Petitions

“ We do not grant or deny these petitions merely according to a majority vote. We always grant the petition when as many as four think that it should be granted and sometimes when as many as three think that way. ”

“ They can write petitions in the highest style of excellence, as regards composition and penmanship. And they can also write letters on dirty slips of paper, in such a manner as that the homely phrase and the supposed ignorance of the petitioner shall be correctly sustained. They know all the charitable people of the district. They know the species of distress each person is most likely to relieve, and the days and hours they are most likely to be seen. They are in a position to instruct the several members of the fraternity as to the habits and foibles of the “gentlefolks.” ”

“ That your petitioners are sensible, from the numerous petitions presented to your honourable House, that your honourable House is fully acquainted with the grievances of the working men; and your petitioners pray that the rights and wrongs of labour may be considered, with a view to the protection of the one, and to the removal of the other ”

“ The most important use of petitions in England is in the High Court of Justice. In the chancery division petitions are presented either as interlocutory proceedings in the course of an action, or as original proceedings where no litigation exists-as being a mole speedy form of remedy than an action. The eases in which a petition is admissible and the procedure therein, are in the main regulated by orders 52 and 55 of the rules of the supreme court. ”

“ The authority given by the rule to the clerk to present the petitions at the request of counsel was for the purpose of relieving counsel of the necessity of coming to court, frequently from long distances, to make a formal motion. It was not, however, intended to relax the requirement adopted to facilitate dispatch of business, that the petition should be presented on the motion day fixed by the rule. ”

“ Petitions to Courts of Justice.—Strictly speaking, these are an indirect mode of petitioning the Crown, for in the theory of English law the Crown is the fountain of justice. But it is more convenient to treat them separately, as they now form a part of the practice of the courts. Appeals to the House of Lords and the privy council are prosecuted by petition of appeal. The original jurisdiction of the privy council to deal with petitions is confined to proceedings under certain statutes, such as the Endowed Schools Acts, the Public Schools Acts, the Universities Acts and the Patents Acts. ”

“ Perceval to state to you, in reply to your letter of yesterday, that the time for presenting private petitions has long since passed; and that Mr. Perceval cannot encourage you to expect his sanction in introducing into the house a petition which Mr. Perceval thinks is not of a nature for the consideration of parliament. ”

“ Constant complaints have been made by successive Chief Justices about the large number of frivolous petitions that are filed each Term, 'frivolous' meaning that the issues are not deserving of consideration for review when judged by the Court's instructions to the bar. ”

“ All petitions and bills praying or providing for the satisfaction of private claims founded upon any law of Congress, or upon any contract, expressed or implied, with the government, are required to be transmitted, with all the accompanying documents, to the Court of Claims, by the secretary of the Senate or the clerk of the House of Representatives, unless otherwise ordered by a resolution of the House in which they are introduced. ”

“ The proceedings of this House in 1790, in reference to petitions on the matter of the slave trade, and of slavery in the States, have been cited. It has been said that those petitions were not received. ”

“ To get up petitions in favour of the convicted persons, some of such petitions to be framed so as to command the approbation of those who object to the special form of punishment that may have been awarded, and without reference to the innocence or guilt of the convicted parties. ”

“ In responding to petitions for assistance, a Member of the Senate, acting directly or through employees, has the right to assist petitioners before executive and independent government officials and agencies. ”

“ I maintain that the House is bound by the Constitution to receive the petitions; after which, it will take such method of deciding upon them as reason and principle shall dictate. ”

“ This right grows in importance in proportion to the power and despotic nature of the governments to which the petitioner is subject: for where there is no sort of remedy from any fixed laws, nothing remains but complaint, and prayers, and petitions. ”

“ That would require notation not only of all dissents when petitions are denied. It would equally require public recording of dissents from the granting of petitions. Due regard for all these factors touching the administration of our certiorari jurisdiction has determined my unbroken practice not to note dissent from the Court's disposition of petitions for certiorari. ”

“ How happy it is to believe, with a stedfast assurance, that our petitions are heard, even while we are making them!—and how delightful to meet with a proof of it in the effectual and actual grant of them! ”

“ Petition, Councel, &c. passim. ↑ The antient Records furnish us with many Instances of Complaints, made by the Commons on those Heads. In the 21 Ed. 3. they pray, that Petitions which be for the Common Profit may be answered in Parliament before them, so as they may know the Indorsement, and have Remedy according to Ordinance of Parliament. ”

“ One by petition to the Court of Appeals itself, and the other by petition to a judge thereof. If the petition is presented to a judge and he denies it generally, without more, it may be again presented to the court. But if the judge to whom the application is made 'shall deem the judgment, &c., plainly right,' and reject it on that ground, if the order of rejection shall so state, no other petition shall afterwards be presented to the same purpose. [8] The parties are left free to present their petitions to the court or to a judge thereof, as they may find it most convenient or desirable. ”

“ No one can hate petitions worse than I, and no one has less faith in them than I. But for my champion I am willing to try any means that invades no other's right, even though I have little hope in it. ”

“ If there be any plausible reason for supposing that we have the right to legislate on the slave interests of the District, you cannot put down the investigation of the subject out of doors, by refusing to receive petitions. ”

“ Petitioner tells us that the application must be deemed to be in time because 'when a court actually changes its judgment, the time to appeal or petition begins to run anew irrespective of whether a petition for rehearing has been filed.' [6] We think petitioner's interpretation of our decisions is too liberal. ”

