and inviting it to take them into consideration. The DE LOLME. presence of the king, either real or represented, is absolutely requisite at the first meeting; it is that which gives life to the legislative bodies, and puts them in action. The king, having concluded his declaration, withdraws. The parliament, which is then legally intrusted with the care of the national concerns, enters upon its functions, and continues to exist till it is prorogued, or dissolved. The House of Commons, and that of The House of Peers, assemble separately"; the latter, under the that of Peers, presidence of the lord chancellor; the former, under that of their speaker; and both separately adjourn to such days as they respectively think proper to appoint. Commons, and assemble sepa rately. situation of the estates of parlia ment. As each of the two Houses has a negative on the Independent propositions made by the other, and there is, consequently, no danger of their encroaching on each other's rights, or on those of the king", who has likewise his negative upon them both, any question, judged by them conducive to the public good, without exception, may be made the subject of their respective deliberations. Such are, for instance, new limitations, or extensions, to be given to the authority of the king; the establishing of new laws, or making changes in those already in being. Lastly, the different kinds of public provisions, or establishments,-the various. abuses of administration, and their remedies, become, in every session, the objects of the attention of parliament"1. Here, however, an important observation must be made. All bills for granting money must have their beginning in the House of Commons: the lords cannot take this object into their consideration but in 19 Vide ante, 135-137. 21 Ibid. 472, 473, 485, 487. 20 Ibid. 147-149. Money bills must the commons. originate with DE LOLME. Consequence of a bill presented to them by the latter; and the commons have at all times been so anxiously tenacious of this privilege, that they have never suffered the lords even to make any change in the money bills which they have sent to them; and the lords are expected simply and solely either to accept or reject them 22. Mode in which bills are passed. Royal assent to bills of parlia ment. Mode in which is given. This excepted, every member, in each House, may propose whatever question he thinks proper. If, after being considered, the matter is found to deserve attention, the person who made the proposition, usually with some others adjoined to him, is desired to set it down in writing. If, after more complete discussions of the subject, the proposition is carried in the affirmative, it is sent to the other House, that they may, in their turn, take it into consideration. If the other House reject the bill, it remains without any effect: if they agree to it, nothing remains wanting to its complete establishment but the royal assent. When there is no business that requires immediate dispatch, the king usually waits till the end of the session, or at least till a certain number of bills are ready for him, before he declares his royal pleasure. When the time is come, the king goes to parliament in the same state with which he opened it; and while he is seated on the throne, a clerk, who has a list of the bills, gives, or refuses, as he reads, the royal assent. · When the royal assent is given to a public bill, the the royal assent clerk says, Le roy le veut. If the bill be a private bill, he says, Soit fait comme il est desiré. If the bill has subsidies for its object, he says, Le roy remercie ses loyaux sujets, accepte leur bénévolence, et aussi le veut. Lastly, if the king does not think proper to assent to 22 Vide ante, 135–137, 288. the bill, the clerk says, Le roy s'avisera; which is a mild way of giving a refusal. It is, however, pretty singular, that the king of England should make use of the French language to declare his intentions to his parliament. This custom was introduced at the Conquest*, and has been continued, like other matters of form, which sometimes subsist for ages after the real substance of things has been altered: and Judge Blackstone expresses himself on this subject in the following words: "A badge, it must be owned (now the only one remaining), of conquest; and which one would wish to see fall into total oblivion, unless it be reserved as a solemn memento to remind us that our liberties are mortal, having once been destroyed by a foreign force." When the king has declared his different intentions, he prorogues the parliament. Those bills which he has rejected remain without force: those to which he has assented become the expression of the will of the highest power acknowledged in England: they have the same binding force as the édits enregistrés have in France, and as the populiscita had in ancient Rome: in a word, they are laws. And