Grants voted otherwise than nerally the Appropriation Bill. It enumerates every grant that has been made during the whole session, and authorizes the several sums, as voted by the committee of supply, to be issued and applied to each separate service. It also enacts, "That the said aids and supplies shall not be issued or applied to any use, intent or purpose, other than those before mentioned; or for other payments directed to be satisfied by any Acts of Parliament, &c.” 1 When the Appropriation Bill has passed both houses, it is returned into the charge of the commons until that house are summoned to attend her Majesty or the lords commissioners, in the House of Peers, for the prorogation of Parliament: when it is carried by the speaker to the bar of the House of Peers, and there received by the assistant clerk of the Parliaments for the royal assent. When her Majesty is present in person, the speaker prefaces the delivery of the money bills with a short speech, concerning the principal measures of the session, in which he does not omit to mention the supplies granted by the commons. The money bills then receive the royal assent before any of the other bills awaiting the same ceremony, and the words in which it is pronounced acknowledge the free gift. of the commons : "La reyne remercie ses bons sujets, accepte leur benevolence, et ainsi le veult." Although every grant of money must be considered in in committee of a committee of the whole house, it is not usual to vote supply. such grants in the committee of supply, as do not form part of the supplies for the current year. Any issue of money out of the consolidated fund for salaries created by a bill, or other charge of whatever character, after the Queen's recommendation has been signified, is authorized by a committee of the whole house, to whom the matter is specially referred; and on their report a bill is ordered, or a clause is inserted, by instruction, in a bill already before the house. 16 & 7 Vict. c. 99, s. 23. Another mode of originating a grant of money without Addresses for public money. the intervention of the committee of supply, is by an address to the Crown for the issue of a sum of money for particular purposes, with an assurance that this house will make good the same." According to the strict rules of the house, this proceeding ought only be resorted to when the committee of supply is closed, at the end of the session; for otherwise the more regular and constitutional practice is to vote the sum in that committee; but as this form of motion makes the royal recommendation unnecessary, it is often resorted to by members who desire grants which are not approved by the ministers of the Crown. to, On the 22d February 1821, a resolution was agreed "That this house will not proceed upon any motion for an address to the Crown, praying that any money may be issued, or that any expense may be incurred, but in a committee of the whole house, and that the same be declared a standing order of the house." 2 In compliance with this standing order, and with the resolution of the 18th February 1667, that the consideration and debate of motions for any public aid or charge should not be presently entered upon, the proper form to observe in proposing an address involving any outlay is to move, 1st, "That this house will on a future day resolve itself into a committee of the whole house, to consider of an address, &c. &c. ;" and if that be carried, 2dly, To propose that address, in committee, on the day appointed by the house.3 As grants of money may be sanctioned by these methods, otherwise than in committee of supply; so all taxes are not necessarily imposed in the committee of ways and The original intention of this committee was to vote all ways and means for the service of the means. 183 Com. J. 716, &c. year; Taxes imposed otherwise than in committee of ways and means. and when taxes were ordinarily appropriated to specific services, its province was sufficiently defined; but since the practice has arisen of carrying the produce of all taxes to one general consolidated fund, the office of the committee of ways and means is not capable of so distinct a definition. The annual sugar duties, and all other taxes which are to take effect immediately, in order to supply deficiencies in the revenue, are obviously subjects proper for the consideration of this committee; but the same rule is not always applicable to taxes of a more permanent and general nature. Every tax, indeed, whenever it may have been imposed, and however permanent its character, is practically for the service of the current year so long as it continues to be levied: but it may be desirable to alter it for purposes unconnected with the actual condition of the revenue. This distinction is generally observed, and it is the prevailing custom to confine the deliberations of the committee of ways and means to such taxes as are more distinctly applicable to the immediate exigencies of the public income; and to consider, in other committees of the whole house, all fiscal regulations, and alterations of permanent duties, not having directly for their object the increase of revenue. Thus general alterations of the duties of customs, excise, stamps, and taxes,' have been proposed in committees of the whole house; but additions to these duties, for the express purpose of supplying deficiencies in the annual revenue, have been considered in the committee of ways and means. This practice, though not without exceptions, has been sufficiently general to support a conclusion as a general rule, that, whenever the form of a motion points to taxation as a source of revenue, it ought properly to be offered in the committee of ways and means. 2 197 Com. J. 264. 92 Ib. 499, 500. 2 95 Ib. 351. 451. CHAPTER XXII. ISSUE OF WRITS, AND TRIAL OF CONTROVERTED ELEC TIONS BY THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. THE law of elections, as declared by various statutes, Purport of this chapter. and by the decisions of committees of the House of Commons, has become a distinct branch of the law of England. It is, in itself, of too comprehensive a character to admit of a concise analysis for the general purposes of this work, and it has already been collected and expounded, in all its details, by many valuable treatises. But as the issue of writs, and the trial of election petitions, form an important part of the functions of the House of Commons, an outline of these proceedings, apart from the general law in reference to elections, cannot be omitted. Whenever vacancies occur in the House of Commons, Issue of writs. from any legal cause, after the original issue of writs by the Crown at a general election, all subsequent writs are issued out of chancery, by order of the House of Commons, and by warrant from the speaker. The most frequent causes of vacancy are the death of members, their elevation to the peerage, the acceptance of offices under the Crown, and the determinations of election committees that elections or returns are void, upon any of the grounds which, by law, avoid them. When the house is sitting, and the death of a member, Vacancies duror his elevation to the peerage, is known, a writ is moved ing a session. by any member, and, on being seconded by another, Mr. Speaker is ordered by the house to issue a new writ for the place represented by the member whose seat is thus vacated. If any doubt should arise concerning the fact of the vacancy, the order would be deferred until the house should be in possession of more certain information; and 1 See Hans. Deb. 11 March 1835, and 19 April 1844. 2 Hats. 65 n. 393–397.j if, after the issue of a writ, it should be discovered that the house had acted upon false intelligence, the speaker Supersedeas of would be ordered to issue a supersedeas of the writ. writs. During the recess. warrants. Thus, on the 29th April 1765, a new writ was ordered for Devizes, in the room of Mr. Willey, deceased. On the 30th it was doubted whether he was dead, and the messenger of the great seal was ordered to forbear delivering the writ until further directions. Mr. Willey proved to be alive, and on the 6th May a supersedeas of the writ was ordered to be made out.' When the house is not sitting, and vacancies occur, by death, or elevation to the peerage, the law provides for the issue of writs, without the immediate authority of the house, in order that a representative may be chosen without loss of time, by the place which is deprived of its Speaker issues member. By the 24 Geo. 3, sess. 2, c. 26, on the receipt of a certificate, under the hands of two members, that any member is dead, or has been called up to the House of Peers, the speaker is required to give notice forthwith in the London Gazette (which is to be acknowledged by the publisher), and after 14 days from the insertion of such notice, to issue his warrant to the clerk of the Crown to make out a new writ. But the speaker may not issue his warrant during the recess; 1, unless the return of the late member has been brought into the office of the clerk of the Crown 15 days before the end of the last sitting of the house; nor, 2, unless the application is made so long before the next meeting of the house, for despatch of business, as that the writ may be issued before the day of meeting;3 nor, 3, may he issue a warrant in respect of any seat that has been vacated by a member against whose election or return a petition was depending at the last prorogation or adjournment. 1 See 2 Hats. 80 n. And 64 Com. J. 48. 81 Ib. 223. 86 Ib. 134. 182. 2 See the form of the certificate in the Appendix. That is to say, 14 days must elapse after the insertion of the notice, and then the writ can only be issued before the meeting of the house. |