prorogation is the continuance of the parliament from 
one feflion to another, as an adjournment is a continu¬ 
ation of the feflion from day to day. This is done by the 
royal authority, exprefl'ed either by the lord-chancellor in 
his majefty’s prefence, or by commiflion from the crown, 
or frequently by proclamation. At the beginning of a 
new parliament, when it is not intended that the parlia¬ 
ment fhould meet at the return of the writ of fummons, 
for difpatch of bufinefs, the pradtice is to prorogue it by 
a writ of prorogation. 
Both houfes are neceffarily prorogued at the fame time, 
it not being a prorogation of the houfe of lords or com¬ 
mons, but of the parliament. The feflion is never under- 
flood to be at an end until a prorogation. Formerly the 
ufage was, for the king to give the royal aflent to all fuch 
bills as he approved, at the end of every feflion, and then 
to prorogue the parliament. Which cuftom obtained fo 
ftrongly, that it once became a queftion, whether giving 
the royal aflent to a Angle bill, did not, of courfe, put 
an end to the feflion. And, though it was then refolved 
in the negative, yet the notion was fo deeply rooted, that 
the flat. 1 Car. I. c. 7, was pafled to declare, that the 
king’s aflent to that and fome other adts fliould not put 
an end to the feflion; and even fo late as the reign of 
Charles II. we find a provifo frequently tacked to a bill, 
that his majefty’s aflent thereto fliould not determine the 
feflion of parliament. 
By prorogation, all orders of parliament determine: and 
perfons imprifoned by order of the parliament, after their 
prorogation may be difcharged on an habeas corpus, as 
well as after a diflolution ; but it was long fince deter¬ 
mined, that the difl’olution of a parliament did not alter 
the ftate of impeachments, brought up by the commons 
in a preceding parliament. Cafes of appeals and writs 
of error alfo fliall continue, and are to be proceeded on, 
in fata quo, as they flood at the diflolution of the laft par¬ 
liament. Raym. 381. 
A diffolution is the civil death of the parliament; and 
this may be effected three ways. 
Firft, By the king’s will exprefl'ed either in perfon or 
by reprefentation. For, as the king has the foie right of 
convening the 'parliament, fo alfo it is a branch of the 
royal prerogative, that he may (whenever he pleafes) pro¬ 
rogue the parliament for a time, or put a final period to 
its exiftence. 
Secondly, A parliament may be diflolved by the demife 
of the crown. This diflolution formerly happened imme¬ 
diately upon the death of the reigning fovereign : for, he 
being confidered in law as the head of the parliament, 
that failing, the whole body was held to be extindt. But 
the calling a new parliament immediately on the inaugu¬ 
ration of the fucceffor, being found inconvenient, and 
dangers being apprehended from having no parliament 
in being, in cafe of a difputed fucceflion, it was enadted 
by flat. 7 & 8 Will. III. c. 15, that the parliament in being 
fliould, if fitting, continue for fix months after the de¬ 
mife of the crown, unlefs fooner diflolved, See. by the 
fuccefior; and,, if not fitting, fliould meet on the day of 
prorogation; and that, in cafe no parliament was in be¬ 
ing, the laft preceding parliament fliould convene and fit. 
Laftly, A parliament may be diflolved or expire by 
length of time ; and, as our conftitution now ftands, the 
parliament muft expire, or die a natural death, at the end 
of every feventh year, if not fooner diflolved by the royal 
prerogative, as it generally is in the courfe of every five 
or fix years. See the article London, vol. xiii. p. 320. 
We fliall conclude this part of the fubjedt with giving 
a few curious fpecimens of the ancient orders of the 
houfe of commons. They are taken out of a fmall vo¬ 
lume printed in the laft century, under the title of “Ef~ 
fential and Fundamental Orders of the Floufe of Com¬ 
mons, colledted out of the Journals.” To thofe who are 
only acquainted with the prefent pradtice of the houfe, 
and the late hours to which the public bufinefs is now 
protradted, thefe orders will (how how tenacious our an- 
ceftors were of the dignity and decorum of parliament, 
and of enforcing the early and regular attendance of the 
members; though fome of them perhaps may abate a 
little of the reverence due to the Handing orders of the 
houfe of commons, which have hitherto been confidered 
as paramount to the law of the land. 
1614, May 17.—Ordered, That this houfe fliall fit every 
day at (even o’clock in the morning, and enter into the 
great bufinefs at eight o’clock ; and no new motion to be 
made after twelve. 
1641.—Ordered, That all the members who fliall come 
to the houfe after eight o’clock, fliall pay one fliiiling; 
and that, if any member fliall forbear to come for the 
whole day, he fliall pay five (hillings, to be difpofed of as 
6 the 
