2 ment after its first meeting. If her Majesty attend in person to prorogue Parliament at the end of the session, the same ceremonies are observed as at the opening of Parliament: the attendance of the commons in the House of Peers is commanded; and, on their arrival at the bar, the speaker addresses her Majesty, on presenting the supply bills,' and adverts to the most important measures that have occupied the attention of Parliament during the session. The royal assent is then given to the bills which are awaiting that sanction, and her Majesty reads her speech to both Houses of Parliament; after which, the lord chancellor, having received directions from her Majesty for that purpose, addresses both houses in this manner,— "My lords and gentlemen, it is her Majesty's royal will and pleasure that this Parliament be prorogued to" a certain day, "to be then here holden; and this Parliament is accordingly prorogued," &c. When her Majesty is not present at the end of the session, Parliament is prorogued by a commission under the great seal, directed to certain peers, who, by virtue of their commission, prorogue the Parliament. The attendance of the commons is desired in the House of Peers; and, on their coming, with their speaker, the lord chancellor states to both houses, that her Majesty, not thinking fit to be personally present, has caused a commission to be issued under the great seal, for giving the royal assent to bills. The commission is then read, and the speaker, without any speech, delivers the money bills to the clerk assistant of the House of Lords, who comes to the bar to receive them. The royal assent is signified to the bills in the usual manner; after which the lord chancellor, in pursuance of her Majesty's commands, reads the royal speech to both houses. The commission for proroguing the Parliament is next read by the clerk, and the lord chancellor, by virtue of that commission, prorogues the Parliament accordingly. On further 2 See chapter XVIII. 1 See chapter XXI., Supply. prorogations the Queen never attends personally; and, the speaker being in the country, the commons are represented at the bar of the House of Lords by their clerk assistant, or second clerk assistant; the commission is read, and the lord chancellor prorogues the Parliament in the usual manner. Questions a part of every proceeding. Notice of motion. CHAPTER VIII. MOTIONS AND QUESTIONS. NOTICES OF MOTIONS. QUES- QUESTIONS put. EVERY matter is determined in both houses, upon questions put by the speaker, and resolved in the affirmative or negative, as the case may be. As a question must thus form part of every proceeding, it is of the first importance that good rules should prevail for stating the question clearly, and for enabling the house to decide upon it. However simple such rules may be, the complexity of many questions, and the variety of opinions entertained by members, must often make it difficult to apply them. Very few general rules have been entered on the Journals of either house; but the practice of Parliament has established certain forms of procedure, which numerous precedents rarely fail to make intelligible. Any member may propose a question, which is called moving the house," or, more commonly, "making a motion." But in order to give the house due notice of his intention, he is required to state the form of his motion on a previous day, and to have it entered in the House of Lords. Order Book or Notice Paper. In the House of Lords, mons. the pressure of business is not so great as to require any strict rules in regard to notices; but in order to apportion the public business according to the convenience of the house, it is usual for the House of Commons to set apart House of Comcertain days for considering the "orders of the day," (or matters which the house have already agreed to consider on a particular day,) and to reserve other days for original motions. For several years it has been the practice to agree to the following sessional resolution, viz. : "That in the present session of Parliament, all orders of the day set down in the Order Book for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, shall be disposed of before the house will proceed upon any motions of which notices shall be entered in the Order Book." Subject to this regulation, it was formerly the practice to allow members to give notices for any day, however distant; but by another sessional resolution, it is now provided, "That no notice shall hereafter be given beyond the period which shall include the four days next following on which notices are entitled to precedence, due allowance being made for any intervening adjournment of the house, and the period being in that case so far extended as to include four notice days falling during the sitting of the house." The Order Book cannot, therefore, be occupied in advance for a longer period than a fortnight, when the house is sitting without interruption. On Monday, a member may give notice for the Thursday week following, and on Tuesday for that day fortnight. Notices may be also given for the other days on which orders of the day are allowed precedence; but as the orders usually occupy the greater part of the night, notices of importance are rarely given for such days. The restriction of notices to two days in the week, naturally occasions an anxiety on the part of members to secure for themselves a hearing on other days, and to avail themselves of any rules of the house which may offer a facility for that purpose. But in order to prevent an Notices, how given. irregular practice of moving amendments embodying the substance of distinct motions, on reading orders of the day, the following resolution is now agreed to at the beginning of each session: "That upon days appropriated to orders, and a question being put from the chair, that any order of the day be read, no amendment shall be proposed, except that the other orders of the day, or that any order set down for the same day, be now read; but that this regulation shall not apply to the case of a committee of supply, or of a committee of ways and means."1 When a member desires to give notice of a motion, he should first examine the Order Book, or the printed lists of notices and orders of the day for the ensuing week, which are printed with the Votes every Saturday morning. When he has fixed upon the most convenient day, he should be present at the meeting of the house; and immediately after prayers, when the house has been made, he may enter his name on the Notice Paper, which is placed upon the table. Each name upon this paper is numbered; and when the speaker calls on the notices, at about halfpast four o'clock, the clerk puts the numbers into a glass, and draws them out one by one. As each number is drawn, the name of the member to which it is attached in the Notice Paper is called. Each member, in his turn, then rises and reads the notice he is desirous of giving, and afterwards takes it to the table, and delivers it, fairly written out, and with the day named, to the second clerk assistant, who enters it in the Order Book; but only one notice may be given by a member until the other names upon the list have been called over. It is not necessary that the notice should comprise all the words of the intended motion; but if the subject only be stated in the first instance, the question, precisely as it is intended 1 The principle of this resolution is, in some measure, capable of evasion, when the order of the day is for a committee of the whole house, as an amendment to the question "that the speaker do now leave the chair," is not specially excluded by it; but in that case the amendment must be relevant to the matter which the house, by their order, have determined to entertain. to be proposed, should be given in the day before that on which it stands in the Order Book, so that it shall be printed at length in the Votes of the following morning. Should a member desire to change the day, after he has given his notice, he must repeat it for a more distant day, since it has been declared irregular to fix an earlier day than that originally proposed in the house. One member may give notice for another not present at the time, by putting his name upon the list, and answering for him when his name is called at the ballot.2 No positive limit has been laid down as to the time which must elapse between the notice and the motion; but the interval is generally extended in proportion to the importance of the subject. Notices of motions for leave to bring in bills of trifling interest, or for other matters to which no opposition is threatened, are constantly given the night before that on which they are intended to be submitted to the house; and there is a separate notice paper for unopposed returns, for which no ballot is taken, and motions entered upon it may be brought forward whenever a convenient opportunity arises. For the purpose of gaining precedence, the more usual mode and time for giving notices, are those already described; yet it is competent for a member to give a notice at a later hour, provided he does not interrupt the course of business, as set down in the Order Book. An unopposed motion can be brought on by consent of Motions withthe house, without any previous notice; but if any member out notice. should object, it cannot be pressed. Questions of privilege, Questions of also, and other matters suddenly arising, may be con- privilege, &c. sidered without previous notice; and the former take precedence, not only of other motions, but of all orders of the day. It is usual to give precedence, as a matter of courtesy, to a motion for a vote of thanks; but care should be taken as 1 Mirror of Parliament, 1835, p. 275. ? Hansard's Debates, 27 April 1843. |