only for a day or two[1]: after which all buſineſs then depending in the houſes was to be begun again. Which cuſtom obtained ſo ſtrongly, that it once became a queſtion[2], whether giving the royal aſſent to a ſingle bill did not of courſe put an end to the ſeſſion. And, though it was then reſolved in the negative, yet the notion was ſo deeply rooted, that the ſtatute 1 Car. I. c. 7. was paſſed to declare, that the king’s aſſent to that and ſome other acts ſhould not put an end to the ſeſſion; and, even ſo late as the reſtoration of Charles II, we find a proviſo tacked to the firſt bill then enacted[3], that his majeſty’s aſſent thereto ſhould not determine the ſeſſion of parliament. But it now ſeems to be allowed, that a prorogation muſt be expreſſly made, in order to determine the ſeſſion. And, if at the time of an actual rebellion, or imminent danger of invaſion, the parliament ſhall be ſeparated by adjournment or prorogation, the king is empowered[4] to call them together by proclamation, with fourteen days notice of the time appointed for their reaſſembling.
A dissolution is the civil death of the parliament; and this may be effected three ways: 1. By the king’s will, expreſſed either in perſon or by repreſentation. For, as the king has the ſole right of convening the parliament, ſo alſo it is a branch of the royal prerogative, that he may (whenever he pleaſes) prorogue the parliament for a time, or put a final period to it’s exiſtence. If nothing had a right to prorogue or diſſolve a parliament but itſelf, it might happen to become perpetual. And this would be extremely dangerous, if at any time it ſhould attempt to encroach upon the executive power: as was fatally experienced by the unfortunate king Charles the firſt; who, having unadviſedly paſſed an act to continue the parliament then in being till ſuch time as it ſhould pleaſe to diſſolve itſelf, at laſt fell a ſacrifice to that inordinate power, which he himſelf had conſented to give them. It is therefore extremely neceſſary that the crown ſhould be empowered to regulate the duration of theſe aſſemblies,
- ↑ Com. Journ. 21 Oct. 1553.
- ↑ Ibid. 21 Nov. 1554.
- ↑ Stat. 12 Car. II. c. 1.
- ↑ Stat. 30 Geo. II. c. 25.
