received; as, on the 8th March, 23 Eliz. 1580, when a schedule was returned to the commons and the indorsement amended there; because "Soit baillé aux seigneurs" had been omitted, and the lords had therefore no warrant to proceed.1 Having noticed the effect of informalities in the consent Informalities in of both houses to a bill, the last point that requires obser- royal assent. vation is the consequence of a defect in the legal form of folk's attainder. commission or royal assent, of which there is a singular precedent. On the 27th January 1546, when King Henry 8 was on his death-bed, the lord chancellor brought down a commission under the sign manual, and sealed with the great seal, addressed to himself and other lords, for giving the royal assent to the bill for the attainder of the Duke of Duke of NorNorfolk, which had been passed with indecent haste through both houses. Early the next morning the king died, and the duke was saved from the scaffold, but was imprisoned in the Tower during the whole reign of Edward 6. On the accession of Queen Mary, he took his seat in the House of Lords, was appointed to be one of the triers of petitions; and also, by patent, on the 17th August, to be lord high steward for the trial of the Duke of Northumberland. The political causes which restored him to favour will Declared void. account for the impunity he enjoyed, notwithstanding his attainder; but in the next session the Act of Attainder was declared by statute,2 "To have been void and of none effect," because there were no words in the commission "whereby it may appere that the saide late king did himself give his royall assent to the saide bill; and for that allso the saide comissỹon was not signed with his hignes hande, but with his stampe putt thereunto in the nether parte of the writing of the said commissỹon, and not in the upper part of the said commissỹon, as his hignes was accustomed to doo; nor that it appereth of any recorde that the saide commissỹoners did give his royall consent to the bill aforesaide; therefore all that was done by virtue of the said commissỹon was clerelie voyde in the 1 D'Ewes, 303. Order and Course of Passing Bills in Parliament, 4to. 1641. 21 Mary, No. 27; Introduction to Statutes of Rec. Com. p. 75. lawe, and made not the same bill to take effecte, or to be an Acte of Parlyament," but it "remayneth in verie dede as no Acte of Parlyament, but as a bill onelie exhibited in the saide Parlyament, and onelie assented unto by the saide lordes and comons, and not by the saide late king." The same Act declared, "That the lawe of this realme is and allwaies hath byn, that the royall assent or consent of the king or kings of this realme to any Acte of Parlyament ought to be given in his own royall presence, being personallie in the higher howse of Parlyament, or by his letters patents under his great seale, assigned with his hande, and declared and notified in his absence to the lords spiritual and temporal, and the commons, assembled together in the higher house, according to a statute made in the 33d yere of the reigne of the saide late King Henry VIII." The people communicate with Parliament by petition. Ancient mode of petitioning. CHAPTER XIX. ANCIENT MODE OF PETITIONING PARLIAMENT. FORM AND THE last three chapters having dwelt upon the various communications between the several branches of the legislature, lead to the consideration of petitions; by which the people are brought into communication with the Parliament. The right of petitioning the Crown and Parliament for redress of grievances is acknowledged as a fundamental principle of the constitution;1 and has been uninterruptedly exercised from very early times. Before the constitution of Parliament had assumed its present form, and while its judicial and legislative functions were ill-defined, petitions were presented to the great councils of the realm, for the redress of those grievances which were beyond the jurisdiction of the common law. There 1 "Nulli negabimus, aut differemus rectum vel justitiam."-Magna Charta of King John, c. 29. See Bill of Rights, Art. 5, 1 & 2 Will. & Mary, sess. 2, c. 2. to Hen. 4. are petitions in the Tower of the date of Edward 1, before From Edw. 1 which time it is conjectured that the parties aggrieved came personally before the council, or preferred their complaints in the country, before inquests composed of officers of the Crown. Assuming that the separation of the lords and commons had been effected in the reign of Henry 3,' these petitions appear to have been addressed to the lords alone; but, taking the later period, of the 17th Edward 3, for the separation of the two houses, they must have been addressed to the whole body then constituting the High Court of Parliament. Be this as it may, it is certain that, from the reign of Edward 1, until the last year of the reign of Richard 2,2 no petitions have been found which were addressed exclusively to the commons. tions. During this period the petitions were, with few excep- Receivers and tions, for the redress of private wrongs; and the mode of triers of petireceiving and trying them was judicial rather than legislative. Receivers and triers of petitions were appointed, and proclamation was made, inviting all