Personal Bills

General provisions before first reading

151 Personal bills defined

(1) All private bills relating to the estate, property, status, or style, or otherwise relating to the personal affairs, of an individual, which have been certified as such under the provisions of Standing Order 3 (Requirements as to proof before Examiner), are in these orders termed personal bills.

(2) The proceedings in this House  in  respect  to  personal bills shall be subject to the provisions of Standing Orders 152–174, and to such general or special directions (if any) as may be given from time to time by the Chairman of Committees.

152 Personal bill to originate on petition

No personal  bill  shall  originate  in  this  House  except on petition for leave to bring in such bill, which shall be deposited in the office of the  Clerk of  the  Parliaments; and a copy of the proposed bill shall be annexed to such petition, and shall be deemed to form part  thereof.

153 Petition for personal bill to be signed by parties concerned

One or more of the parties principally concerned in the consequences of any personal bill shall sign the petition for leave to bring such bill into this House.

154 [Repealed 8th March 2010]

155 [Repealed 8th March 2010]

156 [Repealed 8th March 2010]

Proceedings after first reading

157 Personal bills to be delivered to all persons concerned

(1) Subject to any directions given by the Chairman of Committees a copy of every personal bill introduced into this House shall be delivered before the second reading to every person concerned in the bill.

(2) In case of infancy, the copy shall be delivered to the guardian, or next relation of full age not concerned in the consequences of the bill.

158 Petitions against personal bills

Petitions against personal bills shall be presented at such times as the Chairman of Committees shall in each case, having regard to all the circumstances thereof,  direct.

159 Interval between second reading and committee

No committee shall sit upon any personal bill until ten days after the second reading.

160 Committees on unopposed personal bills

Every personal bill which is unopposed shall be committed to an  unopposed  bill  committee  to  be  proceeded with in the same manner as an unopposed private bill; but the Chairman of Committees may, if he thinks fit, report to the House that, in his opinion, any unopposed personal bill should be proceeded with as an opposed  bill.

161 Committees on opposed personal bills

Every personal bill which is opposed, or as respects which the Chairman of Committees has reported to the House that, in his opinion, it should be proceeded with as an opposed bill—
       (a) shall be committed to a select committee of five lords, who shall be named by the Chairman of Committees 
            in pursuance of Standing Order 95 (Appointment of committees), and
       (b) shall be proceeded with in the same manner as an opposed private bill.

Personal bills affecting estates, etc.

162 Notice to be given to mortgagees

Notice of a personal bill shall be given, before the second reading, to every mortgagee of the estate affected by the bill.

163 [Repealed 14th December 1971]

164 Personal bills for exchanging or selling settled estates to have schedules of estates and their values, etc., annexed

(1) To every personal bill for exchanging an estate in settlement and substituting another estate in lieu thereof there shall be annexed a schedule or schedules of the respective estates, showing the annual rent and the annual value thereof, and also the value of the timber growing thereupon.

(2) To every personal bill for selling a settled estate and purchasing another estate to be settled upon the trusts, there shall be annexed a schedule or schedules of such estates, specifying the annual rent  thereof.

(3) Every such schedule shall be signed and proved upon oath, by a surveyor or other competent person, before the committee on the bill.

165 Respecting consents to personal bills where petitioners and consenting parties can bar entail

Where the petitioners for and consenting parties to a personal bill relating to an entailed estate are together competent to bar the entail, the consent of any persons entitled in remainder after the estates of the petitioners and consenting parties shall not be  required.

166 In other cases all persons interested to consent

(1) Subject to paragraph (2) and Standing Order 165 (Respecting consents to personal bills where petitioners and consenting parties can bar entail), the consent of all parties concerned in the consequences of a personal bill shall be proved to the satisfaction of the committee on the bill.

(2) The consent of any such parties shall not be required if the committee on the bill consider that their consent may be dispensed with on account of remoteness of interest, or for any other reason.

167 Appointment of guardian or protector of minor interested in personal bill

In any case in which a person who has not attained the age of eighteen (in this order referred to as a minor) is or may be interested in the consequences of a personal bill, the Chairman of Committees may, if he thinks fit, require that the  minor  shall  be  represented  in  any  proceeding in reference to such bill or to the petition therefor by a person to be appointed as, or in the nature of, a guardian or protector of the minor by the Lord Chancellor or the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal by writing under his  hand.

