port determina At the termination of the enquiry the Committee report Committee retheir determination to the House, who order the returns tion. to the Writ to be amended accordingly, if necessary; or a new Writ to be issued, and the determination carried into execution, and thus the election is definitively decided. lutions. The Committee may also, when the Chairman reports And other Resotheir final determination, report Resolutions upon other matters; and the House may confirm or disagree with such Resolutions, and make such orders thereon as to them shall seem proper. dissolved by If Parliament be prorogued while the Committee is Committee not sitting, it is not thereby dissolved, but only adjourned to prorogation. the next day after the meeting of Parliament, when it is to continue its proceedings. (There is no such provision in the Provincial Act). Committee's de When the Committees' decision has turned on the right Petition against of election in any place, any person within six months cision. after the Report, may petition to be admitted to oppose the right declared valid, and within twenty-one days after the expiration of the six months, a day and hour shall be appointed by the House for considering the same, and notice thereof inserted in the Gazette and given to all the parties; but if no such petition be presented within such time, the judgment of the Committee shall be final and conclusive (w). Appeal. At the time appointed for considering the Petition the Committee of House shall appoint a Committee in the same manner as the Committee on the original petition, and the determination of this Committee of Appeal shall be entered on the Journals, and be final. All the regulations, powers, &c. of Election Committees, are applicable to Committees of Appeal, excepting that no member of the original Committee whose determination is called in question by the (40) 9 Geo. IV. ch. 22, s. 51, 52. Petition against the Register of Voters. Costs. How recovered. petition of Appeal shall serve upon this Committee (x). There is no provision made for Committees of Appeal by the Provincial Statute. By the Reform Act (y), upon any petition complaining of an undue election or return being presented, any petitioner, &c. defending such Election may impeach the correctness of the register of voters, by proving fraud, &c. in the insertion, or that the name of any person tendering his vote was improperly omitted,-and the select Committee on the Petition shall alter the Poll taken, according to the truth of the case, and report their decision to the House, which shall be carried into effect, and such order made thereon as the House shall deem fit. There is no similar provision to the above provided by any Provincial Statute. The Act 9 Geo. IV. ch. 22, it has been before stated, requires a Recognizance to be entered into for the payment of costs, but the Provincial Act does not. The provisions for their recovery, however, are similar in both statutes. When the Committee on a Petition report it to be frivolous or vexatious, costs, if not paid on demand,—shall be recovered by the opposing party by action of debt in Her Majesty's Court of Queen's Bench in this Province, or in any of Her Majesty's courts of record at Westminster. And where the Committee report in favour of the Petitioners, the costs and expenses can in like manner be recovered by them from the opposing party. And when no party appears in opposition to any Petitioner, the costs and expenses can be recovered from the sitting members (unless they have given notice that they shall not defend), or any persons whom the House have admitted or directed to oppose the same. (2) 9 Geo. IV. ch. 22, s. 54, 55. (y) 2 Wm. IV. ch. 45, s. 70. The amount of these costs, &c. is to be ascertained by And ascertained. the taxation of two persons appointed by the Speaker out of certain persons specified in the Act (or in Canada, by the Clerk of the House, and the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery), and under his direction. And the Speaker will certify the amount of costs to be recovered according to their report, which certificate (together with certified proceedings of the House on the Petition) will have the effect of a warrant of Attorney to confess the judgment. Also, the Recognizance entered into by the Petitioners How Recognifor the payment of costs, &c.may, on non-payment, be certified by the Speaker's warrant, into the Court of Exchequer, as if it were estreated. (The Prov. Act does not require this Recognizance.) zance estreated. recoverable from When the Costs have been recovered against either of Share of Costs the parties, he or they may recover a proportion of them parties. against others who may be liable. By the Imperial Act, the persons appointed to tax the Costs, &c. are entitled to such fees for the same as may be fixed by a Resolution of the House; and in all cases * By a Resolution of the House of Commons, on the 16 Feb. 1829, the following Fees may be demanded and taken by the Examiners and other persons, for their attendance and trouble respecting the Taxation of all Costs and Expenses of Election Petitions, under the authority of the 6 Geo. IV. ch. 123-"To esta"blish a Taxation of Costs on Private Bills in the House of Commons," viz.: .......... £. s. d. 3 3 0 2 2 0 To each of the said Examiners, for his pains and trouble ...... 220 All the other Fees payable upon the Trial of Controverted Elections (under the Table of Fees of the 22nd February, 1731, and the 4th of April, 1803), except they are to allow such reasonable costs as between Attor-. and Client. ney the above and those payable to Examiners of Recognizances, were abolished by Resolution of the House on the 2d Feb. 1838. And on the same day, it was Resolved,-That the charge for Office Copies of Papers and Documents relating to Controverted Election Petitions, directed to be lodged in the office of the Clerk of the House of Commons, or which may be produced before Controverted Election Committees and also of Minutes of Evidence taken before such Committees, furnished to parties upon their application for the same-be at the rate of fourpence per sheet of seventy-two words in each sheet, CHAP. VI. Kules of Proceeding in the Two Houses of Parliament. moned by the The authority for summoning Parliament is vested in Parliament sumthe Sovereign alone,* who has also power to direct the King. place of its assembly (a):-during his absence from the Realm, however, it may be done by the CUSTOS REGNI for the time being;-or during his minority, or mental (a) See C. J. vol. 56, page 2. * Nor is it an exception to this rule, that by some modern statutes, on the demise of a king or queen, if there be no Parliament in being, the last Parliament revives, and is to sit again for six months, unless sooner dissolved by the successor:-for this revived Parliament must have been originally summoned by the Crown. By statute 16 Car. I. ch. 1, it was enacted, that if the King neglected to call a Parliament for three years, the Peers might assemble and issue writs for choosing one; and in case of neglect by the Peers, the people might meet and elect one themselves. This act, however, being deemed injurious to the Royal Prerogative, was repealed by the 16 Car. II. ch. 1. There are, indeed, two capi. tal exceptions to this rule, but which were justifiable on the principle of necessity, which supersedes all law. The Convention Parliament, that restored Charles II., met more than a month before his return; the Lords by their own authority, and the Commons in pursuance of writs issued in the name of the Keepers of the Liberty of England by the authority of Parliament; and this Parliament sat seven months after the Restoration, and enacted many laws still in force. But the first act, after the King's return, was the passing of a Bill declaring this to be a good Parliament, notwithstanding the defects of the King's Writs. And it was thought farther necessary to confirm its Acts in the next parliament, by the 13 Car. II. ch.7 & 14. The other exception occurred at the time of the Revolution of 1688, when the Lords and Commons, by their own authority, and upon the summons of the Prince of Orange (afterwards William III.) met in a Convention, and disposed of the Crown and Kingdom. The Throne at this time was vacant, by the abdication of James II., and there existed no other authority by which the summons could be made; but it was considered necessary to declare by the 1 Wm. & Mary, sess 1, ch. 1, that this Convention was really the Two Houses of Parliament, notwith standing the want of writs, and other defects of form, |