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be taken by the

Steps that must have received Sacrament of the Lord's Supper within one party before pe- month (a) of the presentation of the bill,-by practice he generally receives it on the Sunday previous.

titioning.

If under age.

Petition made and bill presented.

Disabling clauses

that must be in

Preventing the

He must also, upon the second reading of the bill, take the oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance in the Parliament House, before the Lord Chancellor, if the bill originate in the Upper House, or the Speaker of the House of Commons, if it commence in the Lower-who during the Session have authority to administer the same.

If he be under the age of eighteen his Father or Guardian must present the petition, and appear for him before the Committee. And on proof being given, that the Minor has been educated in the Protestant Religion, he will not be required to take the Oaths of Allegiance or Supremacy, or to receive the Sacrament.

The Petition for the Bill must be signed by the party making the application.

The Bill is generally presented the same day as the petition, and is not, like other Private Bills, required to be printed (b).

By the following Acts of Parliament, all Naturalization serted in the Bill. bills must contain the disabling clauses there referred to. By 1 Geo. 1 stat. 2, ch. 4. No person shall be naturalized unless the bill contain a clause declaring that such person shall not be enabled to be of the Privy Council, or a Member of either House of Parliament*, or enjoy any

party from being a Member of

Parliament, &c.

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r * By the common law, all born hors de ligeance were aliens; and, till the act of settlement (12 & 13 Wm. III. ch. 2) Scotch and Irish were not eligible to be members of Parliament (1). That act declared, that none born out of England, Scotland or Ireland, or the dominions thereto belonging, though naturalized or made a denizen, unless born of English parents, should be capable of sitting in the Privy Council, or either House of Parliament (2). It therefore excluded all born hors de ligeance, both of whose parents were not English. At the dispersion of the French Protestants, a general naturalization act was passed 7 Anne, ch. 5.) by which all persons born hors de ligeance taking certain oaths, and re(1) Glanvylle, 122. C. J. v. 1, pp. 798, 821; v. 8, p. 42.

(2) Vide also 25 Edw. III. stat. 2; Cro. Car. 601; 1 Bl. Com 373,

office of trust, or have any grant from the Crown; and no bill of Naturalization shall be received without such clause.

avoided.

But in the case of a foreigner distinguished for his emi- How this may be nent rank and services, desiring to be naturalized, it is usual to pass an act for the repeal of these statutes in his favour, and then to pass an act of Naturalization without exception (c).

And requiring

seven years, be

By the 14 Geo. III. ch. 84, there must be inserted a clause disabling the person from obtaining thereby, in any his residence for foreign country, any immunity or indulgence in trade, fore he can share in the rights of enjoyed by natural born British subjects, unless he shall trade. have resided in Great Britain or its dependencies, for seven years next before the commencement of the Session in which he is naturalized, and shall not have been absent from the same longer than two months at one time, during the said seven years.

Memorial sent to

Previous to the presentation of the bill, or immediately after, a memorial should be addressed by the petitioner to Secretary of State, by Petithe Secretary of State for the Home Department, stating tioner. his reasons for desiring naturalization, that he professes the Protestant religion, and intends to reside in England. That he is well affected to Her Majesty's Government,

(c) See 2 Hats. 3. Irish Act, 36 Geo. III. ch. 48, s. 3. ceiving the sacrament in some reformed or protestant congregation,-and, by the second section, the children of natural born English subjects born abroad-were constituted natural born subjects to all intents and purposes. An attempt was made to introduce a clause in the first section disabling persons thus naturalized from electing or being elected, but it was rejected by 168 to 67 (3). The first section of this act was, however, repealed by the 10 Anne, ch. 5.

To settle the doubts occasioned by this inconsistent legislation, it was declared by the 4 Geo. II. ch. 21-that all children born abroad, whose fathers were natural born subjects, were themselves natural born subjects.

The 13 Geo. III. ch. 21, went a step farther, by declaring that children born abroad, whose fathers had been declared natural born subjects by the 4 Geo. II. should also be deemed natural born subjects: so that now the grand child of a natural born subject, by the father's side, is, without reference to his birth place or his maternal parentage, a natural born subject also, for all purposes, (Rogers' Elec. Law. 45.)

(3) C. J. v. 17, p. 143.

recommendation

procured.

And Letters of and the British Constitution. Letters of recommendation should also be procured from persons of weight and distinction in the country, who are able and willing to corroborate the above and bear testimony to his orderly life and conduct.

Which are sent to the Alien Office, examined

retary of State.

