Royal Assent - United Kingdom - Ceremony

Ceremony

In the United Kingdom, a bill is presented for Royal Assent after it has been passed by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Alternatively, under the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, the House of Commons may, under certain circumstances, direct that a bill be presented for Assent despite non-passage in the House of Lords. Officially, Assent is granted by the Sovereign or by Lords Commissioners authorised to act by letters patent. It may be granted in Parliament or outside Parliament; in the latter case, each House must be separately notified before the bill takes effect.

The Clerk of the Parliaments, an official of the House of Lords, traditionally states a formula in Anglo-Norman Law French indicating the Sovereign's decision. The granting of the Royal Assent to a supply bill is indicated with the words La Reyne remercie ses bons sujets, accepte leur benevolence, et ainsi le veult, translated as "The Queen thanks her good subjects, accepts their bounty, and wills it so." For other public or private bills, the formula is simply La Reyne le veult (the Queen wills it). For personal bills, the phrase was Soit fait comme il est désiré (let it be as it is desired). The appropriate formula for withholding Assent is the euphemistic La Reyne s'avisera (the Queen will consider it). When the Sovereign is male, Le Roy is substituted for La Reyne.

Before the reign of Henry VIII, the Sovereign always granted his or her Assent in person. The Sovereign, wearing the Imperial State Crown, would be seated on the Throne in the Lords Chamber, surrounded by heralds and members of the Royal Court—a scene that nowadays is repeated only at the annual State Opening of Parliament. The Commons, led by their Speaker, would listen from the Bar of the Lords, just outside the Chamber. The Clerk of the Parliaments presented the bills awaiting Assent to the Sovereign, save that supply bills were traditionally brought up by the Speaker. The Clerk of the Crown, standing on the Sovereign's right, then read aloud the titles of the bills (in earlier times, the entire text of the bills). The Clerk of the Parliaments, standing on the Sovereign's left, responded by stating the appropriate Norman French formula.

A new device for granting Assent was created during the reign of Henry VIII. In 1542, Henry sought 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 16th century, but more often during the 17th and 18th centuries, especially when George III's health began to deteriorate. 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 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 reads the Commission aloud; the senior Commissioner 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, and is now only employed once a year, at the end of the annual parliamentary session. In 1960, the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod arrived to summon the House of Commons during a heated debate, and 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, 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 recited 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...").

When the Act is assented by the Sovereign in person, or by Royal Commissioners empowered by the Sovereign, 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 when the presiding officers of both Houses, having received the Letters Patent from the Sovereign signifying the Assent, have notified 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 effective when the second announcement is made. This is important 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 Royal Assent, it is the responsibility of the Clerk of the Parliaments, once it has been duly notified to both Houses, not only to endorse the Act in the name of the Sovereign with the formal Norman French formula, but to certify that Assent has been granted. The Clerk signs one authentic copy of the Bill, and inserts the date in which when Royal Assent was notified to the two Houses between the text of the enacting clause and the first section of the Act. When an Act is published, the signature of the clerk is omitted, as is the Norman French formula, should the endorsement have been made in writing. However the date when Royal Assent is notified is printed in brackets.