Royal assent: Difference between revisions

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A new device for granting Assent was created during the reign of [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]]. In [[1542]], Henry decided to execute his fifth wife, [[Catherine Howard]], whom he accused of committing [[adultery]]; the execution was to be authorised not after a trial but by a [[bill of attainder]], to which he would have to personally assent after listening to the entire text. Henry decided that "the repetition of so grievous a Story and the recital of so infamous a crime" in his presence "might reopen a Wound already closing in the Royal Bosom." Therefore, Parliament inserted a clause into the Act of Attainder, providing that Assent granted by Commissioners "is and ever was and ever shall be, as good" as Assent granted by the Sovereign personally. The procedure was used only five times during the sixteenth century, but more often during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, especially when George III's health began to deteriorate. [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Victoria]] became the last Sovereign to personally grant Assent in [[1854]]. When granting Assent by Commission, the Sovereign authorises three or more (normally five) Lords who are [[Privy Council|Privy Counsellors]] to grant Assent in his or her name. The Lords Commissioners, as the Sovereign's representatives are known, wear scarlet Parliamentary Robes and sit on a bench between the Throne and the [[Woolsack]], with the Speaker and the Commons attending at the Bar of the Lords. The Lords Reading Clerk read the Commission aloud; the senior Commissioner (usually the [[Lord Chancellor]]), then states, "My Lords, in obedience to Her Majesty's Commands, and by virtue of the Commission which has been now read, We do declare and notify to you, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament assembled, that Her Majesty has given Her Royal Assent to the several Acts in the Commission mentioned." Thereafter, the Clerk of the Crown states the title, with the Clerk of the Parliaments responding with the appropriate Norman French formula.

During the [[1960s]], the ceremony of assenting by Commission was discontinued. In [[1960]], the Gentleman Usher of the [[Black Rod]] arrived to summon the House of Commons during a heated debate; several members protested against the disruption by refusing to attend the ceremony. The debacle was repeated in [[1965]]; this time, when the Speaker left the chair to go to the House of Lords, some members continued to make speeches. As a result, the [[Royal Assent Act 1967]] was passed, creating an additional form for the granting of the Royal Assent.

Thus, the granting of Assent by the monarch in person, or Commission is still possible, but this third form is used on a day-to-day basis.

Under the Royal Assent Act 1967, Royal Assent can be granted by the Sovereign in writing, by means of letters patent, that are presented to the presiding officer of each House of Parliament. Then, the presiding officer makes a formal, but simple statement to the House, acquainting each House that the Royal Assent has been granted to the acts mentioned. Thus, unlike the granting of Royal Assent by the Sovereign in person or by Royal Commissioners, the method created by the Royal Assent Act 1967 does not require both Houses to meet jointly for the purpose of receiving the notice of Royal Assent. The standard text of the Letters Patent is set out in The Crown Office (Forms and Proclamations Rules) Order 1992 [http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1992/Uksi_19921730_en_1.htm], with minor amendments in 2000.

No law has been assented to by the monarch in person since the reign of Queen Victoria. However, formally, this still remains the standard method, a fact that is revealled by the wording of the Letters Patent for the appointment of the Royal Commissioners, and by the wording of the Letters Patent for the granting of the Royal Assent in writing under the 1967 Act. (''"... And forasmuch as We cannot at this time be present in the Higher House of Our said Parliament being the accustomed place for giving Our Royal Assent..."'').

The traditional ceremony whereby the Lords Commissioners declare Assent in the presence of both Houses is still followed once at the end of each Parliamentary session. The procedure adopted in 1967 is followed in most cases.

When the Act is assented by the Sovereign in person, or by Royal Commissioners empowered by him, Royal Assent is considered given at the moment when the assent is declared in the presence of both Houses jointly assembled. When the procedure created by the Royal Assent Act, 1967 is followed, Assent is considered granted after the presiding officers of both Houses, having received the Letters Patent from the monarch signifying the Assent, notify their respective House of the grant of Royal Assent. Thus, if each presiding officer makes the announcement at a different time (for instance because one House is not sitting on a certain date), assent is regarded as granted when the second announcement is made. This is relevant because, under British Law, unless there is any provision to the contrary, an Act takes effect on the date in which it receives Royal Assent, and that date is not regarded as being the date when the Letters Patent are signed, or when they are delivered to the presiding officers of each House, but the date in which both Houses have been formally acquainted of the conferral of Assent to the Act.

Independently of the method used to signify the Royal Assent, it is always the responsibility of the Clerk of the Parliaments, once it has been duly notified to both Houses, not only to endorse the Act with the formal Norman French formula, but also to certify that the Assent has been granted, signing one authentic copy of the Bill that has just become an Act, and inserting in this copy, between the text of the enacting clause and the first section of the Act, the date when the Royal Assent was notified to both Houses.