These letters are then transmitted to the Alien Office for enquiries as to the correctness of their statements, and and sent to Sec- the conduct of the petitioner. Upon these being favorably proved, a certificate of the same will be forwarded from that office to the Secretary of State for the Home Department, who will sign, and transmit it to the Parliament Office.

Before second

reading, certifi

By an order of the Lords, of the 2d Jan. 1807, no Natucate of good con- ralization bill shall be read a second time until the petitioner shall produce a certificate of his good conduct from one of the principal Secretaries of State.

duct required.

On second reading, petitioner and witnesses must be sworn.

Bill committed.

Witnesses examined.

When oaths taken in the

required in the Lords.

On the day fixed for the second reading of the bill, which is generally the day after the above certificate has been obtained, the petitioner (as before stated), must, if more than eighteen, attend at the bar of the House of Lords, supposing the bill to originate there, and be sworn; the witnesses required to prove the administration of the Sacrament, (usually the parish clerk and sexton) being sworn at the same time.

The bill is then committed, and the committee may sit the next day. The party (or, if he be a minor, his parent or guardian) attends at the committee to signify his desire to be naturalized; and then the witnesses, who were sworn the day previous, must be called in to prove the administration of the Sacrament, and the handwriting of the officiating minister to a certificate to that effect.

If the bill originated with the Commons, the person apCommons, not plying for the bill attends and takes the oaths there, between the first and second readings of the bill. They are administered by the Clerk at the Table, after Prayers, but before the Speaker has taken the chair. In that case they

are not again taken in the Lords, nor if the bill commence in the Lords, are they taken again in the Commons (d).

To return to the Lords. The bill is reported and ordered to be engrossed, the same day on which the Commons sits. It is then read a third time, and transmitted to the House of Commons.

Bill reported and passed.

mous.

IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS the ingrossed bill is read a House of Comfirst time on the day it is brought from the Lords, and on the fourth day after it has its second reading. It is then committed, when the same witnesses who were before the Lords must attend the Committee, to prove the administration of the Sacrament. The bill is then reported, read a third time, and returned to the House of Lords, to be presented for the Royal Assent.

passed, &c. par

After the bill has received the Royal Assent, the solici- After Act has tor to the party applying should obtain from the Clerk of ty's solicitor the Parliaments, a certified copy of the Act.

5. NAME BILLS.

Are acts to enable A. B. to take and use the surname "of C. D., and to bear the arms of the name and family of "C. D., pursuant to the will of the said C. D." &c.

Bills of this description may have their commencement in either House, indifferently. There are no Standing Orders expressly regulating their provisions, or the manner in which they shall be proceeded with; the days for their various readings, &c. are, therefore, the same as those provided for Private bills in general, by the Standing Orders of July, 1837.

A petition must be presented in the ordinary manner, and its allegations should be such as will warrant application for the provisions of the bill.

The bill is not required to be printed.

Any will upon which the petition is founded, must be produced and proved by the subscribing witnesses, (or one

(d) Ellis, 205.

should obtain a certified copy.

NAME BILLS.

PART III.

Private BillOffice and Register.

of them), before the committee, and all facts respecting the state of the family, or any other material matters must be regularly proved by parole evidence, as in every other case (a).

PART III.-ON THE PRIVATE BILL OFFICE. (Including Tables of the Fees payable in both Houses of Parliament, on Private Bills.)

On the 5th of June 1810-pursuant to a Report of a Select Committee appointed to consider the means for providing more effectually for the accuracy and regularity of proceedings upon the passage of Private Bills,—the House of Commons adopted several Standing Orders for the appointment and management of a Private Bill Office. These orders have subsequently been amended by the Standing Orders of the 15th July 1837, and are now as follows: :

That a Book to be called "THE PRIVATE BILL REGISTER" be kept in a room to be called "THE PRIVATE BILL OFFICE," in which Book shall be entered, by the clerks to be appointed for the business of that office, the name, description and place of residence of the Parliamentary agent in town, and of the agent in the country (if any) soliciting the Bill; and all the proceedings from the petition to the passing of the Bill, such entry to specify briefly, each day's proceeding in the House, or in any Committee to which the bill or petition may be referred ; the day and hour on which the Committee is appointed to sit; the day and hour to which such Committee may be adjourned; and the name of the Committee Clerk. Such book to be open to public inspection daily, in the said office, between the hours of eleven and six.

That all Plans, Sections, Books of Reference, Lists of

(a) Dwar. 378.

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