which stands prorogued to Tuesday, the 13th day of April next, We do for that end publish this Our Royal Proclamation, and do hereby dissolve the said Parliament accordingly; and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses, and the Commissioners for shires and burghs, of the House of Commons are discharged from their meeting and attendance on the said Tuesday, the 13th day of April next; and We, being desirous and resolved, as soon as may be, to meet Our people, and to have their advice in Parliament, do hereby make known to all Our loving subjects Our Royal will and pleasure to call a new Parliament; and do hereby further declare, that, with the advice of Our Privy Council, We have given order that Our Chancellor of that part of Our United Kingdom called Great Britain, and Our Chancellor of Ireland, do, respectively upon notice thereof, forthwith issue Our writs in due form, and according to law, for calling a new Parliament; and We do hereby also, by this Our Royal Proclamation under Our Great Seal of Our United Kingdom, require writs forthwith to be issued accordingly by Our said Chancellors respectively, for causing the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons, who are to serve in the said Parliament, to be duly returned to, and to give their attendance in, Our said Parliament; which writs are to be returnable on Thursday, the 29th day of April next. Given at Our Court at Windsor, this 24th day of March, in the year of our Lord 1880, and in the 43rd year of Our Reign. God save the Queen. Order in Council for the Issue of Writs. At the Court at Windsor, the 24th day of March, 1880. Present, The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council. Her Majesty having been this day pleased by Her Royal Proclamation to dissolve the present Parliament and to declare the calling of another, is hereby further pleased, by and with the advice of her Privy Council, to order that the Right Honourable the Lord High Chancellor of that part of the United Kingdom called Great Britain, and the Right Honourable the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, do respectively, and upon notice of this Her Majesty's order, forthwith cause writs to be issued in due form and according to law for the calling of a new Parliament, to meet at the city of Westminster; which writs are to be returnable on Thursday, the 29th day of April, 1880. The writs were returnable, according to the provisions of Magna Charta, within forty days of their issue; this period was extended after the union with Scotland to fifty days, and has been reduced, in view of the greater ease of communication, by an Act of the present reign, to thirty-five days. 15 Vict. classes sum moned. c. 23. The writs issued from the Crown Office are addressed to five different classes of persons: to the temporal peers of Five England, to the spiritual peers of England, to the twentyeight temporal peers of Ireland, to the judges of the High Court of Justice, the Attorney and Solicitor General, and the Queen's Ancient Serjeant, and to the returning officers of places entitled to elect members to serve in Parliament. The writs are in the following forms: Writ of Summons to a Temporal Peer of England. Victoria by the grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Writ to Temporal Britain and Ireland Queen, Defender of the Faith, to Our Peer. Greeting. Whereas by the advice and consent of Our Council for certain arduous and urgent affairs concerning Us, the State and defence of Our said United Kingdom and the Church, We have ordered a certain Parliament to be holden at Our city of Westminster on the day of next ensuing, and there to treat and have conference with the Prelates, Great Men, and Peers of our Realm. We strictly enjoining command you upon the faith and allegiance by which you are bound to Us that the weightiness of the said affairs and imminent perils considered (waiving all excuses) you be at the said day and place personally present with Us and with the said Prelates, Great Men, and Peers, to treat and give your council upon the affairs aforesaid. And this as you regard Us and Our honour and the safety and defence of the said United Kingdom and Church and dispatch of the said affairs in no wise do you omit. Witness Ourself at Westminster the year of our Reign. of То next. in the day Writ of Summons to a Spiritual Peer (with Praemunientes clause). Spiritual Victoria by the grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Writ to Britain and Ireland Queen, Defender of the Faith, to Whereas by the advice and assent of Our Council for certain Greeting. Peer. nientes clause. arduous and urgent affairs concerning Us the State and defence honour and the safety and defence of the said United Kingdom and Church and dispatch of the said affairs in nowise do you omit. Praemu- Forewarning the Dean and Chapter of your Church of - and the Archdeacons and all the Clergy of your Diocese that they the said Dean and Archdeacon in their proper persons and the said Chapter by one and