“ The duty of the Court chiefly consists in verifying the allegations of the petitioner."
"Nothing can be fairer," replied the Marquis. "Well, then, monsieur, be so good as to tell me what I ought to do——"
"You have only to answer my questions, omitting nothing. However delicate the reasons may be which may have led you to act in such a manner as to give Madame d'Espard a pretext for her petition, speak without fear. ”

“ That your petitioner has often heard it said, that the law affords protection to the poor as well as to the rich, and that, if unable to obtain redress any where else, every subject of his Majesty has the road of petition open to him ”

“ The Petitioner’s most humble request is, that your Majesty will be graciously pleased to recommend and refer the Petitioner to be fully heard touching his services, loans, disbursements, losses, and sufferings to the Lord High Chancellor of England, and the Lord Privy Seal, the Duke of Albemarle, the Marquis of Dorchester, the Earl of Anglesey, the Earl of Loutherdale; the Lord Holles, the Lord Ashley, Lord Arlington and Mr. Secretary Morrice, or to such of them, or other, as your Majesty shall think fit. ”

“ If there be a person in the crowd trying to present a petition, and working his way through the ranks, the person nearest to him must take the petition and present it to the sovereign in sight of the petitioner himself, so that all may know that the petition presented has reached its destination and consequently that there exists a control of affairs on the part of the sovereign himself. ”

“ My workmen were induced thus to petition, in consequence of the information, which I, their master, had communicated to them; and, gentlemen, why should not your labourers petition in the same strain? Why should you suffer them to remain in a state of ignorance, relative to the cause of their misery? The eyes sweep over in this country more riches in one moment [75] than are contained in the whole county in which I was born, and in which the petitioners live. ”

“ Before proceeding to a more particular examination of the decision of the District Court, it seems proper to advert to the true position of the petitioner, or rather of the grantee, from whom his title is deduced, as described in the petition, and to inquire whether that position, as there described, apart from the question of the completeness or incompleteness of the grant, be one on which the jurisdiction of the District Court could attach. ”

“ But your Petitioners’ appeal to Your Excellency is on higher and broader grounds; your Petitioners have every confidence that the question that affects thousands of Her Majesty’s subjects, on a proper solution of which depend the bread and butter of hundreds of British subjects, and a technical solution of which may bring ruin to hundreds of homes and may leave them penniless, will not be left to be decided merely in a court of law where everybody’s hands are tied down, and where such considerations find no place. ”

“ In such a case the petitioner probably has some friend in Parliament, and his point of view is understood. He can, if necessary, get this friend to attend the committee and introduce amendments. He is therefore a force to be reckoned with; the Bill is perhaps altered to suit him; the petition is at any rate referred to the committee. On the other hand, if the petition comes from cottagers or small proprietors, it is safe, as a rule, to neglect it.
The enclosure histories set out in the Appendix supply some good examples of this differential treatment. ”

“ Your petitioners desire your honours will tenderly consider the premises, and suffer your said petitioners to continue their trade (those who set them at work being still willing to employ them, though at lower rates;) and your said petitioners will give security to make use of the same stuff, and dress in the same manner, as they always did, and no other. ”

“ No copies of the various orders and decrees on which the rights of the petitioner depend, were attached to the petition; but, upon the positive, sworn statements of the petitioner as to their nature and effect, a rule was entered on the district judge to show cause why the writ asked for should not be issued. To this rule a return has been made, from which it appea § unmistakably that it has never been adjudged that the petitioner was the owner of she money in court. ”

“ The motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis and the petition for a writ of certiorari are granted. The Court is of the view that on the record the petitioner is an indigent. Therefore, the judgment must be reversed. ”

“ We do not know: (1) what the Court of Appeals found petitioner to have done; (2) what it objected to in petitioner's course of conduct-whether it was the order in this particular case or some general practice adopted by petitioner in this and other cases; [16] (3) what it thought was the proper scope of a bill of particulars under Rule 7 (f) and what limitations it thought the criminal rules placed upon the particular or generalized discretion of a district court to order the Government to file such a bill ”

“ Notwithstanding which offer, your petitioners are under daily apprehension, that your honours will forbid them to follow the said trade any longer; by which your petitioners, to the number of fourscore, with their wives and families, will inevitably starve, having been bound to no other calling. ”

“ It is a convenient one, deprives the petitioner of no substantial right, if the petition and traverse are treated, as we think they should be, as together constituting the application for the writ, and the return to the rule as setting up the facts thought to warrant its denial, and if issues of fact emerging from the pleadings are tried as required by the statute.
Second. The District Court proceeded to adjudicate the petitioner's right to the writ upon the allegations of his petition and traverse and those of the return and accompanying affidavits. ”

“ Petitioner refers us to cases which have held that when a court considers on its merits an untimely petition for a rehearing, or an untimely motion to amend matters of substance in a judgment, the time for appeal may begin to run anew from the date on which the court disposed of the untimely application. ”

“ And the allegations contained in the petition are not inconsistent with the recitals of the certified copy of the sentence and judgment which accompanied the petition and under which petitioner is confined. ”

“ The hearing conducted by the appellate court on the petition, which may be filed many years after the entry of the challenged judgment, is not just a ceremonial gesture. The petition must contain the necessary averments, supported by affidavits or other acceptable evidence; and the appellate court may in the exercise of a proper discretion reject the petition, in which case a bill of review cannot be filed in the lower court. ”

“ The expediente, when complete (as decided by this court) , consisted of a petition, with a diseno or map annexed; a marginal decree referring the petition to a local officer to report whether the land was vacant and grantable, and the petitioner a proper person to obtain the bounty of the government; the report of that officer on these subjects, called an informe; the decree of concession and the copy or duplicate of the grant, as the original was delivered to the petitioner. ”