Companion to the Standing Orders and Guide to the Proceedings of the House of Lords - House of Lords Companion to the Standing Orders Contents


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:

    "La Reyne le veult."

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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