in Parliament are the King or Queen Sir Tho. Smith's Common-wealth 74. the Lords Temporal and Spiritual the Commons represented by the Knights and Burgesses of every Shire and Borough-Town These all or the greater Part of them and that with the Consent of the Prince for the time being must agree to the making of Laws The King of England Fortescue c. 36. p. 84. b. neither by himself or his Ministers imposeth Tallages or any other Burdens on his Subjects or alter their Laws or make new Laws without Assent of the whole Kingdom in Parliament No Parliament no Penny Turner's Case of Bankers 95. hath been always taken notice of as a principal Foundation of this Government even by our Neighbour Princes and States who have in all Ages made their Approaches upon this Realm and evermore valued us in Proportion to the Correspondency they observed between our Kings and their Parliaments For seeing the Power of every Prince is computed from his Treasure and Martial Men and those again by the Love of his People they well enough knew that as long as a good Understanding was maintain'd there our Princes could never want the Sinews either of the Purse or of valiant mens Arms. L'Assemblie de Troys Estates Finch's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 2. c. 1. so 21. b. Cestascavoir Roy Nobility Commons qui font le Corps del Realm est appel un Parliament lour Decree un Act de Parliament Car sans touts troys come si soit fait per Roy Seigneurs mes rien parle del Commons nest Ascun Act de Parliament i.e. The Assembly of the three Estates to wit the King the Nobility and the Commons which make the Body of the Realm is called a Parliament and their Decree an Act of Parliament for without all three as if it be done by the King and Lords but speaks nothing of the Commons there is not any Act of Parliament The word Parliament is used in a double sense 1. English Liberties p. 78. Strictly as it includes the Legislative Power of England as when we say an Act of Parliament and in this Acceptation it necessarily includes the King the Lords and the Commons each of which have a Negative Voice in making Laws and without their Joint Consent no new Laws can pass that be obligatory to the Subject 2. Vulgarly the Word is used for the two Houses the Lords and Commons as when we say The King will call a Parliament his Majesty has dissolved his Parliament c. This Court consists of the King's Majesty 4 Inst 1. sitting there as in his Royal Politic Capacity and of the three Estates of the Realm viz. the Lords Spiritual Arch-Bishops and Bishops who sit there by Succession in respect of their Counties or Baronies parcel of their Bishopricks The Lords Temporal Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons who sit there by reason of their Dignities which they hold by Discent or Creation every one of which both Spiritual and Temporal ought to have a Writ of Summons ex debito Justitiae And the Commons of the Realm whereof there be Knights of Shires or Counties Citizens of Cities and Burgesses of Boroughs all which are respectively elected by the Shires or Counties Cities and Boroughs by force of the King 's Writ ex Debito Justitiae and none of them ought to be omitted and these represent all the Commons of the whole Realm and are trusted for them The King Id. 2. and these three Estates are the great Corporation or Body Politic of the Kingdom and do sit in two Houses the King and Lords in one House called The Lords House the Knights Citizens and Burgesses in another House called The House of Commons That which is done by this Consent Arc. Parl. 2. is called firm stable and sanctum and is taken for Law All the Judges of the Realm Towns Collect 5 6. Vid. Crompton 1. b. Barons of the Exchequer of the Coif the King 's Learned Councel and the Civilians Masters of the Chancery are called to give their Assistance and Attendance in the Upper House of Parliament but they have no Voices in Parliament 4 Inst 4. But are made sometimes joynt Committees with the Lords Every English-man is intended to be there present either in Person Arc. Parl. 3. Smyth's Common-wealth 74. or Procuration and Attorny of what Pre-eminence State Dignity or Quality soever he be from the Prince be it King or Queen to the lowest Person in England And the Consent of the Parliament is taken to be every man's Consent No man ought to sit in the High Court of Parliament 4 Inst 45. but he that hath Right to sit there for it is not only a personal Offence in him that sitteth there without Authority but a public Offence to the Court of Parliament and consequently to the whole Realm It is to be observed 4 Inst 2. That when there is best Appearance there is the best Success in Parliament At a Parliament 7 Hen. 5. of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal there appeared but Thirty and there was but one Act pass't