Act of Parliament

“ And, when the bill has received the royal assent in either of these ways, it is then, and not before, a statute or act of parliament.
This statute or act is placed among the records of the kingdom; there needing no formal promulgation to give it the force of a law, as was necessary by the civil law with regard to the emperors edicts: because every man in England is, in judgment of law, party to the making of an act of parliament, being present thereat by his representatives. ”

“ I have shown in earlier chapters that some of the most important principles of our earlier Constitution were established silently and125 by the power of precedent, without resting on any known written enactment. If we cannot show any Act of Parliament determining the relations in which the members of the Cabinet stand to the Crown, to the House of Commons, and to one another, neither can we show the Act of Parliament which decreed, in opposition to the practice of all other nations, that the children of the hereditary Peer should be simple Commoners. ”

“ If it be penned, that the King enacts with the Assent of the Lords, or with the Assent of the Commons, it is not an Act of Parliament, for the Record of the Act expressing which of them gave their Assent, excludeth all Intendments that any other gave their Assent. ”

“ Besides, if America was annexed to the realm, or a part of the kingdom, every act of parliament that is made would extend to it, named or not named. But everybody knows, that every act of parliament, and every other record, constantly distinguishes between this kingdom and his majesty’s other dominions. ”

“ Every Act of Parliament commences its existence in the shape of a Bill. As such, it may be introduced in either House, though the Commons have the undoubted monopoly of initiating financial measures, and Bills for the restitution of honours and blood must originate with the Lords. In the Upper House, any peer may introduce a Bill without notice, but in the Commons a member must give notice of his intention either to present a measure or move for leave to do so. ”

“ It remains for us to express our conviction that if any change of the importance of those which we have recommended is to be carried into effect, it can only be successfully done through the medium of an Act of Parliament. ”

“ There must be in every instance a higher authority, viz., GOD. Should an act of Parliament be against any of his natural laws, which are immutably true, their declaration would be contrary to eternal truth, equity, and justice, and consequently void: and so it would be adjudged by the Parliament itself when convinced of their mistake. ”

“ When such mistake is evident and palpable, as in the instances in the Appendix, the judges of the executive courts have declared the act "of a whole Parliament void." See here the grandeur of the British constitution! See the wisdom of our ancestors! The supreme legislative and the supreme executive are a perpetual check and balance to each other. If the supreme executive errs it is informed by the supreme legislative in Parliament. If the supreme legislative errs it is informed by the supreme executive in the King's courts of law. ”

“ In face of the currently accepted dogma that an Act of Parliament can do anything, it is foolish to expect that Parliament would, by ethical considerations, be restrained from breaking contracts and authorizing the breaking of contracts. ”

“ But, as you well know, Parliament cannot proceed to business without the session being opened by the King, or by some Commission authorized by him. No Regent can be appointed or authorized to exercise acts of royal authority but by Act of Parliament; nor can any such Act be valid and binding in law without the King's consent.
The Revolution affords the only thing like a precedent even for the principles on which we can proceed ”

“ Lastly, the petition of right, that noble legacy of a slandered parliament, reciting and confirming the ancient statutes, had established that no man thereafter be compelled to make or yield any gift, loan, benevolence, tax, or such-like charge, without common consent by act of parliament. ”

“ VIII. commonly intitled, 'An Act concerning Richard Stroud,' is a general Law, extending to indemnify all and every of the Members of both Houses of Parliament, in all Parliaments touching any Bills, speaking, reasoning, and declaring, of any Matter or Matters concerning the Parliament, to be communed and treated of, and is a declaratory Law of the antient and necessary Rights and Privileges of Parliament [11] ." The Commons likewise, on the Consideration of this Act, held, that whatever concerns Privilege of Parliament, must be a general Law [12] . ”

“ An Act of Parliament is duly enacted if Her Majesty’s Assent thereto, being signified by Letters Patent under the Great Seal signed with Her Majesty's own hand,—
(a) is pronounced in the presence of both Houses in the House of Lords in the form and manner customary before the passing of this Act; or (b) is notified to each House of Parliament, sitting separately, by the Speaker of that House or in the case of his absence by the person acting as such Speaker. ”

“ That for every new peerage granted by the Crown, another county member should be added to the Parliament. 3. That none should vote in Parliament except peers or elected members. 4. That the king should not have the power of refusing the royal assent to any Act passed by the Estates. 5. That when Parliament was not sitting the executive Government should be in the hands of a Committee chosen by Parliament. 6. That the King should not have the power of making war or peace, or concluding any treaty, except with consent of Parliament. ”

“ Every Act shall be so construed as to reserve to Parliament the power of repealing or amending it, and of revoking, restricting or modifying any power, privilege or advantage thereby vested in or granted to any person on party, whenever such repeal, amendment, revocation, restriction or modification is deemed by Parliament to be required for the public good ”