people to resort to the receivers. These were ordinarily the clerks of the chancery, and afterwards the masters in chancery (and still later some of the judges), who, sitting in some public place accessible to the people, received their complaints, and transmitted them to the auditors or triers. The triers were committees of prelates, peers, and judges, who had power to call to their aid the lord chancellor, the lord treasurer, and the serjeants-atlaw. By them the petitions were examined; and in some cases the petitioners were left to their remedy before the ordinary courts; in others, their petitions were transmitted to the judges on circuit; and if the common law offered no redress, their case was submitted to the High Court of Parliament. The functions of receivers and triers of petitions have long since given way to the immediate authority of Parliament at large; but their appointment at Receivers and triers still ap~ pointed. Reign of Hen.4. Petitions to the commons. Origin of private bills. Change of sys tem. the opening of every Parliament has been continued by the House of Lords without interruption. They are still constituted as in ancient times, and their appointment and jurisdiction are expressed in Norman French.1 In the reign of Henry 4, petitions began to be addressed, in considerable numbers, to the House of Commons. The courts of equity had, in the meantime, relieved Parliament of much of its remedial jurisdiction; and the petitions were now more in the nature of petitions for private bills, than for equitable remedies for private wrongs. Of this character were many of the earliest petitions; and the orders of Parliament upon them can only be regarded as special statutes, of private or local application. As the limits of judicature and legislation became defined, the petitions applied more distinctly for legislative remedies, and were preferred to Parliament through the commons; but the functions of Parliament, in passing private bills, have always retained the mixed judicial and legislative character of ancient times.2 Proceeding to later times, petitions continued to be received in the lords by triers and receivers of petitions, or by committees whose office was similar; and in the commons, they were referred to the committee of grievances, and to other committees specially appointed for the examination and report of petitions;3 but since the Commonwealth, it appears to have been the practice of both houses to consider petitions in the first instance, and only to refer the examination of them, in particular cases, to committees. 4 1 There are receivers and triers for Great Britain and Ireland; and others for Gascony and the lands and countries beyond the sea, and the isles. No spiritual lords are now appointed triers. 73 Lords' J. 579. 2 See 1 Parl. Writs, 160. 2 Ib. 156. 3 Rot. Parl. 448. Coke, 4th Inst. 11. 21. 24. Elsynge, c. 8. Hale, Jurisd. of the Lords, chap. 6–13. Com. Parl. Report, 1833 (); especially the learned evidence of Sir F. Palgrave. 639 31 Com. J. 582. 2 Ib. 49. 61. 3 Ib. 649. 4 Ib. 228. 7 Ib. 287. 11 Lords' J. 9. 57. 184. 14 Ib. 23. 12 Com. J. 83. From this summary of ancient customs, it is now time to pass to the existing practice in regard to petitions, which it will be convenient to consider under three divisions; viz. 1. The form of petitions; 2. The character and substance of petitions; 3. Their presentation to Parliament. tions. 1. Petitions to the House of Lords should be super- Form of petiscribed, "To the right honourable the lords spiritual and temporal in Parliament assembled;" and to the House of Commons, "To the honourable the commons (or knights citizens and burgesses) of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled." A general designation of the parties to the petition should follow; and if there be one petitioner only, his name, after this manner: "The humble petition of [here insert the name or other designation], sheweth." The general allegations of the petition are concluded by what is called the "prayer," in which the particular object of the petitioner is expressed. To the whole petition are generally added these words of form, "And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray;" to which are appended the signatures or marks of the parties. Without a prayer, a document can hardly be taken as Remonstrances. a petition; and a paper, assuming the style of a remonstrance, will not be received. The rule upon this subject has thus been laid down, in the commons: On the 10th August 1843, a member offered a remonstrance. Mr. Speaker said, "That the custom was this, that whenever remonstrances were presented to the house, coupled with a prayer, they were received as petitions; but when they were offered without a prayer, the rule was to refuse them." He added, "That there was a standing order, requiring that the prayer of every petition should be stated by the member presenting it;" from which it is obvious that a prayer is essential to constitute a petition. The petition should be written upon parchment or paper, Signatures, &c. for a printed or lithographed petition will not be received; 2 165 Hans. Deb. N. S. p. 1225. 1227. See also 67 Com. J. 398; 74 Ib. 391; and infra, p. 307. 272 Com. J. 128. 156. |