135 Com. J. 123. Report of Speaker. Taking of ment for re-election. With respect to yourself, Sir, although Her Majesty is sensible that you stand in no need of such assurance, Her Majesty will ever put the most favourable constructions upon your words and actions.' Then the Commons withdrew. We will again follow them to their own House, whither being returned : Mr. Speaker reported-That the House had been in the House of Peers, where Her Majesty was pleased by Her Commissioners to approve of the choice the House had made of him to be their Speaker; and that he had in their name and on their behalf, by humble Petition to Her Majesty, laid claim to their ancient and undoubted Rights and Privileges, particularly to freedom from arrest and all molestation of their Persons and Servants; to freedom of Speech in Debate; to free access to Her Majesty when occasion shall require; and that the most favourable construction should be put upon all their proceedings; which, he said, Her Majesty, by Her said Commissioners, had confirmed to them in as full and ample a manner as they have been heretofore granted and allowed by Her Majesty, or any of Her Royal Predecessors. And then Mr. Speaker repeated his most respectful acknowledgments to the House for the high honour they had done him. Mr. Speaker then put the House in mind that the first thing to be done was to take and subscribe the oath required by law. And thereupon Mr. Speaker, first alone, standing upon the upper step of the Chair, took and subscribed the oath. Then several Members took and subscribed the oath, and several Members made and subscribed the Affirmation required by law. And then the House adjourned till to-morrow. The fact of a change of ministry having taken place in consequence of the result of the elections in 1880 caused a delay in the announcement of the causes of summons. The new Adjourn ministers were obliged to offer themselves for re-election, and therefore on the 3rd of May the Commons were again summoned to the House of Lords to be told that so soon as the seats vacated by acceptance of office were filled they might proceed to the consideration of 'such matters as will then be laid before them.' The Houses therefore proceeded with merely formal business, broken by adjournments for several days at a time. In the Commons orders were made for the Speaker to issue warrants to the Clerk of the Crown directing new writs to be made out for the election of members for the constituencies whose representatives had vacated their seats by the acceptance of office; members took the oath or made the affirmation required by law; despatches and papers were presented to the House. In the Lords formal business of a like character was transacted, and the judicial business of the House continued without interruption. On the 20th of May the Commons were summoned in the form already described, and her Majesty's speech was read. Speech The Commons, retiring to their House, transacted various from the matters of formal business, and read a first time the Clandestine Bill read a Outlawries Bill, after which Throne. first time. Mr. Speaker reported that the House had been at the House of Peers at the desire of the Lords Commissioners appointed under the Great Seal for holding this present Parliament, and that the Lord High Chancellor being one of the said Commissioners delivered Her Majesty's most gracious Speech to both Houses of Parliament in pursuance of Her Majesty's commands, and of which Mr. Speaker said he had for greater accuracy obtained 135 Com. a copy which he read to the House. J. 132. answer. The address as made in answer to the Queen's Speech in Address in either House calls for no comment. When settled and approved the Lords ordered their address to be presented to Her Majesty by 'the Lords with White Staves 1,' the Commons' address was to be presented by such members of this House as are of Her Majesty's most honourable Privy Council.' §6. Adjournment, Prorogation, Dissolution. We have now brought Parliament to the stage at which it is fully constituted, opened, and ready to transact business. The nature of this business and the mode in which it is transacted shall be dealt with later. But having brought our 1 The lords who hold office in the royal household. Adjourn ment. Prorogation, form of. Parliament into existence, it is important to know how that existence can be terminated; having put it into a position to transact business, it is important to know how that business can be stopped. A dissolution brings the existence of Parliament to an end; a prorogation brings the session of Parliament to an end; an adjournment brings about a cessation of the business of one or other House for a period of hours, days, or weeks. The adjournment of either House takes place at its own discretion, unaffected by the proceedings of the other House. Business pending at the time of the adjournment is taken up at the point at which it dropped when the House meets again. The Crown cannot make either House adjourn: it has sometimes signified its pleasure that the Houses adjourn, but there is no reason why its pleasure should also be the pleasure of the Houses. The Crown has, however, a statutory power to compel the resumption of business before the conclusion of an adjournment contemplated, where both Houses stand adjourned for more than fourteen days. The power is exercised by Proclamation declaring that the Houses shall meet on a day not less than six days from the date of the Proclamation. 