t one is that while in theory the distinction between a public and
a private bill is clear, in point of fact there is no little
difficulty in drawing a line of demarcation, and the result has been
the recognition of an indefinite class of "hybrid" bills, partly
public and partly private in content and handled under some
circumstances as the one and under others as the other, or even under
a procedure combining features of both. The second fact to be observed
is that, in part to reduce expense and in part to procure the
good-will of the executive department concerned, it has become common
for the promoters of enterprises requiring parliamentary sanction to
make use of the device known as provisional orders. A provisional
order is an order issued, after minute investigation, by a government
department authorizing provisionally the undertaking of a project in
behalf of which application has been made. It requires eventually the
sanction of Parliament, but such orders are laid before the houses in
groups by the several departments and their ratification is virtually
assured in advance. It is pointed out by Lowell that during the years
1898-1901 not one-tenth of the provisional orders laid before
Parliament were opposed, and but one failed of adoption.[203]

[Footnote 203: Government of England, I., 385. On
private bill legislation see Lowell, I., Chap. 20;
Anson, Law and Custom of the Constitution, I,
291-300; May, Treatise on the Law, Privileges,
Proceedings, and Usage of Parliament, Chaps. 24-29;
Courtney, Working Constitution of the United
Kingdom, Chap. 18; MacDonaugh, The Book of
Parliament, 398-420. The standard treatise upon the
subject is F. Clifford, History of Private Bill
Legislation, 2 vols. (London, 1885-1887). A recent
book of value is F. H. Spencer, Municipal Origins;
an Account of English Private Bill Legislation
relating to Local Government, 1740-1835, with a
Chapter on Private Bill Procedure (London, 1911).]

VII. THE CONDUCT OF BUSINESS IN THE TWO HOUSES

"How can I learn the rules of the Commons?" was a question once put by
an Irish member to Mr. Parnell. "By breaking them," was the
philosophic reply. Representing, as it does, an accumulat