- Select committees are composed of a limited number of members appointed to inquire into any matter, and report. In the commons, it is usual to give select committees power to send for persons, papers, and records; in the lords, they may, without any special authority, summon witnesses. In neither house can a committee enforce the attendance of a witness; this must he done, when necessary; by the house itself. The commons have certain standing orddrs for insuring the efficiency of committees. and impartiality in their appointment. No committee is to consist of more than fifteen. Members moving for a committee must ascertain whether the members whom they pro pose to name will attend. Lists of the members serving on each committee are to be affixed in the committee clerk's office and the lobby. To every question asked of a wit ness, the name of the member who asks, it is to be prefixed in the minutes of evidence laid before the house: and the names of the members present at each sitting, and, in the event of a division, the question proposed, the name of the proposer, and the votes of each member, are to be entered on the minutes. anti reported to the house. In the lords there are no special rules regarding the appointment and constitution of committees; but resolutions containing arrangements similar to those of the commons regarding ques tions to witnesses, minutes of proceedings, and divisions, have been adopted since 1852: Select committees have the power of adjournment from time to time, and sometimes from plaCe to place. By an anomaly not easily explained, the commons have always been considered not to have the power of administering oaths: a power of examining on oath has, however, by statute been granted to election committees, and committees on private bills in the house of lords, witnesses had formerly to attend at the bar of the house to be sworn; but the oath may now be administered by any committee of the house. Except where leave of absence has been obtained, no member, unless above the age of sixty, can excuse himself from serving on committees, or for not attending when, his attendauce has been made compulsory by order of the house. In committees on private bills in the commons, the chairman has a deliberative as well as a casting vote. Since 1864, joint committees of both houses, composed of an equal number of members of each, have occasionally been appointed.
Bill..—The principal business which occupies both houses is the passing of bills. In early times, laws were enacted in the form of petitions from the commons, which were entered on the rolls of parliament, with the king's answers subjoined; and at the close of the session, these imperfect records were drawn up in the form of a statute, which was entered on the statute rolls. It was found that, on undergoing this process, the acts passed by the parliament were often both added to and mutilated, and much of the megis halve power practically came into the hands of the judges. Bills in the form of com plete statutes were first introduced in the reign of Henry VI. Bills arc either public or private; the former affect the general interests of the community, the latter relate to local matters. Public bills are introduced directly by members; private bills by peti tions from the parties interested, presented by members. Bills may originate in either house; but the exclusive right of the commons to deal with all legislation regarding taxes or supplies, makes it necessary and expedient that by far the greater part of both public and private bills, except such as are of a purely personal nature, should originate in the lower house. Bills regarding restitution of honors originate in the house of lords. One description of act alone originates with the crown—an act of grace or pardon. It is read only once in each house, and cannot be amended, hut must be accepted in the form in which it is received from the crown, or rejected.
Public the house of lords, any member may present a bill. In the com mons, any member may move for leave to bring in a bill, except it be for imposing a tax, when an order of the house is required. When the motion is seconded and leave given, the mover and seconder are ordered to prepare and bring in the bill. Such bills, however, as relate to religion, trade, grants of public money, or taxation, are required to be introduced by the house itself, on a report of the committee of whole house. A bill is drawn out on paper, with blanks or italics where any part is doubtful, or where sums have to be inserted. It is read a first lime, and a day fixed for a second reading. allowing a sufficient interval to let it be printed and circulated. When ready, which is often as soon as the motion for leave to bring it in has been agreed to, it is presented at the bar by one of the members who were ordered to prepare and bring it in, and after wards, on an intimation from the speaker, brought up to the table. The question is put, " that the bill he now read a first time," which is rarely objected to; and in the commons can only be opposed by a division. The short title of the bill, as entered to the orders of the day and indorsed on the bill, is then read aloud, which is accounted sufficient compliance with the order of the house. A day is then appointed for consid ering the question, " that the bill be read a second time," allowing a sufficient interval to elapse to let it be printed and circulated. At the second reading the member in charge of the hill moves "that the hill be now read a second time." This is the usual time for opposing a bill whose general principle is disapproved. This is done by an amendment to the question, by leaving out the word "now," and adding "this day three months," " this day six months," or some other time beyond the probable duration of the session. Counsel are sometimes allowed to plead at the second reading or other stages. If the bill be approved on,the second reading, it is committed, either to a select committee, or to a committee of the whole house, to consider its provisions in detail.
