British Parliamentary Papers A Legal Perspective September 2003

British Parliament House of Commons – 659 Members Prime Minister is a Member of the House of Commons Cabinet Members are MP’s House of Lords – 689 Peers 92 hereditary peers, rest are life peers Executive branch and legislative branch are blended

Two types of legislation Primary legislation Statutes / Acts Secondary legislation Statutory instruments Equivalent to U.S. federal regulations

British Legislative Process Bill introduced into either House First Reading Second Reading Committee Stage Report Stage Third Reading Sent to other house (repeat above steps) Referral back to original house Royal Assent More information: UK Parliament Factsheet L1

Acts of Parliament - Sources 30 – 60 acts passed per year HMSO web site forward Public General Acts and Measures

Citation of an Act Before Jan. 1, 1963 Parliamentary session of regnal year and chapter number Example: Bill of Sale Act of 1854, 17 & 18 Vict., ch. 36 After Jan. 1, 1963 Year and chapter number Example: Homelessness Act 2002, c. 7

Sources of Statutes Halsbury’s Statutes of England and Wales LexisNexis (commercial) Historical sources Statutes of the Realm (1235 – 1713) Statutes at Large (1714 – 1800s) Various sets Public General Acts and Measures (1831 forward)

Sessional Papers Command Papers House of Commons Papers House of Commons Bills House of Lords Papers and Bills

Command Papers “By Command of Her Majesty” Royal Commission reports Law Commission reports Statements of government policy Reports of tribunals or inquiry State papers / treaties Command paper number and UK Treaty number

Citation of Command Papers Currently in Sixth Series First series – no abbreviation (1833 – 1869) Second series – C. (1870 – 1899) Third series – Cd. (1900 – 1918) Fourth series – Cmd. (1919 – 1956) Fifth series – Cmnd. (1956 – 1986) Sixth series – Cm. ( )

Command Paper - Example Jack Straw, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, The United Kingdom in the United Nations, Cm (Sept. 2003).

Indexes of Command Papers Concordance of Command Papers (1833 – 1972) in J.E. Pemberton, British Official Publications (2 nd ed.) Before , use the sessional index After , use the command number

House of Commons Papers Committee Reports Accounts and Statistics Selected annual reports required by Parliament Example: H.C , National Audit Office, The Administration of Student Loans

Bills Draft versions of Acts Two types Private Member’s bill Government bill First volume(s) of sessional papers Parliament web site House of Commons Weekly Bulletin

House of Commons Sessional Papers Contents? 1982 / 1983 – 41 volumes Bills (Nos. 1 –155) – vol. 1 through 4 House of Commons Papers – next 29 vols. Various reports, numbered in sequence Command Papers – next 7 volumes Ex: Vol. 34 – Cmnds. 8689, Index – 1 volume Subject Index List of Documents

Parliamentary Debates Official Report of Debates (Hansard) First Series (1803 –1820) Second Series (1820 – 1830) Third Series (1830 – 1891) Fourth Series (1892 – 1908) Fifth Series (1909 – 1981) Sixth Series (1981 – present) Parliament web site (from present)

Voting Records Votes are called divisions Aye Lobby and Nay Lobby Hansard’s Debates Votes located within the verbatim transcript

Standing Committee Debates Parliament web site From present Separate print series (Princeton does not own) Began present

Indexes to British Parliamentary Papers Subject Catalogue of the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (1801 – 1900) Indexes of Parliamentary Papers (CD ROM) Covers House of Commons (1801 – 1944/45) and House of Lords (1801 – 1922) Index to the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (CD-ROM) Covers 1801 – 1999 / Chadwyck Healey (Not at PU)

BOPCRIS On the web Covers 1688 – 1995 Approx. 23,000 key documents of approx. 250,000 documents in total

Other Electronic Indexes POLIS (1997 -) - UK Parliament database, free Includes Hansard’s Debates, Written Questions and Oral Questions Parlianet ( ) Fee based bibliographic database with some full text UKOP ( ) Fee based bibliographic database of 450,000 + British government publications

Non-Parliamentary Documents TSO Daily Lists Prior to 1972 HMSO Catalogues TSO Catalogues

US – UK Comparison House of Commons Sessional Papers Hansards Halsbury’s Public General Acts and Measures House of Commons Weekly Bulletin Serial Set Congressional Record U.S.C.A. Statutes at Large Thomas at loc.gov