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32

CHAPTER VI.

THE PARLIAMENTARY POWERS OF THE CROWN.

THE Parliamentary powers of the Crown relate to—(1) The Summons of Parliament. (2) The Opening the Session. (3) Proceedings in and Privileges of Parliament. (4) The Adjournment, Prorogation, and Dissolution of Parliament.

(1) No Parliament can be legally assembled without the authority of the Crown, and this rule (with the exception to be mentioned presently) applies as well to the original meeting of a new Parliament as to its reassembling after prorogation.

There are two remarkable instances in English History, of Parliaments, of which the authority has been acknowledged, which were avowedly (a) called together without the royal authority. The first was that of the Convention Parliament of 1660, which was summoned under the direction of an ordinance of the Long Parliament, and was declared to be validly constituted by an Act which received the royal assent in the same year, immediately after the accession of Charles II.(b). The other instance is the Convention Parliament of 1688, elected by virtue of letters-missive written

(a) "Surely none but the King can summon Parliament, and this is the reason that H. 4, having taken his liege lord, King Rich. 2, prisoner on the 20th day of August, anno 23, did cause the writs of summons for the Parliament wherein he obtained the crown to bear date the 19th day of the same moneth, and the warrant to be per ipsum regem et consilium, and himselfe to be summoned by the name of Henry, Duke of Lancaster." (Elsynge, 'Manner of holding Parliaments,' cap. 1.)

(b) 12 Car. II. c. 1.

by the Prince of Orange, which convention was declared to be the two Houses of Parliament by a statute passed on the accession of William III., and further confirmed by an Act of the next Parliament (a).

The law provides in one case (b) for Parliament meeting without summons from the Crown. It is provided by statute that Parliament shall not be dissolved on the death of the sovereign; but, if then sitting, shall continue six months longer, unless sooner prorogued or dissolved by the succeeding sovereign. If there be a Parliament in being at the death of the sovereign, but it happen to be prorogued or adjourned, it shall forthwith meet and continue for six months, unless sooner prorogued or dissolved. If the King die after the dissolution of a Parliament and before the day appointed for the meeting of a new Parliament, the last preceding Parliament shall meet and continue for the like period of six months. If the successor to the Crown die within those six months and before a new Parliament meets, the last Parliament continues for six months after the decease of the successor, but subject to be prorogued by the next successor. If the King die after the day appointed for the meeting of a new Parliament, that Parliament is to meet and sit for the like period of six months(c).

With respect to the time of calling and holding Parliaments, the prerogative of the Crown, which, by the ancient laws of the realm, was under no restraint, is now subject to statutory and constitutional limitations.

(a) 1 Will. & M. sess. 1, c. 1; 2 Will. & M. sess. 1, c. 1; Burnet, Hist. of his own Time, 1688; 2 Hatsell's 'Precedents,' 296. The Prince of Orange called together all the Peers and the members of the three last Parliaments who were then in London, and some of the citizens; and it was in this assembly that the issue of letters-missive by the Prince for convoking the Convention Parliament was agreed upon. (Burnet, ibid.)

(b) By a statute of Charles I. (16 Car. I. c. 1) it was enacted that if the King neglected to call a Parliament for three years, the Peers might assemble and issue out writs for choosing one; and in case of neglect of the Peers, the constituents might meet and elect one for themselves. This Act was repealed at the commencement of the next reign, by 16 Car. II. c. 1. (c) 6 Anne, c. 7, ss. 4, 5; 37 Geo. III. c. 127, ss. 3, 4, and 5.

D

The course of legislation in this country shows that from a very remote period the Commons have been solicitous to secure the frequency of Parliaments. A statute of Edward III., in 1330, provided "that a Parliament shall be holden every year once, and more often if need be"(a); and a later statute of the same reign provides that "a Parliament shall be holden every year, as another time was ordained by statute." The words "if need be," Blackstone remarks, " are so loose and vague, that such of our monarchs as were inclined to govern without Parliaments, neglected convoking them, sometimes for a very considerable period, under the pretence that there was no need of them (b).

An Act of Charles I., already noticed, for the preventing of inconveniences happening by the long intermission of Parliaments, made provisions for the assembling of Parliament without the Royal authority, if the King neglected to call Parliament for the space of three years. This Act was annulled as derogatory to the King's "just rights and prerogative inherent to the imperial crown of this realm," by an Act of Charles II. (c), which however enacts that thereafter the sitting and holding of Parliaments shall not be

(a) “Whereas many persons suffer delay in the King's Court of Justice— it is ordained that the King shall hold a Parliament once every year, or twice, if necessary.” (5 Edw. II.; Parry's 'Parliaments,' 73.)

