ture disputed) is referred to a committee of members, who
examine the matter alleged, and accordingly report it to the house;
and then (or, otherwise, upon the mere petition) leave is given to
bring in the bill. In public matters the bill is brought in upon
motion made to the house, without any petition at all. Formerly, all
bills were drawn in the form of petitions, which were entered upon the
_parliament rolls_, with the king's answer thereunto subjoined; not in
any settled form of words, but as the circumstances of the case
required[n]: and at the end of each parliament the judges drew them
into the form of a statute, which was entered on the _statute-rolls_.
In the reign of Henry V, to prevent mistakes and abuses, the statutes
were drawn up by the judges before the end of the parliament; and, in
the reign of Henry VI, bills in the form of acts, according to the
modern custom, were first introduced.

[Footnote n: See, among numberless other instances, the _articuli
cleri_, 9 Edw. II.]

THE persons, directed to bring in the bill, present it in a competent
time to the house, drawn out on paper, with a multitude of blanks, or
void spaces, where any thing occurs that is dubious, or necessary to
be settled by the parliament itself; (such, especially, as the precise
date of times, the nature and quantity of penalties, or of any sums of
money to be raised) being indeed only the sceleton of the bill. In the
house of lords, if the bill begins there, it is (when of a private
nature) perused by two of the judges, who settle all points of legal
propriety. This is read a first time, and at a convenient distance a
second time; and after each reading the speaker opens to the house the
substance of the bill, and puts the question, whether it shall proceed
any farther. The introduction of the bill may be originally opposed,
as the bill itself may at either of the readings; and, if the
opposition succeeds, the bill must be dropt for that sessions; as it
must also, if opposed with success in any of the subsequent stages.

AFTER the second reading it is committed, that is, referred to a
committee; which is either selected by the house in matters of small
importance, or else, upon a bill of consequence, the house resolves
itself into a committee of the whole house. A committee of the whole
house is composed of every member; and, to form it, the speaker quits
the chair, (another member being appointed chairman) and may sit and
debate a