CROWN PROCEEDINGS BILL [Lords] – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 11 July 1947.
Mr Hartley Shawcross
, St Helens
12:00,
11 July 1947
I beg to move, in page 14, line 46, to leave out "proceedings in the High Court," and to insert, "an action."
As at present drafted, this Clause limits the scope of the proceedings to which Part II of the Bill applies, and confines it to actions in the High Court. Of course, that is wrong. The intention is that the county court should be included in the scope of the provision, and that is the object of this Amendment.
Mr Hartley Shawcross
, St Helens
I beg to move, in page 15, fine 38, at the end, to add:
(4) Subject to the provisions of any Order in Council made under the provisions hereinafter contained, this part of this Act shall not affect proceedings initiated in any court other than the High Court or a county court.
This is an Amendment to the same effect, in order to remove any doubts.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
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