PETITION (Lat. pete, I ask), a supplication preferred to one capable of granting it. The right of the British subject to petition the sovereign or either house of parliament for the redress of grievances is a fundamental principle of the British constitution, and has been exercised from very early times. The earliest petitions were generally for the redress of private wrongs, and the mode of trying them was judicial rather than legisla tive. Receivers and triers of petitions were appointed, and proclamation was made — inviting all persons to resort to the receivers. The receivers, who were clerks or masters in chancery, transmitted the petitions to the triers, who were committees of prelates, peers, and judges, who examined into the alleged wrong, sometimes leaving the-matter• to the remedy of the ordinary courts, and sometimes transmitting the petition to the chancellor or the judges; or, if the common law afforded no redress, to parliament. Receivers and triers of petitions are still appointed by the house of lords at the opening of every parliament, though their functions have long since been transferred to parlia ment itself: The earlier petitions were generally addressed to the house of lords; the practice of petitioning the house of commons first became frequent in the reign of Henry IV.
Since the revolution of 1088, the practice has been gradually introduced of petition ing parliament, not so much for the redress of specific grievances as regarding general questions of public policy. Petitions must be in proper form and respectful in language;
and there are eases where petitions to the house of commons will only be received if recommended by the crown, as where an advance of public money, the relinquishment of debts due to the crown. the remission of duties payable by any person, or a charge on the revenues of India have been prayed for. The same is the case with petitions praying for compensation for losses out of the public funds. A petition must, in ordinary cases, be presented by a member of the house to which it is addressed; but petitions from the corporation of London may be presented by the sheriffs or lord mayor. Petitions from the corporation of Dublin have also been allowed to be presented by the lord mayor of that city, and it is believed that a similar privilege would be acceded to the lord provost of Edinburgh.
The practice of the house of lords is to allow a petition to be made the subject of a debate when it is presented; and unless a debate has arisen on it, no public record is kept of its substance, or the parties by whom it is signed. In the house of commons, petitions not relating to matters of urgency are referred to the committee on public petitions, and in certain cases ordered to he printed.
In the five years ending 1842, the number of petitions presented to the house of was 70,072; in the fiVe years ending 1872, 101,578.