168 Consent on behalf of a tenant in tail under age when consent of remainderman is withheld

Where—
       (a) a tenant in tail, who has not attained the age of eighteen (“the minor”), is a promoter of a personal bill, or 
            a consenting party thereto by his guardian, and
       (b) any person entitled in remainder after such estate tail (“the remainderman”), whose consent is required, 
            withholds his consent to such bill,
the consent of a person appointed as or in the nature of a guardian or protector of the minor and of the settlement or will under which he claims, by the Lord Chancellor or the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal by writing under his hand, for the special purpose of assenting to or dissenting from such bill shall be sufficient, without the consent of the remainderman.

169 [Repealed 14th December 1971]

170 Consents of persons concerned in consequences of personal bills relative to entailed estates in land or heritable subjects in Scotland

(1) It shall be sufficient to have the consent of the following persons only concerned in the consequences of personal bills regarding entailed estates in land or heritable subjects in Scotland (that is to say):—
       (a) where the deed of entail is dated on or after 1st August 1848 and the heir of entail in possession of the 
            entailed estate has attained the age of eighteen and was born before the date of such deed of entail, the 
            consent of such heir, and of the heir next in succession, being heir apparent under the entail of the heir in 
            possession, and of the age of twenty- five years complete, and not subject to any legal incapacity, and 
            born after the date of such deed of entail;
       (b) where the deed of entail is dated before  1st August 1848 and the heir of entail in possession of the 
            entailed estate has attained the age of eighteen and was born before the said 1st August, the consent of 
            such heir, and of the heir next in succession, being heir apparent under the entail of the heir in possession, 
            and born on or after the said 1st August, and of the age of twenty-five years complete, and not subject 
            to any legal incapacity;
       (c) where the deed of entail is dated before 1st August 1848 and the heir of entail in possession of the 
            entailed estate has attained the age of eighteen, the consent of such heir alone, if he shall be the only 
            heir of entail in existence for the time, and unmarried or—
                  (i) failing that, the consent of such heir, and of all the heirs of entail, if there are less than three in 
                      being at the date of such consents; or
                  (ii) failing that, the consent  of such heir, and of the three  next  heirs who  at  the date of such 
                       consent are for the time entitled to succeed to such estate in their order successively, 
                       immediately after such heir in possession; or
                  (iii) failing that, the consent of such heir, and of the heir apparent under the entail, and of the heir or 
                       heirs in number not less than two, including such  heir apparent, who in their order successively 
                       would be heir apparent;
       (d) in any case not provided for by the foregoing provisions of this paragraph, whatever be the date of the 
            deed of entail, the consent of the heir in possession, and of all the heirs entitled to succeed to the 
            entailed estate, if less than three, or if not less than three, then of the three heirs next entitled to 
            succeed to the entailed estate.

(2) If, in any of the cases mentioned in paragraph (1)—
       (a) the heir next entitled to succeed to the entailed estate after the heir in possession is under the age of 
            twenty-five years, or
       (b) any of the heirs of entail in possession whose consents are required in the several cases aforesaid is under 
            the age of eighteen years,
then the consents also of so many heirs next entitled to succeed to such estate, not being descendants of the heir in possession, as are equal to the number of the said heirs of entail respectively under the ages before mentioned, without prejudice nevertheless as heretofore for any person concerned to petition against the bill, and to be heard for his interest therein.

171 [Repealed 8th March 2010]

172 [Repealed 8th March 2010]

173 Committees on personal bills may admit affidavits as evidence

The committee on any personal bill may admit affidavits in proofs of the allegations made in the preamble of the bill in all cases not otherwise provided for by these standing orders.

Application of private bill standing orders

174 Standing orders affecting private bills to apply, if applicable, to personal bills

Such of the provisions of Standing Orders 1 to 3 and 69 to 150 as relate to private bills shall apply, so far as they are applicable to any personal bill, subject to such directions as the Chairman of Committees may prescribe.

175 [Repealed 9th April 1986]

176 [Repealed 9th April 1986]

177 [Repealed 9th April 1986]