16 Facts About Royal assent

Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf.

In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in others that is a separate step.

However, royal assent is usually granted less ceremonially by letters patent.

Royal assent is the final step required for a parliamentary bill to become law.

Royal assent decided to not withhold assent without "convincing evidence that it would avert a national disaster, or at least have a tranquillising effect on the distracting conditions of the time".

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Royal assent is the final stage in the legislative process for acts of the Scottish Parliament.

Royal assent is signified by letters patent under the Great Seal of Scotland as set out in The Scottish Parliament Order 1999 and of which notice is published in the London, Edinburgh, and Belfast Gazettes.

Equivalent of the royal assent is formally granted or formally refused on the formal advice of the Committee of Council for the Affairs of Jersey and Guernsey in pursuance of Queen Elizabeth II's Order-in-Council of 22 February 1952.

In Commonwealth realms other than the UK, royal assent is granted or withheld either by the realm's sovereign or, more frequently, by the representative of the sovereign, the governor-general.

The power to withhold the royal assent was exercised by Alberta's Lieutenant Governor, John C Bowen, in 1937, in respect of three bills passed in the legislature dominated by William Aberhart's Social Credit party.

Therefore, Parliament inserted a clause into the Act of Attainder, providing that Royal assent granted by Commissioners "is and ever was and ever shall be, as good" as Royal assent granted by the sovereign personally.

Under the Royal Assent Act 1967, royal assent can be granted by the sovereign in writing, by means of letters patent, that are presented to the presiding officer of each house of Parliament.

Independently of the method used to signify royal assent, it is the responsibility of the Clerk of the Parliaments, once the assent has been duly notified to both houses, not only to endorse the act in the name of the monarch with the formal Norman French formula, but to certify that assent has been granted.

The Clerk signs one authentic copy of the bill and inserts the date on which the Royal assent was notified to the two houses after the title of the act.

Under the Royal Assent Act 2002 the alternative practice of granting assent in writing, with each house being notified separately, was brought into force.

The subsequent constitutional amendment removed the need for Royal assent while retaining the need for the Grand Duke to promulgate new laws.