Royal Assent
Royal assent is the formal method by which a monarch or the monarch's representative in many constitutional monarchies completes the process of the enactment of legislation by formally assenting to an Act of Parliament. In most republics, this process is referred to as signing a bill into law or promulgation. The power to deny royal assent is one of the reserve powers of the monarch.Historically, the power of the President of the United States to veto legislation or sign bills into law was derived from the royal assent.
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2 Usage in Commonwealth realms 3 Granting royal assent 4 Withholding royal assent 5 Reserving royal assent 6 Notes 7 External links |
Three formal options exist when a bill is presented for royal assent:
Countries that use the Westminster system of parliamentary government and continue to recognise the British monarch as their own sovereign are referred to as Commonwealth realms. In these realms, royal assent is given to most proposed legislation by the Governor-General. Until the late 1920s, all Commonwealth Governors-General were advised on the exercise of the royal assent by the British government. Since then, the responsibility for advising a Governor-General on royal assent rests with the realm's own government. As the government is almost invariably the creator of the bill being considered, they are highly unlikely to advise that their own bill be vetoed.
Reserving legislation for 'the Queen's pleasure' (ie, for the Sovereign to personally give assent) is rarely done in Commonwealth realms but is sometimes used if the bill is of such significance that the country wishes to have it signed not by the Governor-General but by the Queen in person. This option was used, for example, for the Queen to visit Canada in 1982 to sign the Constitution Act and to visit Australia in 1986 for a similar reason. The Queen also has the power to disallow legislation signed by the Governor-General within one year of its assent, although this power is very unlikely to ever be used.
In federated realms, legislation put forth by provincial, state or territorial legislatures are given assent by the lieutenant governor, governor or administrator of that jurisdiction. As these officials are appointed by the Governor-General, they have the now-unused option of deferring assent to the Governor-General (who may in theory defer the decision to The Queen).
Today, the granting of royal assent is an almost entirely symbolic, ceremonial duty. Because of other obligations, especially travel, neither The Queen nor her Governors-General read and analyse every bill passed by Parliament or even perform the majority of royal assents in person. In Britain, most royal assents are granted by various Lords Commissioners representing the monarch. In Commonwealth realms, it is often granted by one of the Governor-General's deputies such as a justice of the Supreme Court.
The traditional method for granting royal assent in the UK Parliament involved the monarch (or his or her representative) and peers assembling in the House of Lords. The Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod was then dispatched to the House of Commons to summon its members to the Lords. The MPs then travelled to the upper chamber, where they stood at the back while the name of the bills that had completed parliamentary passage were read out. Where royal assent was given, the Lords Clerk, at the direction of the Commissioners, stated the appropriate Norman-French formula:
This ceremony was copied in a somewhat adapted form in many Commonwealth parliamentary systems. In Commonwealth realms, the Governor-General (or his or her deputy) formally attended in the Senate chamber where MPs were summoned to witness the granting of royal assent.
In most countries, however, this ceremony has been changed, in part because MPs complained that it disrupted their deliberations too much. In 1967, the ceremony was reformed in the United Kingdom so that the granting of royal assent is now confirmed in both houses separately, by the Lords Commissioners in the House of Lords and the Speaker in the House of Commons. Canada was the last Commonwealth country to continue summoning both houses to witness the granting of royal assent.
While withholding royal assent is rare, there have been discussions on situations in which it would be proper. For example, many legal scholars believe that if the Quebec National Assembly were to unilaterally declare independence, the lieutenant governor would not only have the power to withhold royal assent but would also be bound to do so.
The concept of reserving royal assent was created to allow a monarch to avoid making an immediate decision on whether to assent to or withhold a bill. In Empire and Commonwealth history, it allowed the British government in London to examine a bill passed in a dominion to see whether it thought it worth instructing the Governor-General to veto. Today, bills are normally only reserved on rare occasions, such as when a government wishes to have The Queen sign a bill in person and a royal visit is pending within a couple of weeks.
[1] While history and legal textbooks generally refer to the last 'withholding' of the royal assent (ie, vetoing) as occurring in 1707 when Queen Anne vetoed a Scottish militia bill, the British parliamentary website dates the veto as occurring in 1708. This is probably due to the differences between the British 'Old Style' calendar, in which a year begins at the vernal equinox (March 25), and the 'New Style' calendar, in which a year begins on January 1.
Options regarding assent
Although in theory any one of these three options can be used, no British monarch since 1707 [1] has withheld the royal assent.Usage in Commonwealth realms
Granting royal assent
MPs then returned back to the Commons to continue with their business.Withholding royal assent
The appropriate Norman-French formula for noting the withholding of the royal assent are La Reyne s'avisera (the Queen will consider it).Reserving royal assent
Notes
External links