Outlawries Bill
The
Outlawries Bill (or, by its
long title,
A Bill for the more effectual preventing clandestine Outlawries) is customarily introduced in the
United Kingdom's
House of Commons at the start of each session of
Parliament.
The
bill is read after the
Queen's Speech, after the Commons have returned to their chamber, but before any debate on the contents of the Speech. No
Member of Parliament presents it, nor has it ever been ordered to be printed, and it is not intended to make any further progress. However, it bears symbolic import; by not discussing the contents of the Queen's speech, the Commons is demonstrating that it can debate on whatever it chooses, and set its own business.
The practice of reading a bill before debating the Speech dates back to at least the
16th century. Various bills were used for the purpose—originally they were just normal bills and could progress to a
second reading. The Outlawries Bill was first introduced in the
1727 session and has been used every year thereafter (except for
1741 and
1742).
John Wilkes interrupted the reading of the bill in 1763, to complain about his imprisonment, but the
Speaker required the bill to be dealt with first. In
1794,
Richard Sheridan used the reading of the bill to raise the subject of the suspension of the
Habeas Corpus Act.
The equivalent bill used by the
House of Lords is the
Select Vestries Bill.
Before the Commons procedure became established, two Outlawry Acts were passed into English law: the
Outlawry Act 1331 and the
Avoidance of Secret Outlawries Act 1588 (neither of which is still in force).
This is the content of the bill as introduced during the reign of
Queen Victoria; blank spaces indicate missing details such as dates or penalties.
;
A Bill for the more effectual preventing clandestine Outlawries.For the more effectual preventing Clandestine Outlawries in Personal Actions, Be it Enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same.
That if after the any attorney Solicitor or other person who shall prosecute any person or persons to Outlawry in any action personal wherein no Writ or Exegerit shall be awarded shall make default to send or deliver the Writ of Proclamation to the Sheriff of the proper County where the Defendant shall be dwelling at the time of awarding the Exegerit (the place of such dwelling being known), every such Attorney Solicitor or other person aforesaid making such default being lawfully convicted shall for every such offence forfeit ; and if the Sheriff (the Writ of Proclamation being duly delivered to him) shall refuse or neglect before the Return of the Writ to make Proclamations according to the directions of the Act made in the thirty-first year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth for the avoiding of privy and secret Outlawries in actions personal, every such Sheriff being lawfully convicted shall for every such refusal or neglect forfeit .
Modern scholars disagree on the actual meaning and effect of such a bill were it to move forward in Parliament because it is written in archaic terms with reference to obsolete legal technicalities. Consensus is it has to do with the effective
service of process.
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Parliament's article about the Bill (
PDF)
*
A-Z of Parliament (
BBC)