the said Clergy by two meet Proctors severally, having full and sufficient authority from them the said Chapter and Clergy, at the said day and place to be personally present to consent to those things which then and there by the Common Council of Our said United Kingdom (by the favour of the Divine Clemency) shall happen to be ordained. Witness Ourself at Westminster the Writ to day of To day of A writ of summons to Parliament, to be holden the next. The writ of summons to an Irish Representative peer follows the form of the writ addressed to the peer of Great Britain, after first reciting the fact that the peer summoned had been duly elected in pursuance of the provisions of the Act of Union. Writ of attendance addressed to the Judges, the Attorney and Greeting. judge, &c. Whereas by the advice and assent of Our Council for certain arduous and urgent affairs concerning Us, the State and defence of Our said United Kingdom and the Church, We have ordered a certain Parliament to be holden at Our city of Westminster on the next ensuing and there to treat and have conference with the Prelates, Great Men, and Peers of Our Realm. day of the We strictly enjoining command you that (waiving all excuses) you Writ addressed to the Sheriff or Returning Officer of a county or day of writ to Sheriff. Victoria by the grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Statutory Britain and Ireland Queen, Defender of the Faith, to Greeting. Whereas by the advice of Our Council We have ordered a Parliament to be holden at Westminster on the next, We command you that, notice of the time and place of election being first duly given, you do cause election to be made according to law of [one] member to serve in Parliament for - And that you do cause the name of such member when so elected, whether he be present or absent, to be certified to Us in Our Chancery, without delay. Witness Ourself at Westminster the day of in the year of Our Reign and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and To said A writ of a new election of member for the 35 & 36 As to these writs it is desirable to note the following points : Vict. c. 33. 1. Proclamations, writs of summons and attendance, and writs for the election of members to serve in Parliament, are authenticated by the Great Seal. But in Great Britain the Great Seal is for these purposes represented by an impression to be taken in such manner, and of such size or sizes, on embossed paper, wax, wafer, or any other material' as a Committee of the Privy Council may from time to time prescribe 1. 2. The Scotch representative peers do not receive a writ of Scotch summons; their election is made in pursuance of a separate Proclamation, in a manner which I will describe hereafter; it 1 This is done in pursuance of rules made under the provisions of the Crown Office Act, 1877. Commons' Papers, 1878 (87), Ixiii. 177. Irish writs are still authenticated by a solid piece of wax bearing a portion of an impression of the Great Seal in use in Ireland. peers. Irish is certified by the Lord Clerk Register of Scotland to the clerk of the Crown in Chancery, and by him to the clerk of the House of Lords. 3. The mode of election of the Irish representative peers peers. will be dealt with hereafter. and Spiritual peers. Temporal 4. The temporal peers are summoned as in the mediaeval writs on their faith and allegiance,' and the spiritual peers in on their faith and love,' and in other respects the writs of to-day differ little if at all from those of four hundred years ago. Praemu nientes clause. Judges' summons. like manner 5. The Praemunientes clause by which the Bishop is instructed to summon the clergy of his diocese to be present and consent to that which Parliament may ordain still recognises the position of the clergy as an estate of the realm, and it must be distinguished carefully from the summons to Convocation, an exclusively clerical assembly, of which more hereafter. 6. The Judges, together with the Queen's Ancient Serjeant (when that office is filled) and the Attorney and Solicitor General, are summoned, but in an inferior capacity. Their writs are writs of Attendance' not 'of Summons.' They are not invited to be present with the said Prelates, Peers, and Great Men,' but with Us and with the rest of Our Council to treat and give your advice.' It is in virtue of this writ of attendance that the Judges are called upon to give their opinions on difficult points of law which come before the House of Lords as a Court of Appeal. But they do not come as Peers of Parliament, and recent procedure in the matter of their summons shows that it is regarded rather as an obligation than as a dignity. For before the Judicature Act the summons, by long custom, was limited to the judges of the old Common Law courts, the Chief Justices and puisne judges of the Queen's Bench and Common Pleas, and the Chief Baron and Barons of the Exchequer. Since the Judicature Act the summons is extended to all the judges of the High Court of Justice, but not to the Lords |