How a Bill Passes in Each System
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Syllabus topic 3, "Parliamentary and Presidential Democracy."
Pages 160 to 164 of 676
In one line
A Bill needs a majority in each chamber everywhere, and the systems differ in who controls the chambers, what the head of State may do, and who decides if the chambers disagree.
In the wording a student can write in an exam: the legislative process comprises introduction, consideration in committee, passage by each chamber, resolution of disagreement, assent by the head of State, and, in some systems, a popular vote; the constitutional interest lies in who may block at each stage.
India, articles 107 to 111
Introduction. Article 107: a Bill may originate in either House, except a Money Bill, which under article 109 may be introduced only in the Lok Sabha and only on the President's recommendation under article 117.
Passage. Each House passes the Bill. Article 108 provides for a joint sitting where a Bill has been rejected, the Houses have disagreed on amendments, or more than six months have elapsed without passage by the second House.
Money Bills. Article 109: after passage by the Lok Sabha the Bill goes to the Rajya Sabha, which must return it with its recommendations within fourteen days. The Lok Sabha may accept or reject them, and if the Bill is not returned in fourteen days it is deemed passed by both Houses. Article 110 defines a Money Bill and article 110(3) makes the Speaker's certificate final.
Assent. Article 111: the President declares that he assents or withholds assent, and may return a Bill other than a Money Bill for reconsideration; if the Houses pass it again, with or without amendment, he shall not withhold assent.
Ordinances. Article 123 allows the President, when both Houses are not in session, to promulgate an ordinance with the force of an Act, which must be laid before both Houses and ceases to operate six weeks from their reassembly.
The United States, Article I section 7
Introduction. All Bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other Bills.
Passage. Both Houses must pass the identical text. Where the texts differ, a conference committee reconciles them and both Houses vote again.
Presentment. Every Bill which has passed both Houses shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the President. He may sign it, or return it with his objections, whereupon each House reconsiders and may pass it by two thirds. If he neither signs nor returns it within ten days, Sundays excepted, it becomes law, unless Congress by their adjournment prevents its return, in which case it does not, which is the pocket veto.
No ordinances. There is no equivalent of article 123 anywhere in the American Constitution.
How a Bill Passes in Each System
Switzerland, articles 159 to 165
Passage. Article 156 requires both Councils, the National Council and the Council of States, to deliberate separately, and article 156(2) requires the agreement of both for a decision of the Federal Assembly.
Majorities. Article 159(2) requires the majority of those voting; article 159(3) requires a majority of the members of each Council for urgent federal acts, provisions on subsidies and certain credit decisions.
Form. Article 163 requires provisions establishing binding legal rules of general application to be issued in the form of a federal act or an ordinance.
Urgent acts. Article 165 allows a federal act whose entry into force cannot be delayed to be declared urgent and brought into force immediately, with a time limit; if it has a constitutional basis it must be put to the vote of the people within a year if a referendum is requested, and if it has none it ceases to apply one year after adoption unless approved by the people and the cantons.
No assent, no veto. The Federal Council has no part in the enactment. What it has instead is the referendum: article 141 allows fifty thousand voters or eight cantons to demand a popular vote on a federal act within a hundred days of its publication.
Ireland, articles 20 to 26
Passage. Both Houses, with the Seanad limited by Article 23 to a ninety-day delay on ordinary Bills, after which the Dail may resolve that the Bill is deemed passed.
Money Bills. Article 21 confines the Seanad to twenty one days for recommendations.
Assent. Article 25: the President signs the Bill and promulgates it as a law.
The reference. Article 26 permits the President, after consultation with the Council of State, to refer any Bill other than a Money Bill or a Bill to amend the Constitution to the Supreme Court for a decision on its constitutionality, and if the Court upholds it, no court may afterwards question the validity of that provision.
A worked example
The same Bill, on the regulation of a national industry, moves through each system.
India. Introduced in the Lok Sabha by the minister; the government's majority carries it; the Rajya Sabha may delay but a joint sitting under article 108 resolves any disagreement in the Lok Sabha's favour; the President assents on advice. Elapsed time, weeks.
United States. Introduced by a member; must pass committee in both Houses, both floors, and a conference; may face a Senate filibuster requiring sixty votes for cloture; then presentment, and a veto requiring two thirds in each House to override. Elapsed time, often years, and most Bills die.
Switzerland. Both Councils must agree. Then a hundred days pass in which fifty thousand voters may demand a referendum, and if they do, the electorate decides.
How a Bill Passes in Each System
Ireland. Both Houses, with the Seanad able to delay ninety days; then the President may refer it to the Supreme Court under Article 26 before signing.