1 Prorogation takes place by the exercise of the royal prerogative; it ends the session of both Houses simultaneously, and terminates all pending business. A bill which has passed through some stages, but is not ripe for the royal assent at the date of Prorogation, must begin at the earliest stage when Parliament is summoned again, and opened by a speech from the throne. Prorogation is effected at the end of a session either by the Queen coming to Parliament and the Royal commands being announced in her presence to both Houses by the Speaker of the House of Lords, or by a like announcement being made by Royal Commissioners. When prorogation postpones the meeting of a new Parliament to a later date than that for which it had been summoned, a Writ was formerly addressed to both Houses. When the Crown extends 1 39 & 40 Geo. III, c. 14, amended by 33 & 34 Vict. c. 81. the prorogation of a Parliament which has already met, it was the practice to issue a Commission for the purpose. The writ or commission was read by the Chancellor to a clerk who represented the House of Commons. Since 18671 a postponement as well as an acceleration 2 of the meeting of Parliament is ordered by Proclamation. The form of such a proclamation runs thus: VICTORIA R., Whereas our Parliament stands prorogued to the twelfth day of November instant; We, by and with the advice of our Privy Council, hereby issue our Royal Proclamation, and publish and declare that the said Parliament be further prorogued to Wednesday, the nineteenth day of December, One thousand eight hundred and eighty-three. Given at our Court at of our Lord 18- and in the this day of year of our reign. in the year God save the Queen. When Parliament is further prorogued to a date at which the session is intended to commence, the following words are added: And we do hereby further, with the advice aforesaid, declare our royal will and pleasure that the said Parliament shall on the said the -th day of 189-, assemble and be holden for the despatch of divers urgent and important affairs: 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 hereby required to give their attendance accordingly on the said day of 189-. tion. gative. The dissolution of a Parliament may be effected either by Dissoluan exercise of the royal prerogative, or by efflux of time. When the Crown exercises its prerogative it may do so in By preroperson, should Parliament be sitting, or if not in person by Royal Commission. If Parliament is not sitting, but stands prorogued, it is dissolved by Proclamation in the manner described on an earlier page. 1 30 & 31 Vict. c. 81. 2 37 Geo. III, c. 127, and 33 & 34 Vict. c. 81. Ante, P. 48. By efflux of time. nial Act. The usual practice, if Parliament is sitting, is for the Queen to prorogue it first and then issue a proclamation in the form set out on pages 49 and 50. Thus on the 24th of March, 1880, Parliament was prorogued by Royal Commission until the 13th of April, and on the evening of the same day a proclamation was issued discharging the members of the two Houses from attendance. on the 13th of April, and dissolving the Parliament. Efflux of time dissolves Parliament. This was not so until 1694. The king could keep a Parliament in existence as long as he pleased, and Charles II retained for seventeen years the Parliament called at his accession. Events showed that a House of Commons, if it was kept in being for so long a time after its election, might cease to represent the people; and that if the House depended wholly on the Crown for the continuance of its existence it might be too ready to favour the policy of the Court. For this and other reasons the Bill The Trien- for Triennial Parliaments was passed by both Houses in 1693, but William withheld his assent until the Bill came before him again in the following year. It then became law, and so until the beginning of the reign of George I the law stood. Within six months of the death of Anne-that is, early in the year 1715-the Parliament which had been in existence at the date of her death was dissolved; but when the new Parliament had been in existence little more than a year, it became clear that the operation of the Triennial Act might produce serious inconvenience, if not actual disaster. The succession to the Crown was in dispute, rebellion was still smouldering in the north, and there was risk of an invasion. Under these circumstances, and not perhaps from any theoretical preference for septennial over triennial elections, Parliament prolonged its own existence to a term of seven years. This was done by the Septennial Act, 1 Geo. I, st. 2, c. 38; and is the rule at the present day. Parliament, if not sooner dissolved by royal prerogative, expires by efflux of time at the end of seven years. The Sep tennial Act. Until 1867 the existence of Parliament was affected by the |