more important measures, to the whole House sitting in Committee, if the House so decides on a motion. During the Committee stage, members may suggest appropriate amendments, which will be incorporated into the Bill if the majority of the Committee agree. When this stage is finished, the Bill is reported to the House, and a further debate takes place during which additional amendments and alterations may be suggested and incorporated and, if necessary, the Bill may be recommitted to Committee. Finally, it is submitted for a Third Reading and, if passed, it is sent on from the Commons to the Lords or from the Lords to the Commons (depending on its place of origin), where it enters on the same course again.[1]
After a Bill has passed through its various parliamentary stages, it is sent to the Sovereign for Royal Assent, which is automatically given either by the Sovereign in person or (usually) by commission. The right of veto has not been exercised since the early eighteenth century.
An exception to this procedure is made in the case of Money Bills, of which the two most important are the Finance Bill, which authorizes annual taxation and amends existing taxation, and the Appropriation Bill, which authorizes expenditure on the Supply Services from the ConsoHdated Fund.[2] As a general rule, these Bills must be introduced in the House of Commons upon Resolutions in a Committee of the whole House and, since their purpose is to raise money for the Crown as a means of providing for payment of the various services performed by the Crown, they may be initiated only by a Minister of the Crown.
The majority of Bills introduced in the House of Lords pass through the Commons without difficulty because of their non-controversial nature; and they are then returned to the Lords to be brought forward for Royal Assent. However, should any Lords Bill be unacceptable to the Commons, it would never reach the Statute Book, for no debating time would be allotted to it—at any rate until a new Government came into power, when it might be revived. The Lords, on the other hand, are unlikely to be able to prevent a Bill passed in the Commons from becoming law. In the normal course of events, they either accept a Bill from the Commons and return it unchanged; or they amend it and return it for the consideration of members of the other House, who frequently agree to die amendments made. They cannot require the Commons to agree to amendments; nor can they delay a Bill indefinitely. They have no powers in respect of Money Bills or Bills dealing with the duration of Parliament; and since the passing of the Parliament Act, 1949, any other Bill which has been passed by the House of Commons in two successive sessions may be presented for Royal Assent without the consent of the Lords, provided that a year has elapsed between the date of the Second Reading of the Bill in the Commons and the date on which it is finally passed in that House. These limitations to the powers of the Lords are based on the fundamental principle that the function of the Upper House, which is a non-representative assembly, is not to thwart the will of the people, but to use the combined experience and wisdom of its members to ensure that that will is precisely and reasonably interpreted.
Parliament's function of controlling the Government in power is exercised in the final analysis by the power of the House of Commons to pass a resolution of 'no-confidence' in the Government, or to reject a proposal which the Government considers so vital to
- ↑ Private Bill procedure is somewhat different. Such Bills begin with a petition, and promoters must give notice of their intention to all persons and bodies whose interests may be affected by their proposals. Committees are small, consisting of five members in the Lords and four members in the Commons. The Committee stage is quasi-judicial, and provision is made for counsel to represent supporters and opposers of the Bill.
- ↑ See also pp. 97-8.
