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). 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).
