Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/736

704 PETITION private and local grievances, or for remedies beyond those possessed by the courts. As equity grew into a system, peti tions of this kind tended to become superseded by bills in chancery (see CHANCERY). Statutes were originally drawn up by the judges at the close of the session of parliament from the petitions of the Commons and the answers of the crown. In the drawing up of the statutes frauds were at times committed, the judges not always reciting correctly the tenor of the petition or answer. To obviate this danger complete statutes in the form of bills began to be introduced into parliament in the reign of Henry VI. The crown could accept or reject them, but could not alter them (see Hallam, Middle Ages, ch. viii. pt. 3). A relic of the old form of the statute founded upon petition still remains in the preamble of Appropriation Acts and other statutes creating a charge upon the public revenue. It runs thus : " We, your majesty s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of the United Kingdom ... do most humbly beseech your majesty that it may be enacted; and be it enacted, &c.," from this point following the en acting words common to all statutes. Petitions to the crown from the House of Commons in other matters now usually take the form of addresses. The crown may refer petitions presented to it to be adjudicated upon by a dele gated authority. This is the course pursued in the case of peerage claims, which are referred to the House of Lords, and by that House to the committee for privileges, and in the case of petitions to the crown in council, with which the judicial committee in most cases deals (see below); or the crown may delegate the power of receiving petitions in the first instance. Examples of petitions to the delegated authority are those addressed to a court of justice or those addressed to the home secretary for the pardon or mitigation of punishment of a convicted criminal. Petitions to the houses of legislature seem to have been later in origin than petitions to the crown. The political importance of petition ing dates from about the reign of Charles I. The develop ment of the practice of petitioning had proceeded so far in the reign of Charles II. as to lead to the passing of 1 3 Car. II. c. 5 against tumultuous petitioning. This is still law, though it has ceased to be enforced. It provides that no petition or address shall be presented to the king or either house of parliament by more than ten persons ; nor shall any one procure above twenty persons to consent or set their hands to any petition for alteration of matters estab lished by law in church or state, unless with the previous order of three justices of the county, or the major part of the grand jury. Up to 1688 petitions usually dealt only with some specific grievance ; from that time dates the present practice of petitioning with regard to general measures of public policy. Since 1833 more than 700,000 petitions on public matters have been presented to the House of Commons. Petitions to the crown need not apparently be in any particular form, but no doubt they would not be received if couched in unbecoming language. Petitions to the Houses of Lords and Commons must be framed in a prescribed form. They must be properly superscribed, and must conclude with a prayer. They must be in writing (in the Commons), must contain none but genuine signatures, and must be free from disrespectful language or imputations upon any tribunal or constituted authority. They must be presented by a member of the House, except petitions to the House of Commons from the corporation of London, which may be presented at the bar by the sheriffs, and from the corporation of Dublin, which may be presented by the lord mayor. Though a petition is made to the House, in practice petitions to the Commons are referred to the committee on public peti tions, under whose directions they are classified and analysed. In the Lords receivers and triers of petitions are still appointed, though their functions have long been obsolete. Petitions may be sent free by post to members of either house, provided they fulfil certain conditions as to weight, <fec. (see May, Parliamentary Practice, ch. xix.). In the United States the right of petition is secured by Art. 1 of the Amended Constitution, which enacts that " Congress shall make no law abridging . . . the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Petitions to a Court of Justice. Strictly speaking these are no doubt an indirect mode of petitioning the crown, for in the theory of English law the crown is the fountain of justice. But it is more convenient to treat them sepa rately, as they now form a part of the practice of the courts. Appeals to the House of Lords and the privy council are prosecuted by petition of appeal. The House of Lords has now no original jurisdiction in judicial matters ; the original jurisdiction of the privy council in such matters is confined to petitions under certain statutes, such as the Endowed Schools Acts 1867 and 1873, the Public Schools Act 1868, the L T niversities Act 1877, and the Patents Act 1883. In most cases the petitions are referred to the judicial committee of the privy council. Petitions may be addressed to the lord chancellor in a few instances, such as the sealing of patents and the removal of coroners and county court judges. The most important use of petitions in England is in the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice. They may be presented either as interlocutory proceedings in the course of an action, or as original proceedings where no litigation exists, a petition being generally a more cheap and speedy form of remedy than an action. Petitions in the course of an action are usually presented to the court in which the action is brought. Examples of original petitions are those under the Lands Clauses Acts, the Trustee Acts, the Companies Acts. In a few cases they may be brought by way of appeal, e.g., under the Charitable Trusts Act 1860. Peti tions are also modes of procedure in other courts with juris diction in equity, as the chancery courts of the county palatine of Lancaster and the county courts, in the latter only in certain cases falling within the County Courts Act 1865, 28 and 29 Viet. c. 99, s. 1 (5) and (6). They arc used to initiate proceedings in bankruptcy and divorce, but are almost unknown in the Queen s Bench Division ; the only case of procedure by petition in that division seems to be the petition to sue in forma pauperis. Evi dence in support of a petition is usually given by affidavit. In Scotland petitions in the Court of Session are either original or in a pending action. Original petitions are presented to one of the divisions of the inner house, unless they are included in any of the matters mentioned in 20 and 21 Viet. c. 56, s. 4, when they are brought before the junior lord ordinary, or unless, by special statutory provision, they may be brought before any lord ordinary, as in the case of petitions under the Conjugal Rights Act 1861, or the Trusts Act 1867. In the sheriff court actions are commenced by petition (39 and 40 Viet. c. 70, s. 6). A petition and complaint is a process of a quasi-criminal nature by which certain matters of extraordinary jurisdic tion are brought under the notice of the Court of Session. It lies against magistrates and officers of the law for breach of duty, against parties guilty of contempt of court, &c. The concurrence of the lord advocate is necessary to a petition and complaint. A reclaiming petition, obsolete in the Court of Session, is a form of process of appeal in the sheriff court. See 39 and 40 Viet. c. 70, ss. 28, 30. In the United States petitions can be presented to the courts under much the same circumstances as in England. " It is a general rule in such cases that an affidavit should be made that the facts therein contained are true as far as