of no great weight In 50 Ed. 3. all the Lords appeared in Person and not one by Proxy and so many excellent Things were done that it was called Bonum Parliamentum At the Return of the Writs the Parliament cannot begin Id. 6. but by the Royal Presence of the King either in Person or Representation The King's Person may be represented by Commission under the Great Seal to certain Lords in Parliament Id. 7. authorizing them to begin the Parliament or to prorogue it c. When a Parliament is call'd Id. 28. and doth sit and is dissolved without any Act of Parliament passed or Judgment given it is no Session of Parliament but a Convention It is an Observation proved by a great Number of Precedents Id. 32. that never any good Bill was preferred or good Motion made in Parliament whereof any Memorial was made in the Journal-Book or otherwise Tho' sometimes it succeeded not at the first yet it hath never dy'd but at one Time or other hath taken effect Matters of Parliament are not to be ruled by the Common-Law Id. 17. If Offences done in Parliament might have been punish'd elsewhere Ibid. Vid. 1 Inst §. 108. it shall be intended that at some Time it would have been put in Ure It doth not belong to the Judges to judge of any Law Custom Id. 50. or Priviledge of Parliament It is the just and constant Course of Parliament to bring the Party accused to his Answer yea Seld. Judic 95. tho' he fly Justice yet to send out Proclamation into the Countries that he appear at a Day or else such and such Judgments shall be given against him What is done by either House according to the Law and Usage of Parliament Sir R. Atkyns Argument c. 14. is properly and in the Judgment of the
Law the Act of the whole Parliament and what concerns the one must of necessity concern the whole not meerly by Consequence but by an immediate Concernment as being one and entire The three Estates of Parliament are one entire Body Id. 34 41 51 55. and Corporation all their Powers and Priviledges in the Right of them and in the Title to them are entire per my per tout and belonging to the whole Body of the Parliament tho' in the Exercise of those Powers and sometime in the Claim of them they are distinguish'd and in the Practise of their Powers they are in many Things distributed into Parts All the Estates in Parliament are all call'd by one common Name Ibid. as Commune Concilium Regni Magna Curia they are one Body Politic It is said by Fineux Chief Justice That the Parliament at the Common-Law consists of the King Lords and Commons and they are but one Body Corporate The Liberties and Franchises of the Parliament Id. 55. in the Right of them are entire and due to both Houses for both make up the Parliament Knighton one of our best Historians doth notably disclose the ancient ends of calling Parliaments Knyghton de Eventibus Angliae l. 5. f. 2681. Col. 1 2. Petyt's Rights c. in Pref. p. 43 44. in saying Quod ex Antiquo Statuto Consuetudine laudabili approbata c. That by an ancient Statute and Custome laudable and approved which no man could deny the King was once in the year to convene his Lords and Commons to his Court of Parliament as to the highest Court in the whole Realm In qua omnis Aequitas relucere deberet absque qualibet Scrupulositate vel nota tanquam Sol in Ascensu Meridiei ubi Pauperes Divites pro Refrigerio Tranquilitatis Pacis Repulsione Injuriarum Refugium Infallibile quaerere possent ac etiam Errata Regni reformare de Statu Gubernatione Regis Regni cum Sapientiori Concilio tractare ut Inimici Regis Regni Intrinseci Hostes Extrinseci destruantur repellantur qualiter quoque Onera incumbentia Regi Regno levius ad Ediam Communitatis Supportari potuerunt i. e. In which Court all Equity ought to shine forth without the least Cloud or Shadow like the Sun in its Meridian Glory where Poor and Rich refreshed with Peace and Ease of their Oppressions may always find infallible and sure Refuge and Succour the Grievances of the Kingdom redressed and the state of the King and Government of the Realm debated with wiser Councels the Domestick and Foreign Enemies of the King and Kingdom destroy'd and repelled and to consider how the Charges and Burthens of both may be sustained with more Ease to the People The House of Lords cannot exercise any Power Sir R. Atkin's Argument f. 51. as an House of Parliament or as a Court for Errors without the House of Commons be in Being at the same Time Both Houses must be prorogued together and dissolved together By the Law Parliaments ought to be very frequent Id. 59. Before the Conquest as it is untruly call'd by the Law Parliaments were to be held twice a year as appears by King Edgar's Laws So it was ordained by King Alfred By the Stat. of 4 Ed. 3. c. 14. Parliaments ought to be once a year and oftner if need be And in 36 Ed. 3. c. 10. to be once a year without Restriction