Page:Prerogatives of the Crown.djvu/89

 Ch.VI.] Prerogative as to Parliament. 6S King ought to convene within that period a new Parliament, for as the law now stands, Parliaments last for seven years, unless sooner dissolved by royal authority {a). On a Parliament being called together, every lord, spiritual «or temporal, is entitled, ex debito justitics, to a writ of sum- mons {b). This writ issues out of chancery, and each member should have a distinct one sent to him (c), which, as we have already seen, he is obliged to obey (^). Upon a general election of members to serve in the House of Commons, writs of summons are issued, and directed to the sheriff of every county, by the clerk of the Crown in the Court of Chancery, in pursuance of a warrant from the Lord Chan- cellor for that purpose. If a vacancy happen during the sit- ting of Parliament, the Speaker of the House of Commons, by order of the House, sends this warrant to the clerk of the Crown {e). With regard to a vacancy by death, or the mem- i3er's becoming a peer, the statute 24? Geo. 3. sess. 2. c. 26. provides that, if during any recess, either by prorogation or adjournment, any two members give notice to the Speaker, by a certificate under their hand^, that there is a vacancy by death, or that a writ of summons has issued, under the great seal, to call up any member to the House oi Lords, the Speaker shall forthwith give notice of it to be inserted in the gazette ; and, at the end of fourteen days after such insertion, he shall issue his warrant to the clerk of the Crown, £<Mnmand- ing him to make out anew writ for the election of another member. But this does not extend to any case where there is a petition depending, concerning such vacant seat, or where the writ for the election of the member so vacating, had not been returned fifteen days before the end of the last sitting of the House, or where the new writ cannot issue before the next meeting of the House for the dispatch of business. And, to prevent any impediment in the execution of this Act, by the Speaker's absence from the kingdom, or by the vacancy of his seat, at the beginning of every Parliament he shall appoint any (a) 1 Geo. 1. St. 2. c. 38. ment; vide Reg. 261 ; F. N. B. 229. {b) 4 Itist. 1 . For the form of the 4 Inst. 4. summons, Cotton's Records, 3, 4. Of (c) 4 Inst. 4. the manner of summoning King's coun- (rf) Ante ch. 2. s. 2. sel, and civilians, masters in Chancery, (<?) 1 Bla. Com. 177, where see^the who have no voices ; and howr the writ statutes on this subject cited, (differs from that to a lord of Parlia- number