Journal in United Kingdom

Journal Meaning, as used in the UK Parliament

The Journal is the legal record of the proceedings of Parliament (events and decisions). Both the House of Lords and the House of Commons produce a Journal for each session.

In the House of Commons, the Votes and Proceedings are consolidated into the Journals. In the House of Lords, the Journals are compiled from the Minutes of Proceedings.

Meaning of Journal

The following is an old definition of Journal [1]: A record of the proceedings of a legislative body. “Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, on the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal.” The constitutions of the States contain similar provisions. The journal is a public record of which the courts may take judicial notice. If it appears that an act did not receive the requisite vote, or that it was unconstitutionally adopted, the court may adjudge it void. No court has assumed to go beyond the proceedings of the legislature, as recorded in its journals, on the question whether a law has been adopted. Many cases follow The King v. Arundel, Hobart, *109 (1617), adopting the attested enrollment as conclusive on the question of passage. But in many States, Ohid among them, the journals, which are required to be kept by the constitution, are regarded. In the time of Hobart the journals were not records, but ” remembrances for forms of proceedings to the record ” – the enrolled bill. See Entry, II, 6; Yeas and Nays.

Resources

Notes and References

1. Concept of Journal provided by the Anderson Dictionary of Law (1889) (Dictionary of Law consisting of Judicial Definitions and Explanations of Words, Phrases and Maxims and an Exposition of the Principles of Law: Comprising a Dictionary and Compendium of American and English Jurisprudence; William C. Anderson; T. H. Flood and Company, Law Publishers, Chicago, United States)