if need be By 16 Car. 2. c. 1. these Acts are declared to be in Force and further it is declared and enacted That the holding of Parliaments shall not be discontinued above three years at the most The Parliament is a Court of very great Honour and Justice Plow Com. 398. of which no man ought to imagine a Thing dishonourable An Offence committed in Parliament is a very high Offence Sir R. Atkyns Arg. 60. but the higher it is the more proper it is for their Judicature and that Court is arm'd with a Power to punish the highest Offences and the highest Offenders A Parliament may err Ibid. for they are not infallible but the Law hath provided a Remedy against those Errors and a way to reform them A subsequent Parliament may reform the Errors of a preceding Parliament But to say that they will be Partial Ibid. or Unjust or Corrupt or do any Thing out of Malice is to raise a Scandal upon the whole Nation whose Representative they are If any Offence whatever be committed in the Parliament by any particular Members Ibid. it is an high Infringment of the Right and Priviledge of Parliament for any Person or Court to take the least Notice of it till the House it self either has punish'd the Offender or referred them to a due or proper Course of Punishment To do otherwise would be to make the Highest Court an Offender and to charge them with Injustice Their Right and Priviledge so far extends Id 61. that not only what is done in the very House sitting the Parliament but whatever is done relating to them or in pursuance of their Order during the Parliament is no where else to be punish'd but by Themselves or a succeeding Parliament tho' done out of the House Either House doth ever for the most part shew it self so careful to keep firm Correspondence with the other Sir Simon d'Ewes Journal 186. as that when a Bill hath pass't either of the said Houses and is sent to the other it doth for the most part pass and is neither dash'd nor alter'd without very great Cause upon mature deliberation and usually also not without Conference desir'd and had thereupon that so full Satisfaction may be given to that House from which the Bill so rejected or alter'd was sent Pessima Gens humani Generis always abhorr'd a Parliament Preface to Petyt's Miscel Parlementar and the reason thereof is demonstrative because they all knew they shou'd then be call'd to an impartial and strict Account and be punish'd according to their Demerits It was said by the Lord Bacon to Sir Lionel Cranfeild Ibid. newly made Lord Treasurer That he would recommend to his Lordship and in him to all other great Officers of the Crown one considerable Rule to be carefully observ'd which was Remember a Parliament will come The King at no Time stands so highly in his Estate Royal Petyt's Miscel Parliament 9. Vid. Cromp. Jur. 10. as in the Time of Parliament wherein the King as Head and they as Members are conjoyn'd and knit together into one Body Politic so as whatsoever Injury during that Time is offer'd to the meanest Members of the House is to be judged as done against the King's Person and the whole Court of Parliament The Prerogative of Parliament is so great Ibid. That all Acts and Processes coming out of any inferior Courts must cease and give place to the highest Statutes in England are made
Committee If the Question for Commitment pass in the Negative Ibid. then the Question is to be put for the ingrossing the Bill But if the Question for ingrossing the Bill pass in the Negative then the Question is to be put for rejecting the Bill If the Question for committing the Bill pass in the Affirmative Id. 47. then a Committee is to be named of which all those that took Exceptions at any Particulars in the Bill but not those who spoke against the whole Bill are to be and any Member that pleases may name one apiece but not more to be of that Committee 10 Nov. 1604. Ibid. Declared for a Rule That at the naming of a Committee if any man rise to speak the Clerk ought not to write 11 Nov. 1601. Resolved Ibid. and order'd upon the Question That such Member as declares himself against the Body or Substance of any Bill upon any the Readings thereof shall not hereafter be admitted to be of a Committee in any such Bill according to former order used in Parliament Committees upon Bills have not usually been less then eight Ibid. sometimes twenty seldom more in former times which ingaged them to attend it and speed it 12 April 1604. Id. 48. Upon a Motion made touching the slow Proceedings and Dispatch of such Bills and Businesses as were depending in the House which grew as was said by the non-attendance of the Committees Order'd That if eight of any Committee do assemble they might proceed to a Resolution in any Business of the House When a competent number are named Ibid. the Speaker useth to put the House in mind of appointing