Page:Prerogatives of the Crown.djvu/90

 70 P7'erogative as to Parliament. [Ch.VI. number of members, from three to seven inclusive, and shall publish the appointment in the gazette. These members, in the absence of the Speaker, shall have the same authority as is given to him by this statute. These are the only cases pro- vided for by Act of Parliament. So, for any other species of vacancy, no writ can issue during a recess. It would be irrelevant to consider here the mode of electing and returning members, under the writs of summonses ; this does not form any part of the royal authority, but is specifi- cally provided for by various legislative enactments, which are cited and summarily arranged by Sir William Blackstone (a), and other subsequent authors (6), who have written exclu- sively on the subject. The writs of summonses, both in the case of peers and mem- bers of the House of Commons, ought to be under the great seal (c), and should be issued forty days at least before the sitting of Parliament. Tliis is a provision of the Magna Charta of King John, faciemus summoneri, Sfc. ad certum diem, scili- cet ad tei'Tiiinum quadraginta dierum, ad minus et ad certum locum. It is enforced by 7 and 8 Wm. 3. c. 25. which enacts, that there shall be forty days between the teste and the return of the writ of summons ; and this time is, by the uniform practice since the Union, extended to fifty days {d). This practice was introduced by the 22d article of the Act of Union, which re- quired that time between the teste and the return of the writ of summons, for the first Parliament of Great Britain. The members of each House being thus duly assembled, the Parliament, of which the King has been termed the caput, princijnumy et Jinis {e cannot, in point of law, commence but by the presence of his Majesty, either in person or by repre- sentation ; which representation may be either by a guardian of England, by letters patent under the great seal, when the King is in remotis out of the realm, or by commission under the great seal of England, to certain lords of Parliament, representing the person of the King, he being within the realm, in re- (a) 1 Comra, 177, &c. (rf) 2 Hats. 235. (6) And see 2 Bac. Ab. 120, title (e ) 4 Inst. 1,2. Hale of Parliament Court of Parliament,©. I, ante. See in 1 Chalmers' Coll. of (c) And see 24 Geo. G.sess. 2. c. 26, Op. 336, a comment on these woids. s. 2. 1 Chalmers' Op. 234, 6, spect