On the third day of the next session, February 6, 1849, the Lord Chancellor informed the House of Lords,—
“That the Clerk Assistant had prepared and laid on the table, in obedience to the resolutions of this House, a report of the result of his communication with the authorities of the House of Commons on the subject of dispensing with the present form of engrossing bills.”[322]
A select committee to consider the proposed change, was appointed, consisting of the Lord Chancellor, Lord Privy Seal, Duke of Richmond, Earl of Shaftesbury, Lord Beaumont, and Lord Monteagle of Brandon.
It is probable that they adopted at once the suggestions of the Clerk Assistant, as, within a few hours after their appointed meeting, their Chairman, the Lord Chancellor, reported to the House of Lords, February 8, 1849, that the Committee had met and considered the subject-matter referred to them, and united in recommending, “That it is expedient to discontinue the present system of engrossing, and to alter the present system of enrolling bills”; and they reported provisions, in lieu thereof, to which I shall refer.
The House of Lords adopted the report, passed the resolutions, and ordered that they be communicated to the Commons at a conference, and their concurrence desired.[323]
On the 9th of February, managers of the conference were appointed. Those representing the House of Lords were the Lord Privy Seal, Earl Waldegrave, Earl Saint Germans, Viscount Hawarden, Lord Bishop of Hereford, Lord Beaumont, and Lord Monteagle of Brandon. The managers representing the House of Commons were Sir George Grey, Sir Robert Peel, Sir Robert Harry Inglis, Mr. Herries, Mr. Wilson Patten, Mr. Bernal, Sir John Yarde Buller, the Earl of Lincoln, Mr. Attorney-General, the Earl of Arundel and Surrey, Mr. Thornely, Mr. Maitland, Mr. Hume, Mr. Mackenzie, the Judge Advocate, and Sir John Young.
Omitting other details, I come at once to the resolutions afterwards adopted in both Houses.
“1. That, in lieu of being engrossed, every bill shall be printed fair immediately after it shall have been passed in the House in which it originated, and that such fair printed bill shall be sent to the other House as the bill so passed, and shall be dealt with by that House and its officers in the same manner in which engrossed bills are now dealt with.
“2. That, when such bill shall have passed both Houses of Parliament, it shall be fair printed by the Queen’s printer, who shall furnish a fair print thereof on vellum to the House of Lords before the royal assent, and likewise a duplicate of such fair print, also on vellum.
“3. That one of such fair prints of each bill shall be duly authenticated by the Clerk of the Parliaments, or other proper officer of the House of Lords, as the bill to which both Houses have agreed.