the Time and Place of their Meeting at which Time the Committee are to meet especially those who did make any Exceptions to the Bill eight of the Persons named must be present to make a Committee unless order'd otherwise in some Cases but five may adjourn In some Cases the House hath order'd a Committee to withdraw into the Committee Chamber presently Ibid. and bring it back sitting the House Any Member of the House may be present at any select Committee Id. 49. but is not to give any Vote unless he be named to be of the Committee 35 Eliz. 1592. Sir Simon d'Ewes Jour 493 Col. 2. Two or three stood up to speak striving who might speak first It was made a Rule That the Chair-man shall ask the Parties that would speak on which side they would speak whether with him that spake next before or against him and the Party that speaketh against the last Speaker is to be heard first The Committee are first to read the Bill Scobel 49. and their to consider the same by Parts The Preamble if any be Id. 50. is usually consider'd after the other Parts of 〈◊〉 Bill because upon Consideration of the Body of the Bill such Alterations may therein 〈…〉 may also occasion the alteration of the Preamble Which will be best 〈◊〉 last The Committee may not raze Ibid. interline or blot the Bill it self but must in a Paper by it self set down the Amendments in this manner in such a Folio and such a Line between such a Word and such a Word or after such a Word insert these words or omit these words When the Amendments are all perfected Ibid. every one being voted singly all of them are to be read at the Committee and put to the Question Whether the same shall be reported to the House when the Vote is to be put any Member of the Committee may move to add to those Amendments or to amend any other part of the Bill 4 Junij 1607. Id. 52. The Bill touching the Union between England and Scotland having been committed when the Amendments were reported the whole Bill was by Order of the House first read and then the Amendments by themselves which is a single Precedent used only in a Case of great weight In the Journal 4 Junij 1607. Ibid The Entry is When a Vote is once passed at a Committee the same may not be alter'd but by the House Every Question upon the Voices of the Committee bindeth and cannot be alter'd by themselves And thus every Thing agreed to be reported ought to be reported If the Vote of the Committee pass for reporting the Amendments to the House then he of the Members of the Committee which is commonly the Chair-man who is best acquainted with the Bill is to be appointed to make the Report which being done that Committee is dissolved and can act no more without a new Power 3 Martij 1606. It was order'd Ibid. That every Committee when they proceed to the Amendment of any Bill committed to them shall also amend the Breviat annexed and make it agree with the Bill Reports are usually to be received daily in the first place Ibid. after the House is full except there be Bills engrossed which are to take place and publick Bills before private The Reporter must first acquaint the House Id. 52. Hakewel 148. That he is to make a Report from such a Committee to whom such a Bill was committed and standing in his place must read each of the Amendments with the Coherence in the Bill and opening the Alterations and the Reasons of the Committee for such Amendments until he hath gone through all and then must if he sit not in the Seat next the Floor come from his place to the Bar and so come up to the Table and deliver both the Bill and Amendments to the Clerk by whom he is to stand while they are twice read which is to be done by him without reading any words that are to be omitted but only such as are to be inserted before any man speak to any of them and then the Bill with the Amendments is to be deliver'd to the Speaker After reading of the Amendments Scobel 52. any Member may speak against all or any of the Amendments and desire the Coherence to be read but he is to make all his Objections at once to all the Amendments without speaking again Exceptions may be taken as well to what is omitted out of the Bill by the Committee Id. 53. as to what is amended Amendments in Bills ought to be writ in Paper Sir Simon d'Ewes Jour 573 574. not in Parchment and without any Indorsement Upon any Report from a Committee Scobel 53. the first Question ought to be for agreeing with the Report unless the House generally dislike it 4 Junij 1607. Id. 39. Agreed for a Rule That every Thing directed and agreed to be reported ought accordingly to be reported but not every thing spoken or debated at the Committee 28 Julij 1641. Ibid. Declared by the House That no Committee ought by Votes to determine the Right or Property of the Subject without first acquainting the House therewith 6 Aug. 1641. Ibid. Resolved That no Vote