Ensement est accorde qe Parlement soit tenu chascun an une foitz ou plus si mestier soit, 4 Edw. III. c. 14; confirmed by 36 Edw. III. c. 10. In 50 Edw. III., the Commons petition that every year there may be held a Parliament, and the knights of counties may be elected by common election : "The King wills that they shall be elected by common assent of all the county." (Parry's 'Parliaments,' 135.) In 1 Ric. II., to a petition of the Commons to the King to hold a Parliament once a year, he answers, "Let the statutes be kept as to the meeting of Parliament." (Parry, 139.) 16 Car. II. c. 1, directs that Parliaments shall not be omitted for more than three years; 6 Will. & M. c. 2, directs that Parliaments shall not continue more than three years; Geo. I. st. 2, c. 38, directs that Parliaments may continue for seven years.

(b) Lord Northington led the House of Lords to adopt the sophistical construction that the words "if need be" governed the whole sentence, and that Parliament was not to be holden once in a year, except "if need be." (Amos on the Constitution, p. 47.)

(c) 16 Car. I. c. 1; 16 Car. II. c. 1.

intermitted or discontinued above three years at the most, but that within three years after the determination of each Parliament, or if there be occasion more often, the Crown shall summon another Parliament. This Act however makes no provision for the case of the King neglecting its observance, and accordingly was disregarded by Charles II.(a).

This Act of Charles II. made no provision for limiting the duration of Parliament, and the Long Parliament of that reign lasted eighteen years. But the Triennial Act of William III. limited the duration of Parliament to three years at the furthest, and at the same time repeated the provision that Parliament should be holden every three years at least. In the preceding sessions of Parliament a similar bill, originated in the House of Lords, was passed by both Houses, but rejected by the King. Burnet's remarks on this bill are worth quoting, as they contain the principal arguments for the frequent renewal of Parliaments. "Anciently, considering the haste and hurry in which Parliaments sat, an annual Parliament (b) might be no great inconvenience to the nation; but by reason of the slow methods of Sessions now, an annual Parliament in time of peace would become an insupportable grievance. A Parliament of a long continuance seemed to be very dangerous either to the Crown or to the nation; if the conjuncture and their proceedings gave them much credit, they might grow very uneasy to the Crown, as happened in King Charles the First's time; or, in another situation of affairs, they might be so practised upon by the Court that they might give all the money and all the liberties of England

(a) Mr. Amos says this Act was the repeal of a good law with good securities, and a mere re-enactment of it, with much parade and self-glory, but without any securities. (Amos on the Const., ibid.) The last Parliament held by Charles II. was that dissolved at Oxford in 1681. At the end of the third year from that time he refused to call another Parliament, there being, as Burnet remarks, no enforcing clauses in the Act in question. (Burnet, Hist. A.D. 1684.)

(b) Parliaments were annually renewed, with comparatively few exceptions, from 23 Edw. I. to the reign of Henry VIII. See Parry's 'Parliaments,' lv.

up, when they were to have a large share of the money and were to be made the instruments of tyranny, as it was likely to have been in King Charles the Second's time. It was likewise hoped that frequent Parliaments would put an end to the great expense candidates put themselves to in elections; and that it would oblige the members to behave themselves so well, both with relation to the public and in their private deportment, as to recommend them to their electors at three years' end; whereas when a Parliament was to sit many years, members covered with privileges were apt to take great liberties-forgot that they represented others, and took care only of themselves "(a).

Lastly, by an Act of George I.(b) for enlarging the time of continuance of Parliaments, and generally known as the Septennial Act, it was enacted that the then present Parliament and all subsequent Parliaments shall continue seven years and no longer, unless sooner dissolved.

The duration of Parliaments is generally much less than seven years. The first Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland met in 1801. The Parliament of the year 1862 is the eighteenth Parliament of the United Kingdom; so that the average duration of each Parliament since the Union has been between three and four years. The duration of Parliament in several of the British Colonies is limited to five years.

Since the repeal of the last-mentioned Act of Charles I. no provision has been made by Act of Parliament for convocation of Parliament in case the Crown shall not summon it within the period required by law. But on several occasions petitions and addresses have been presented to the Crown with respect to the prerogatives of dissolving and summoning Parliament. Thus, in 1678, Parliament, which had been prorogued for a year and some months, addressed the King, Charles II., desiring him to dismiss the ministers who advised the prorogation (c), In the following

(a) Burnet, Hist. of his own Time, A.D. 1693.
(b) 1 Geo. I. st. 2, c. 38.

(c) Burnet, A.D. 1678.

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