APPENDIX F~
ROYAL ASSENT BY COMMISSION~~~
At the time appointed for the Royal Assent, if the
House is sitting, the House adjourns during pleasure to enable
the Lords Commissioners to robe. The Lords Commissioners enter
the Chamber, and the Commons are summoned (see appendix C pages
251-252). They arrive with their Speaker. Any supply bills that
may be ready for Royal Assent are brought up by the Clerk of the
House of Commons, to whom they have been previously returned.
The Clerk of the Parliaments receives them from the Speaker at
the Bar, and brings them to the Table, bowing to the Lords Commissioners.
The Lord Chancellor, remaining seated and covered, then says:
"My Lords and Members of
the House of Commons,
Her Majesty, not thinking fit to be personally
present here at this time, has been pleased to cause a Commission
to be issued under the Great Seal, and thereby given Her Royal
Assent to certain Acts [and Measures] which have been agreed upon
by both Houses of Parliament, the Titles whereof are particularly
mentioned, and by the said Commission has commanded us to declare
and notify Her Royal Assent to the said Acts [and Measures] in
the presence of you, the Lords and Commons assembled for that
purpose, which Commission you will now hear read."
The Commission is read (see appendix C).
When this has been done, the Lord Chancellor says:
"In obedience to Her Majesty's
Commands, and by virtue of the Commission which has been now read,
we do declare and notify to you, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal
and Commons, in Parliament assembled, that Her Majesty has given
Her Royal Assent to the Acts [and Measures] in the Commission
mentioned, and the Clerks are required to pass the same in the
usual form and words."
The Clerk of the Parliaments and the Clerk of the
Crown then rise and stand at the Despatch Boxes on either side
of the Table, bowing to the Lords Commissioners as they reach
their places. From the temporal side the Clerk of the Crown reads
out the short title of each bill in turn. As soon as each title
has been read, both Clerks bow to the Lords Commissioners. The
Clerk of the Parliaments then turns towards the Bar, where the
Commons are assembled, and pronounces the appropriate formula
in Norman French, namely, for a supply bill~:
"La Reyne remercie ses bons
sujets, accepte leur benevolence, et ainsi le veult."
For each other public or private bill and Measure:
For a personal bill:
"Soit fait comme il est
désiré."
When all the bills have been thus disposed of, the
Clerk of the Parliaments and the Clerk of the Crown bow to the
Lords Commissioners and return to their places at the Table. The
Commons and the Lords Commissioners then retire (see appendix
C).
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