When the proceedings in committee are terminated, the bill is reported to the house with amendments, which may he agreed to, amended, or disagreed to. . It is then ordered to he read a third time, when the entire measure is reviewed. No amendments, except what are verbal. can then be made, and the question is put to the house, "That this bill do now pass." The title of the bill is last settled. The bill, when passed by the com mons, is sent to the lords, where it goes through the same forms: if rejected, no further notice is taken of it; if passed, a message is sent to the commons that the bill is agreed to. If amendments have been made, they are sent down along with the bill to be dis cussed by the commons; and if they are not agreed to, a conference is demanded by the commons, to offer reasons for disagreeing to the amendments. A conference is a mode of communicating on important limiters between the houses, in which each house is brought into direct contact with the other by.a deputation of its own members—the time and place of meeting, being always fixed by the lords. A conference is conducted, for both houses, by managers, who, on the part of the house desiring the conference (in time case supposed, the commons), consist of the members who have drawn up the reasons, with others sometimes added. If the lords he not satisfied with the reasons offered, a second conference is desired. after which what is called a "free conference" may be demanded, in which the managers have more discretion vested in them to advance what arguments they please. No free conference has been held since 1740. By resolutions of both houses, agreed to in 1851, reasons for disagreement from amendments nay be communicated by messages without r. r.raerence, unless the other house si.onfi desire a conference; and since that time HMI e vas been but one instance of a conference where a message would have been available. If the commons eventually agree to the amend MCI] tS, the bill is sent back to the lor.lr; if not, it is dropped. The same forms are gone through when a bill originates in the house of lords. The official record of the assent of one house to the bills passed, nr amendments made by the other, is an indorsem•ut on the bill iu French. Thus, when a bill is passed by the commons, the clerk of the house writes on the top of it, "Snit ladle aux seignieurs." When the lords make amendment to a hill, it is iemrned with the indorsement, "A ceste bine avesque des amendments les seignieurs assentus." When it is sent back with these :intend ments agreed to, the clerk of the house of commons writes, " A ces amendments les eonunames sons assentus." Wiien both houses have agreed to a bill, it is deposited in the house of lords, to await ',De royal assent, unless it be a money-bill, which is sent back to the commons Private bills, the functions of parliament partake of the judicial as well as the legislative cLaracter, and the difficulties of reconciling the interests of the public and of indiviib:als often give rise to inquiries too extensive for the house to undertake, which tiv.meiore delegates them to committees. The standing orders require certain notices to given to parties interested by personal service, and to the public by advertisement. The practice in both houses now is for nil petitions for private bills to be referred to Soar "examiners," two from the lords and two from the commons, whose duty it is to examine whether certain notices and other forms required by the standing orders of the house have been complied with. If the report be favorable, leave is given to bring it the bill; if unfavorable, it is referred to a committee, called the committee on standims r,rders, who report on the propriety of relaxing the standing orders in this indi vidual cr.se—should they report unfavorably, it is still in the power of the house to relax the standing orders, though this is rarely done. Three days must elapse between the first and second reading. At the second reading, the principle is considered, as in the case of public bills; and if the bill be carried, it is referred, it' not a railway, canal, or divorce bill, to the "committee of selection," consisting of the chairman of the standing orders committee, and five other members nominated at the beginning of the session. w hose func tions are to classify the bills, to nominate the committees on them, and to arrange their time of sitting. A railway or canal bill is referred to the " general committee of railway and canal bills." This committee forms bills of this class into groups, and appoints the chairman of the committee which is to each bill from its own body, the remaining members, four in number, being chosen from the committee of selection. Before the sitting of the committee, every private bill, whether opposed or unopposed, must be examined by the chairman of the committee of ways and means and his council. It is also laid before the chairman of the lords' committee and his council, and effect is given to their observations, a proceeding which greatly facilitates the after-progress of the hill in the house of lords. The board of trade, the secretary of state for the home depart ment, the lords' commissioners of the admiralty, and the commissioners of woods and forests, also exercise a supervision over private bills of various kinds, by which the respective rights of their departments may be supposed to be encroached on. In the house of lords, estate bills are referred to the judges. Every bill, at the first reading, is referred to the examiners, Before whom compliance with such standingorders as have not been previously inquired into must be proved. The standing orders committee of the lords is now assimilated in functions to that of the COM mons. The bill is returned to the commons either with amendments, or with a message that it is agreed to without amendments. In case of disagreement between the houses, the same forms are observed as in public bills.