§ Amendments reported (according to order).
§ Clause 5:
§ Statutory Instruments which are subject to annulment by resolution of either House of Parliament.
§ 5.—(1) Where by this Act or any Act passed after the commencement of this Act, it is provided that any statutory instrument shall be subject to annulment by resolution of either House of Parliament, the instrument shall be laid before Parliament after being made and the provisions of the last foregoing section shall apply thereto accordingly, and if either House, within the period of forty days beginning with the day on which a copy thereof is laid before it, resolves that the instrument be annulled it shall thenceforth become void but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done there-under or to the making of a new statutory instrument.
§ (2) Where any Act passed before the date of the commencement of this Act contains provisions requiring that any Order in Council or other document made in exercise of any power conferred by that or any other Act shall be laid before Parliament after being made and shall cease to be in force or may be annulled, as the case may be, if within a specified period either House presents an address to His Majesty or passes a resolution to that effect, then, subject to the provisions of any Order in Council made under this Act, any statutory instrument made in exercise of the said power shall by virtue of this Act be subject to annulment by resolution of either House of Parliament and the provisions of the last foregoing Subsection shall apply thereto accordingly in substitution for any such provisions as aforesaid contained in the Act passed before the said date.
§ 5.45 p.m.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR (LORD JOWITT) moved, in subsection (1), to leave out "by" where that word occurs for the second time, and insert "in pursuance of a." The noble and learned Lord said: My Lords, I can explain the effect of this Amendment; it really brings in the whole question of the later Amendments too. Your Lordships will remember that on the Committee stage, the noble Lord, Lord Llewellin, raised a rather interesting point which I promised to look into. This Amendment and the succeeding ones are the result of the consideration which followed that promise and are really, therefore, due to the vigilance of the noble Lord, Lord Llewellin. The original proposal was that where the House resolved against any Order, whether an Order in Council or a Ministerial Order, that should 584 automatically put an end to the Order. That has been the practice since the war started, but, although that was the legislative enactment, in fact the old procedure has been followed, and either House wishing to strike out an Order has done so by means of the machinery of a Prayer.
§ The noble Lord pointed out that now that we were out of the war there was a good deal to be said for going back to the old constitutional way, by means of the Prayer, not mainly because it seemed to be more polite to the Sovereign, but for the practical reason that if you did it by means of a Prayer and the Prayer was then given effect to by an Order in Council, then you would have both Orders in Council in the same book or series of books. Every year there is a book called the Statutory Rules and Orders. You will find an Order in Council promulgated in that book, and if either House moves its Resolution and there is a Prayer, and that Prayer is given effect to by another Order in Council, that second Order in Council will also be in the book, if in the same year, or in the succeeding volume if it comes the year afterwards.
§ Therefore, there is a practical reason why we should adopt this course. Obviously, there should be no interval of time after either House has passed its Resolution during which the Order continues to be effective. It should, without prejudice to what has been done under it beforehand, from that moment of time cease to be operative. I think that by the Amendment which stands in my name we have achieved that result. This Amendment I am now moving is, since the Resolution of the House is in itself going to put an end to the Order, going to strike out the words "by Resolution of either House" and insert the words "in pursuance of a Resolution of either House." I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 3, line 20, leave out ("by") and insert ("in pursuance of a").—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ 5.48 p.m.
§ LORD LLEWELLINMy Lords, as the Lord Chancellor has taken the convenient course of dealing with his sequence of Amendments under this one, perhaps your Lordships will allow me also to say what I have to say on this one, too, 585 I am much obliged to the Lord Chancellor for the way he has met the points I made. My Amendment—which is also on the Order Paper—sought to achieve this change in a somewhat different manner. The two main differences between my Amendment and the Amendments in the name of the Lord Chancellor are, first, that my Amendment would, as it stood, have allowed action to go on being taken under an Order after one House of Parliament had passed a Resolution seeking to have it annulled. I certainly agree that the Lord Chancellor's proposal is the better one and once that Resolution has been passed by either House, a Minister should cease to operate under the Order against which the House has successfully prayed.
The second point is that I made a slight distinction between the Order in Council and the Statutory Instrument made by a Minister. In the case of the second, I sought- to have it revoked by the same Minister who made it, but it scorns to me that there is little distinction in that because all these Orders in Council are in the same volume. Whether the Minister's Order is revoked by Order in Council or by the Minister, there is not that practical objection that there is if you have to seek through the pages of Hansard to see whether a Resolution has been passed or not. I do not wish to keep your Lordships any longer except to say how grateful I am to the Lord Chancellor for the way he has dealt with this matter, and to intimate at the same time that I have no intention of moving any of my Amendments on the Order Paper.
§ 5.50 p.m.
§ VISCOUNT SAMUELMy Lords, as I took part in the previous debate on this matter, perhaps I may be allowed to express the thanks I feel to the noble and learned Lord Chancellor for having so fully met the desires that were expressed on that occasion. It is another example of the readiness with which the Lord Chancellor meets requests that are made from the body of the House whenever he thinks that they have some reason and merit in them. Our thanks are also due and ought to be rendered to the noble Lord, Lord Llewellin, to whom we are indebted for the fact that this matter was brought to the notice of the House at all. Although it deals with a minor point, it has some constitutional importance, particularly from the point of view of precedent, 586 and the House ought to express its thanks. The noble Lord has also earned the thanks of posterity for having, by his vigilance, detected this somewhat recondite matter, and we should express our gratitude to him for the service that he has thereby rendered.
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ 5.52 p.m.
§
THE LORD CHANCELLOR moved, in subsection (1), to leave out "the instrument be annulled it shall thenceforth become void but" and to insert:
an Address be presented to His Majesty praying that the instrument he annulled, no further proceedings shall be taken thereunder after the date of the resolution, and His Majesty may by Order in Council revoke the instrument, so, however, that any such resolution and revocation shall be.
The noble and learned Lord said: My Lords, I need not say anything about this: this follows from what I have already said.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 3, line 25, leave out from (" that ") to (" without ") in line 26 and insert the said words.—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORMy - Lords, I beg to move the Amendment standing in my name.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 3, line 27, leave out ("thereunder") and insert ("under the instrument").—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORMy Lords, I beg to move the Amendment standing in my name.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 3, line 39, leave out ("by") and insert ("in pursuance of a").—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 8:
§ Regulations.
§ (2) Every statutory instrument made under this section shall be subject to annulment by resolution of either House of Parliament.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORMy Lords, there is a consequential Amendment on this clause. I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved:
Line 43, leave out ("by") and insert ("in pursuance of a").—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.