I. As to the manner and time of aſſembling. The parliament is regularly to be ſummoned by the king’s writ or letter, iſſued out of chancery by advice of the privy council, at leaſt forty days before it begins to ſit. It is a branch of the royal prerogative, that no parliament can be convened by it’s own authority, or by the authority of any, except the king alone. And this prerogative is founded upon very good reaſon. For, ſuppoſing it had a right to meet ſpontaneouſly, without being called together, it is impoſſible to conceive that all the members, and each of the houſes, would agree unanimouſly upon the proper time and place of meeting: and if half of the members met, and half abſented themſelves, who ſhall determine which is really the legiſlative body, the part aſſembled, or that which ſtays away? It is therefore neceſſary that the parliament ſhould be called together at a determinate time and place: and highly becoming it’s dignity and independence, that it ſhould be called together by none but one of it’s own conſtituent parts: and, of the three conſtituent parts, this office can only appertain to the king; as he is a ſingle perſon, whoſe will may be uniform and ſteady; the firſt perſon in the nation, being ſuperior to both houſes in dignity; and the only branch of the legiſlature that has a ſeparate exiſtence, and is capable of performing any act at a time when no parliament is in being[1]. Nor is it an exception to this rule that, by ſome modern ſtatutes, on the demiſe of a king or queen, if there be then no parliament in being, the laſt parliament revives, and is to ſit again for ſix months, unleſs diſſolved by the ſucceſſor: for this revived parliament muſt have been originally ſummoned by the crown.
- ↑ By motives ſomewhat ſimilar to theſe the republic of Venice was actuated, when towards the end of the ſeventh century it aboliſhed the tribunes of the people, who were annually choſen by the ſeveral diſtricts of the Venetian territory, and conſtituted a doge in their ſtead; in whom the executive power of the ſtate at preſent reſides. For which their hiſtorians have aſſigned theſe, as the principal, reaſons. 1. The propriety of having the executive power a part of the legiſlative, or ſenate; to which the former annual magiſtrates were not admitted, 2. The neceſſity of having a ſingle perſon to convoke the great council when ſeparated. (Mod. Un. Hiſt. xxvii. 15.)
