HOUSE OF LORDS - United Kingdom Parliament

Journals were originally kept in manuscript, but an order for their printing
was made in 1767, and since 1830 they have been printed each session.
Parliamentary papers
Papers laid before the House
3.61 The Minutes of Proceedings record each day the titles of various
documents, or “papers”, presented or laid in the House on that day and
also those laid since the last sitting. These papers fall into two main
categories:
(a) papers presented by command of Her Majesty on the initiative of
a minister of the Crown. These are known as “Command papers”.
The majority are published in a numbered series currently labelled
“Cm”. Command papers may be presented at any time during the
existence of a Parliament, including non-sitting days, recesses and
prorogation;
(b) papers laid before the House pursuant to an Act, statutory
instrument or Measure. These are known as “Act papers”. They
may be of either a legislative or an executive character, and they
may be either subject to a degree of parliamentary control
(depending on the provisions of the parent statute) or purely
informative.
3.62 Papers may also be laid as Returns to an Order of the House, for
example in response to a motion for papers, though this is now rare.
3.63 Certain statutory instruments can be laid when the House is not
sitting for public business, namely those instruments (apart from special
procedure orders) which are required to be laid before Parliament after
being made, but which do not require to be approved by resolution or
lie before Parliament for any period before they come into operation. 1
The times when such instruments may be deposited are those shown in
the table.
3.64 No papers of any type may be laid during a dissolution of
Parliament.
3.65 If it is necessary to bring a statutory instrument into operation
before it has been laid before Parliament, the responsible Department
1 SO 70.
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