Laying before the house
In parliamentary procedure, especially the Westminster system, a document is laid before the house or Laid on the Table of the House when it is formally recognised as having been made available for members of a deliberative assembly to read.[1] Documents produced by official bodies or in response to orders from parliament are required to be laid before the house.[1] These documents inform members in their deliberations.
Originally, a physical copy of the document was placed on the table in the assembly chamber.[1] This is no longer the case, with statutes and rules of order determining the mode by which a document is recognised as having been laid.[2][3][4] Some such documents are published, as for example the command papers issued by the UK Parliament.[2] Others may not be published.[2] Electronic publishing is common for documents laid in recent decades.[5] Parliamentary privilege may extend to documents published.[2][6] The Irish Department of Finance guidelines state, "It should be especially noted that documents to be laid before the Houses of Oireachtas must not be published before being so laid. A breach of this direction is a serious infringement of parliamentary privilege."[7]
References
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Sources
- "Appendix V: Laying of Documents before the Houses of the Oireachtas". Cabinet Handbook. Department of the Taoiseach. December 2006.
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Citations
- ^ a b c "Laid or laying (before Parliament)". Glossary. UK Parliament. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
- ^ a b c d "Guidance and requirements for laying papers before the House of Commons and their publication" (PDF). Journal Office. April 2009. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
- ^ "Houses of the Oireachtas (Laying of Documents) Act, 1966". Irish Statute Book. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
- ^ "Laying of Documents Before Parliament (Interpretation) Act 1948". UK Statute Law Database. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
- ^ "Laying of Documents before the Houses of the Oireachtas - Frequently Asked Questions". Oireachtas. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
- ^ "Chapter 14: Laying and Publication of Documents". Parliamentary Business. Scottish Parliament. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
- ^ Department of the Taoiseach 2006, §4
External links
- Oireachtas library scans of documents laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas of Ireland
- Documents laid before the Welsh Assembly
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