THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS AROUND THE GLOBE

By Ayush Chandra 13 Minutes Read

GREAT BRITAIN

The legislative method arrives at us of ancient ages. During the old days of the British Parliament, applications by the Commons in connection to legislation were introduced to the King in the scheme of appeals. [1] When the King Assembled Parliament inquiring supply, in the entrance, the Commons granted the appeals for which they wanted to achieve his approval. Petitions could be each oral or in literature. Those that the King determined to award [2]were then signed up by his advisors in the construction of ordinances [3] which were recorded on the Statute Rolls. The statutes followed the expression of the appeal and the King’s reply, but the King and his advisors usually took the leadership of revising the expression of the petition moderately broadly, and in some examples disappointed to hold to the reply that had been delivered. One major step in the method was taken in 1414 when the Commons demanded Henry V (1413-22) to be deemed “as well Assentirs as Petitioners” and further valued that when their appeals were recorded in the usage of law, they not be modified without their permission. A few years later, throughout the reign of Henry VI (1422-61; 1470-71), the Commons resulted in discovering the tradition of producing their applications in connection to legislation introduced to the King in the form of drafts, and they received the King’s promise that those drafts would not be modified without their permission[4].

The development of the role of the Commons in the legislative method was also impressed by the modifications made to the enacting article used in statutes. Starting at the origin of the reign of Edward III (1327-77), the words “at the question of the Commons” were used as the enacting article. Under Henry VI, the terms “by the authority of Parliament” first developed in legislation, indicating the increasing control of the Commons in the legislative method.

Once it had been accepted that the statutes should certainly consider Parliament’s questions in connection to legislation, it converted necessary to create procedural laws to manage the foundation and entrance of drafts. By the end of the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603), the tradition of three texts, with no discussion on the first reading and source of the draft to a committee after second reading, was previously strongly entrenched[5].

CANADA

Before Confederation

In the years introducing Confederation, the associations of the Canadian communities relied on British administrative laws in managing their thoughts. The legislative associations of Upper and Lower Canada that were established by the Constitutional Act, 1791 succeeded the British parliamentary procedure. The parliamentary means of the Assembly of Upper Canada, though, was not as complex as that of the Assembly of Lower Canada, which had selected a larger number of laws of procedure in 1792 for establishing its laws.

The first Canadian code of procedure, which was announced in March 1793 under the heading Rules and Regulations of the House of Assembly, Lower Canada,[6] included preparations to administer both the foundation and the entrance of the laws of that assembly. At that time, organizations have often selected the task of forming a draft. Every draft had to be presented by change, and be awarded three expressions in both languages, and could not be revised or connected to a committee before accepting the next reading. Every law also had to be written before the next reading. After being established by the Assembly, laws were transferred to the Legislative Council for approval by members of the Council and eventually for Royal Assent[7]. At the time of the Union of Upper and Lower Canada in 1840, the legislative associations had to accept a common procedure. Most of the laws that were selected at that time were these in power in the Assembly of Lower Canada. The procedure for the entrance of public bills continued substantially the same. Nevertheless, several preparations were assumed to administer with individual drafts.

Since Confederation

When the House of Commons of Canada gathered for the first time on November 6, 1867, it opened its operations under the laws of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada, which previously included requirements connecting to the consideration of drafts. On December 20, 1867, it adopted the announcement of a unique committee that had been directed to support the Speaker in discovering the laws of procedure for the House. The only significant difference that was given to the rules of the previous Legislative Assembly of Canada associated largely with the means for holding private bills[8]. Consequently, the sections that resemble the Rules of the previous Legislative Assembly of Canada under the title “Proceedings on Bills” [9]were printed in full in the prime edition of the Standing Orders of the House of Commons.

Some of the laws regarding the legislative means that were in impact at Confederation are however in effect today. Some examples are the Standing Orders preventing the presentation of bills in blank or in an incomplete form, and specifying that all bills be recorded three times on several days, be published in both official languages, and be approved by the Clerk of the House on each interpretation. The laws of procedure administering the legislative method have been revised on several seasons since 1867 to promote the idea of public bills, increasing the roles of committees, and providing for greater cooperation by Members of the House of Commons. For example, until 1913, a Member had to ask permission of the House if he needed to add a bill, and that change could be discussed and improved. In April 1913, the House resolved that proposals for leave to add a bill would no extend be questioned or changed. As well, in 1955, it combined another preparation to the Standing Orders defining the method by which a Member who introduced such a proposal would be granted permission to present a summary of the bill. In 1991, the House again changed the Standing Orders to implement that motions for permission to add a bill be considered to be taken, without debate, motion or question put. Some procedural laws were also revised to provide the House to promote its business. From Confederation until 1927, there was essentially no interval border on the length of Members’ communications. Discussions on laws’ strength sometimes go on for many days. In 1927, the House approved a Standing Order requiring a destination on the addresses of most Members. That basic rule continued in effect without alteration until 1982, the year when the House consolidated specific requirements into the legislative rule dictating the length of communications and the session for problems and observations.

At the origin of the Thirty-Fifth Parliament in 1994, the Standing Orders were repeatedly revised to make the legislative means more manageable. New preparations were attached comparing to the development and production of bills by committees and to the choice of including bills to either standing, specific or legislative committees. Nevertheless, drafts based on Supply considerations extended to be assigned to a Committee of the Whole. Besides, it became permissible for a Minister to move that a government bill be assigned to a committee before second reading. Although the House has since responded to the former practice of covering bills only to standing and special commissions, the rules concerning the referral of drafts to legislative committees have not been developed. They still survive but have not been told to since the modifications to the Standing Orders in 1994.

[1] See A.R. Myers, “Parliamentary Petitions in the Fifteenth Century”, The English Historical Review, Vol. LII, (1937), pp. 590-613. For a historical overview of the legislative process in Great Britain, the following texts may be consulted: Sir William R. Anson, The Law and Custom of the Constitution, 4th ed., revised edition (1911)
[2] A favourable reply was expressed by the words le roy le veult, a negative reply by the words le roy s’avisera.Until the latter part of the reign of Edward III (1327-77), all parliamentary proceedings were conducted in French. The use of English was extremely rare until the reign of Henry IV (1399-1413). Beginning with the reign of Henry VII (1485-1509), English was used for all proceedings, with the exception of Royal Assent, which was always expressed in Norman French (May, 11th ed., pp. 512-3; 22nd ed., p. 565).
[3] The expression “statut” is used in French to mean “loi” or “law” only in reference to Great Britain and, by extension, to the other Commonwealth Parliaments. However, in Canada, the expression “loi” is used in French
[4] Although Henry VI and Edward IV (1461-70 and 1471-83) occasionally added new provisions to statutes without consulting Parliament, the form of legislating as we know it today has its origin in the reign of Henry VI (May, 11th ed., p. 459).
[5] J.E. Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons, Hammondsworth: Penguin Books, 1st ed. (1949), revised edition (1963), p. 356.
[6] At that time, this was a 73-page document that had been prepared by a committee of the Assembly under the direction of Speaker Jean-Antoine Panet
[7] Every bill first had to be submitted to the Governor, or the Governor’s representative, for assent in His/Her Majesty’s name. Assent could be given or withheld, or the Governor could reserve assent and submit the bill for the “Signification of his Majesty’s Pleasure thereon”
[8] Debates, December 20, 1867
[9] For a number of years, the expression “Bill” was used in both English and French to refer to bills. The expression “projet de loi” was first used in the French version of the Standing Orders of the House in 1982.

Ayush Chandra