“ The seven judges whose opinions were favorable to the king, upheld the prerogative of the crown as against the legislative power of Parliament. Sir John Finch, chief justice of the common pleas, stated their attitude clearly. “No act of Parliament,” he said, “can bar a king of his regality, as that no lands should hold of him, or bar him of the allegiance of his subjects or the relative on his part, as trust and power to defend his people; therefore acts of Parliament to take away his royal power in the defense of his kingdom are void ”

“ The answer is that the people resolves itself from a sovereign body into a body of magistrates, as the English Parliament resolves itself constantly from a legislative body into a committee. In other words, by a simple act of the general will a democracy is for the time established, which then proceeds either to retain the government in its own hands, or to place it in those of an officer, according to the form in which the sovereign has decided to establish the government. ”

“ The king of England can do no wrong, but the ministers are responsible to parliament. As the country has no written constitution, and laws enacted by the king, lords and commons, have the force of constitutional provisions, a system has been established, by taking advantage of the necessities of different sovereigns, by which no executive act is legal, that is not sanctioned by at least one responsible minister. ”

“ Parliament can be summoned and dissolved, and its sessions can be opened and closed by the Crown alone, the only legal restraint upon the arbitrary power of the sovereign in the matter being the Act of William and Mary, which provides that a new Parliament shall be summoned within three years after a dissolution. ”

“ We are often told that it is impossible to make men sober by Act of Parliament; and no doubt all legislation that seeks to suppress evil has to fight against strong opposition. But do those who so lightly quote this empty aphorism ever seriously resolve to persuade men to be sober by other means? or are they content to let a smart phrase run glibly from their lips as an excuse for doing nothing? To-day we are face to face with a gigantic evil that is destroying much that is brightest and fairest in our national life. ”

“ From 1689, Parliament sat every year. Freedom of speech for members of Parliament was established by a resolution overturning a King's Bench felony conviction of Sir John Elliot.
By the act of settlement of 1701, no officer or pensioner of the king could be a member of Parliament. All resolutions by the Privy Council had to be signed by the members consenting to them. No one born outside the realm could be a member of the Privy Council or of Parliament, or could have any civil or military office or place of trust, or any grants of land or tenements from the king. ”

“ The petition, being adopted and sent in, was largely influential in inducing the then home secretary, Mr. Cross, to bring in a bill in parliament which became law as an 'Act for facilitating the Improvement of the Dwellings of the Working Classes in large Towns. ”

“ If he were To be made honest, by an act of Parliament, I should not alter, i’ my faith of him. ”

“ An Act to prevent inconveniences which may happen by the untimely adjourning, proroguing, or dissolving this present Parliament.
Whereas great sums of money must of necessity be speedily advanced and provided for the relief of His Majesty's army and people in the northern parts of this realm, and for preventing the imminent danger it is in, and for supply of other His Majesty's present and urgent occasions, which cannot be so timely effected as is requisite without credit for raising the laid monies ”

“ Parliament to pass an Act which would enable a man who had been elected previous to the passing of the Act to sit in the House?—It is not for me to say what Act of Parliament might be agreed to by Parliament, but that is quite a distinct case. In that case Mr. O’Connell had actually been elected when the Catholic Relief Act was passed, and there was a clause in the Act which made its operation prospective, and therefore distinctly, and, I believe, intentionally, excluding Mr. ”

“ Whereas the Parliament hath Abolished the Kingly Office in England and Ireland, and in the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging, and hath Resolved and Declared, That the People shall for the future be Governed by its own Representatives, or National Meetings in Councel, Chosen and Entrusted by them for that purpose, Hath setled the Government in the way of a Commonwealth and Free State, without King or House of Lords ”

“ Whereas of late before certain Persons deputed to treat upon sundry Debates had between us and certain great Men of our Realm, amongst other Things it was accorded, That in our next Parliament, after Provision shall be made by us, and the common Assent of the Prelates, Earls, and Barons, that in all Parliaments, Treaties, and other Assemblies, which should be made in the Realm of England for ever, that every Man shall come without all Force and Armour, well and peaceably, to the Honour of us, and the Peace of us and our Realm. ”

“ Its importance is difficult to overestimate. It placed the executive power in a position of perfect dependence upon the will of Parliament, for the money requisite for any administrative act was to be forthcoming only in accordance with the previously expressed intent of Parliament. ”

“ Every order made by the Central Government under this Chapter shall,as soon as may be after it is made be laid before Both the Houses of Parliament and shall be subject to such modifications as Parliament may make during the session in which it is so laid or the session immediately following. ”