At the beginning of each new parliament the House of Commons elects, and submits to the Crown for its approval, a Speaker, who presides over the deliberations of the House, maintains order in its debates, decides doubtful points of order, puts questions for the decisions of the House and de clares the decisions. Every order or resolution of the House is based upon a question put from the chair, founded on a motion made by a member and agreed to by the House with or without amendment. The Speaker has the power to decline to submit to the House a motion that obviously infringes the rules which govern its proceedings, or to put forthwith, without permitting debate thereon, a "dilatory" motion (i.e., a motion for the ad journment of the House or of the debate) : he has the power to repress irrelevance or repetition in debate and to deal summa rily with a claim for a division which, in his opinion, is unneces sarily made: he has the power to accept or to refuse to accept a motion "That the question be now put," which brings debate to a conclusion and compels the House to decide upon the matter under discussion : he has the power to maintain order in the House by calling members to order, by directing them to withdraw from the precincts of the House for the remainder of the day's sitting, or by naming them to the House. In the last case the House will immediately proceed to vote upon the question that the member so named be suspended from the service of the House. The House further reserves to itself the right to deal with its members according to ancient usages, including the right of ex pulsion. In addition to the powers already mentioned the Speaker has the power, in the case of grave disorder, to adjourn the House without question put or to suspend any sitting for a time to be named by him.
Legislation by parliament, which in earlier times was founded upon petitions from the Commons, is now conducted by means of bills, which, unless they are governed by the Parliament Act, 1911, must be passed by both Houses and receive the royal assent. Over what may, for the sake of convenience, be called delegated or subsidiary legislation parliament has retained to itself some control. Thus measures of the National Assembly of the Church of England are only presented for royal assent of ter resolutions to that effect have been agreed to by both Houses ; while, of the rules and orders made by departments, or statutory commis sioners, some require an affirmative resolution of both Houses to make them operative and others, although they become operative at once, can be abrograted by a resolution or address of either House passed within the statutory period.
Bills, which generally may originate in either House, are divided into the two classes of public and private bills. Public bills, relat ing to matters of public policy, are introduced directly by members of the House, and when introduced by unofficial members are commonly known as private members' bills, to distinguish them from Government bills: private bills, designed for the particular interest or benefit of any person or persons, are founded upon the petitions of the parties interested. A public bill may he introduced on motion, or presented without any motion ; the latter process is now usually adopted, and the bill is deemed, after its presentation, to have been read the first time. After a bill has
been introduced it is ordered to be read a second time upon some future day, and to be printed in order that its contents may be published and distributed to members. The first, second and third readings of a bill consist, not in any actual reading of words, but in the advancement by a stage in the passage of a bill. At its second reading the whole principle of the bill is at issue, to be affirmed or denied by a vote of the House. The opponents of the bill, instead of voting against the question "That the bill be now read a second time," ordinarily move that the question be amended by the omission of the word "now" and the addi tion at the end of the question of the words "upon this day three (or 'six') months" or any date beyond the probable duration of the session : the postponement of a proceeding upon a bill in this manner is regarded as the most courteous method of dis missing the bill from further consideration. The acceptance by the House of such an amendment is tantamount to the rejection of the bill and, even if the House be sitting upon the date to which the proceeding has been postponed, the bill is not further con sidered upon that date. It is also competent to a member to move a "reasoned" amendment to a motion for the second read ing of the bill in the form of a resolution declaratory of some principle adverse to the principles, policy or provisions of the bill.
After a bill has been read a second time it is considered by a committee of the whole House, a standing com mittee, or in exceptional circumstances a select committee, who go through it in detail, dealing separately with each of its clauses. If no amendment is offered to any part of a clause the chairman of the committee at once puts the question "That the clause stand part of the bill": if, however, an amendment is proposed the chairman puts the question upon the amendment. Amend ments may be made in every part of the bill, whether in the preamble, the clauses or the schedules. Clauses and schedules may be omitted, and new clauses and schedules may be added. But all amendments must be coherent, consistent with the context of the bill and within the scope of the bill. When a clause has been amended the question put from the chair is "That the clause, as amended, stand part of the bill," and no other amendment to a clause can be proposed after this question has been proposed from the chair. If a new clause is offered, so long as it is not beyond the scope of the bill, inconsistent with clauses agreed to by the committee or substantially the same as a clause previously negatived by the committee, it is read the first time without question put. A question is then put for reading the clause a second time and, if this is agreed to, the clause may be amended before being added to the bill. In the House of Commons, new clauses are considered of ter the clauses of the bill, as printed, have been disposed of ; but in the House of Lords new clauses are brought up and inserted in their proper places while the com mittee are going through the bill. Schedules to a bill are usually considered after the clauses of the bill, including new clauses, have been disposed of. After the clauses and schedules have been agreed to, the preamble of the bill is considered, and the bill is then reported to the House.