Royal Assent - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition royal-assent

Definition :

Royal Assent. The act by which the Crown agrees to a bill which has already passed both Houses is called 'The Royal Assent,' which may be given by the sovereign in person in the House of Lords, the Commons standing at the bar; or by the Commissioners appointed by the Crown, under the Declaratory Act (33 Hen. 8, c. 21), for that special purpose and for the single occasion. The forms observed in both cases do not vary, and are as follows: The Lords being assembled in their own House, the Sovereign or the Commissioners seated, and the Commons at the bar, the titles of the several bills which have passed both Houses are read, and the king's or queen's answer is declared by the Clerk of the Parliaments in Norman-French. To a bill of supply, the assent is given in the following words: 'Le roy (or, la reyne) remercie ses loyaux sujets, accepte leur benevolence et ainsi le veult.' To a privte bill it is thus declared: 'Soit fait comme il est desire.' And to public general bills it is given in these terms: 'Le roy (or, la reyne) le veult.' Should the sovereign refuse assent, it is in the gentle language of 'Le roy (or, la reyne) s'avisera.' As acts of grace and amnesty originate with the Crown, the Clerk, expressing the gratitude of the subject, addresses the throne as follows: 'Les prelats, seigneurs, et communs, en ce present parlement assembles, au nom de tout vos autres sujets remercient tres humblement votre majeste et prient a Dieu vous donner en sante bonne vie et longue.' The moment the royal assent has been given, that which was a bill becomes an Act, and instantly has the force and effect of law as from the beginning of that day, unless some time for the commencement of its operation should have been specially appointed, Tomlinson v. Bullock, (1879) 4 QBD 230.

Queen Elizabeth, at the end of one session, rejected forty-eight bills agreed to by both Houses. The power of rejection was exercised in the year 1692 by William III., who at first refused, but in two years afterwards yielded, assent to the bill for triennial parliaments; and for the last time in 1707, when Queen Anne refused her assent to a Scotch militia bill, Dod's Parl. Com. 94.