482
Constitutional History,
[chap.
Introduc-
tion of tho
form ‘ by
authority of
the same.’
and. the commons in the said parliament assembled, and by
authority of the same hath do to be made certain statutes
and ordinances . . . , Be it enacted by the advice of the lords
spiritual and temporal and the commons in this present parlia-
ment assembled and by the authority of the same ɪ,' Sometimes
assent as well as advice was again expressed, and the threefold
expression of assent, advice, and authority may be regarded
as the declaration of the function of the estates in legislation.
We have in former chapters dwelt on the importance of these
formulae ; we have seen how, during the fourteenth century,
petition or instance was the word used of the commons’ share,
and that it expressed the truth that most of the legal changes
were suggested by their petitions. Under Richard II the
mention of petition drops out, and occasionally the full equality
of the commons is expressed by the form ‘ assent of the prelates,
lords, and commons.’ The statutes of Henry IV and Henry V
are passed 1 by the assent of the prelates, dukes, earls, barons,
’and at the instance and special request of the commons,’ or
! by the advice and assent of the lords spiritual and temporal,
and at the prayer of the commons.’ The same form is observed
during great part of the reign of Henry VI in the statutes ;
but the assent of the commons is put forward in the act by
which the protector is appointed in 1422 2, and in other acts
of a less public character : the assent, or advice and assent, of
the commons as well as of the lords is likewise expressed in the
borrowing powers granted to the council3. In the nth year
of this king the expression tby the authority of parliament’
first appears among the words of enactment in the preamble
of the statutes4. This particular form seems to have been used
some years earlier in the separate clauses of statutes, although
not in the heading of the roll : and in this way it is found
as early as the year 1421 5: it was also used in petitions, in
letters patent drawn up in compliance with private petitions,
and in the bills introduced in the form of statutes : thus in
1 Stat. I Hen. VII, preamble, Statutes, ɪi. 500.
2 Rot. Parl. iv. 174. 3 Ibid. ɪv. 276 ; see above, p. 260.
* Statutes, ii. 278. 3 Rot. Parl- iv. 130.
XX.]
Parliamentary Forme.
4«3
1442 a petition passed the commons for the endowment of Eton
College, in which that house was requested to pray the king
to grant letters patent under his great seal by the advice and
assent of the lords spiritual and temporal in this present
parliament assembled, and by authority of the same parlia-
ment1: in 1439 the bishop of S. David’s and the dean and
chapter of S. Paul’s had letters patent in which the same form
was used ; in 1423 the executors of Henry V had letters patent
under the great seal by the authority of the parliament2.
From the year 1445 it becomes a regular part of the enacting
and ordaining words which head the roll3. The form used by
Henry VII has lasted with few unimportant variations down
to the present day.
In modern times—that is, since parliamentary machinery Modern
has been matured—a bill before becoming an act has to go on°⅛iu⅛
through several distinct stages. In the house of commons the
proposer asks leave to introduce it, and it is ordered ; it passes
its first reading, in most cases without being discussed on its
merits; Itcomestothesecondreading; its principle is discussed,
resolutions affecting its character may be debated, and then it
passes into committee : it is committed, discussed clause by clause
and amended ; reported and perhaps recommitted ; it is brought
up for a third reading, debated again if necessary, read a third time
and passed. It goes through a similar process in the house of lords,
where however the bills are presented without formal notice. If it
has originated in the upper house it does not escape like manipula-
tion in the lower. After the report is brought up it is printed, or,
as was until recently the case, ingrossed. After passing both
houses it is still subject to the royal veto, although for more than
a century and a half that right has not been exercised4.
1 Kot. Parl. v. 45. Instances of the form in petitions will be found as
early as the reign of Henry IV, if not earlier ; see Rot. Part. iii. 530, 656 ;
iv. 35, 40, 43, &c., 323, 325, 546. The indorsement on writs ‘ by authority
of the parliament ’ does not imply that the parliament was sitting at the
time, but that the king was acting in virtue of some power bestowed by
the parliament by a special act. See Nicolas, Ordinances, &c., vi. p. ccv,
and also Elsynge, pp. 282 sq.
2 Rot. Parl. iv. 206, 207 ; v. 8, 9, 13.
3 Statutes, ii. 326 ; Rot. Par. v. 70.
4 Sir T. Erskine May, Treatise on Parliament, pp. 468 sq.
I i 2