though each of the constituent parts of the parliament might, at first, have prevented the existence of those laws, the united will of all the three is now necessary to repeal them. * William the Conqueror added, to the other changes he introduced, the abolition of the English language in all public as well as judicial transactions, and substituted for it the French that was spoken in his time: hence the number of old French words that are met with in the style of the English laws. It was only under Edward III. that the English language began to be re-established in courts of justice. VOL. II. 4 NOTES. REPRESENTA- (1.) By 2 William IV. c. 45, it was enacted there should THE NUMBER OF be six knights of the shire, instead of four, for Yorkshire (two PARLIAMENTARY for each of the three ridings); and four for Lincolnshire, (two for the parts of Lindsey, and two for those of Kesteven and Holland); that twenty-five English counties therein named should be divided into two divisions, and return two knights of the shire for each division; that there should be three knights of the shire for each of seven English counties therein named, and two knights of the shire, instead of one, for each of the counties of Carmarthen, Denbigh, and Glamorgan; that the Isle of Wight should return one knight; and that Greenwich, the Tower Hamlets, Finsbury, Marylebone, and Lambeth, should be created boroughs, and return two members respectively. English coun ties. English boroughs. COUNTIES AND The number of metropolitan members were, by this statute, augmented to eighteen; fifty-six parliamentary boroughs were disfranchised, and thirty ancient boroughs lost one of their two members;-but forty-three new boroughs were created, twenty-two of them to return two members, and twenty-one, one member each, and the borough of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis was deprived of two of its four members. (2.) By Stat. 2 & 3 William IV. c. 65, the representation of Scotland was to consist of fifty-three representatives, viz., Stat. 2 & 3 Wil- thirty for the several or conjoined shires or stewartries, and twenty-three for the several cities, boroughs, towns, or districts of burghs and towns. liam IV. c. 65. COUNTIES AND BOROUGHS OF IRELAND. Stat. 39 & 40 (3.) By 39 & 40 George III. c. 67, it was enacted, as part of the Fourth Article of Union, that one hundred commons should be the parliamentary representatives of Ireland, George III. c. 67. viz., two for each county of Ireland, two for the City of Dublin, two for the City of Cork, one for the University of Dublin, and one each for thirty-one other cities and boroughs. The representation of Ireland, in the commons, was subsequently extended, by Stat. 2 & 3 William IV. c. 88, to one hundred and five members; viz., each of the counties were to return two knights of the shire (sixty-four); seven cities, including the University of Dublin, were to return two members each (fourteen); and twenty-seven boroughs were to return one member each. From returns which were made to parliament, in 1834, it NOTES. The amount of appears that the numbers represented were as follow, but it In England, 40 counties have Registered And 185 cities, boroughs, and towns, have 274,649 presented in parliament. Mem Electors. bers. 344,564 and return 144 327 Total numbers for England 619,213 Kingdom there are 1235 electors tive. Giving, in England and Wales, 656,337, and, in the United In the United Kingdom, 812,936 registered electors, at the general election, in 1832: and, taking the total number of representatives at to 1 representa658, the proportion will be, on the average of Great Britain, 1,303, and, in the United Kingdom, 1,235 electors to one representative. The proportion of the electors in England and Wales, to the population, both in the cities and boroughs, is nearly the same; and the proportion of the electors to the males of twenty years of age and upwards, and to the gross population, is also nearly the same. Taking the gross population of the 40 counties in England, (exclusive of the population of the cities, boroughs, towns, and universities, which are represented,) at 8,336,263, and the number of electors 344,564, there will be 1 elector in every 24 of the population; whilst the gross population, in the 185 cities, boroughs, and towns, being 4,754,742, and the number of electors 274,649, there will be 1 elector in every 17 of the population. In Wales, the county population is 609,871, and the electors are 25,815, so that there is 1 elector in every 23 persons; whilst, in the 14 districts of boroughs, the population being 196,311, and the electors 11,309, the proportion is 1 in 17. 4-2 Proportion of electors in Engnearly the same. land and Wales Taking the population of forty land there will counties in Eng be 1 elector in every 24 of the population. is 1 county elec In Wales there tor in every 23 persons. |