Four systems, and the number of points at which the Bill can be stopped is one, several, one plus the electorate, and one plus a court.
The cases
Facts. Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919 (1983), concerned a device by which one House could veto an executive decision without the concurrence of the other House or presentment to the President.
Held, by Burger CJ. Unconstitutional. The purposes underlying the Presentment Clauses of Article I section 7 and the bicameral requirement of Article I sections 1 and 7 govern: action legislative in character must pass both Houses and be presented.
Why it matters here. It is the authority that the American legislative process is a constitutional requirement and not merely a procedure, and that Congress cannot legislate its way round it.
Facts. In re Assent, Withholding or Reservation of Bills by the Governor and the President was a Presidential Reference under article 143 arising from Governors declining to act on Bills passed by State legislatures under article 200.
Held, decided on 20 November 2025. No timelines may be judicially prescribed under articles 200 and 201; no deemed assent may be granted under article 142; the article 200 function is not justiciable on its merits; a limited mandamus lies against prolonged, unexplained and indefinite inaction.
Why it matters here. Assent is the last stage of the Indian process and the one on which the text is least prescriptive, and this is the current law on what happens when it stalls.
Distinctions
| Stage | India | United States | Switzerland | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Money Bills originate | Lok Sabha, art.109 | House of Representatives | Either Council | Dail, Article 21 |
| Upper house on money | 14 days, recommendations only | Full power to amend | Equal | 21 days |
| Disagreement | Joint sitting, art.108 | Conference committee | Conciliation | Dail deems passed, Article 23 |
| Head of State | Assent, art.111, on advice | Veto, Article I section 7 | No role | Signs; may refer under Article 26 |
| Popular vote | None | None | Article 141 referendum | Only for amendments |
| Legislation without the legislature | Ordinance, art.123 | None | Article 165 urgent acts, time limited | None |
What beginners get wrong
"The Rajya Sabha can block a Money Bill." It can delay it fourteen days and recommend. Article 109(5) deems it passed if not returned.
"The Indian President has a veto." Article 111 permits him to withhold assent, and requires him to assent to a Bill passed again after reconsideration, and article 74(1) requires him to act on advice throughout.
"Article 123 is an emergency power." It is not tied to any emergency. It requires only that both Houses are not in session and that the President is satisfied that circumstances render immediate action necessary, and the ordinance lapses six weeks after reassembly.
How a Bill Passes in Each System
Limits and criticism
The Indian process gives the executive almost total control. With a majority in the Lok Sabha, a government can pass anything, and the Speaker's Money Bill certificate under article 110(3) has been used to bypass the Rajya Sabha on Bills of doubtful character.
The American process gives minorities a veto. The filibuster means most legislation needs sixty Senate votes, which is a supermajority nowhere required by the Constitution.
The Swiss process is slow and legitimate. Every federal act is provisionally law and finally law only when the hundred days pass without a referendum demand.
Quick revision
- India: articles 107 to 111; article 108 joint sitting; article 109 Money Bills, fourteen days; article 110(3) Speaker's certificate final; article 111 assent; article 123 ordinances.
- United States: Article I section 7, bicameralism and presentment, veto, two thirds override, ten days and the pocket veto.
- Switzerland: articles 156 and 159 for passage, article 163 for form, article 165 for urgent acts, article 141 for the referendum.
- Ireland: Article 21 Money Bills, Article 23 ninety-day delay, Article 25 signature, Article 26 reference to the Supreme Court.
- Only India has an ordinance power; only Switzerland has a popular veto; only Ireland has a pre-enactment judicial reference.
- INS v. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919 (1983): the process is a constitutional requirement.
- In re Assent, 20 November 2025: the outer limit of judicial control over assent in India.
Test yourself
1. Trace a Money Bill through the Indian Parliament. It is introduced only in the Lok Sabha, on the President's recommendation under article 117, and only if it falls within article 110, the Speaker's certificate on which is final under article 110(3). After passage it goes to the Rajya Sabha, which under article 109 must return it with recommendations within fourteen days; the Lok Sabha may accept or reject them, and if it is not returned in time it is deemed passed by both Houses. The President then assents under article 111 and cannot return a Money Bill.
2. What are the two constitutional requirements for an American Bill, and what follows from them? Bicameralism, that it pass both Houses, and presentment, that it be presented to the President. It follows, as INS v. Chadha held, that Congress cannot create devices by which one House alone alters legal rights, and that the President's veto can be overcome only by two thirds of each House.
3. Why does Switzerland need no presidential veto? Because the check on legislation is popular rather than executive. Article 141 allows fifty thousand voters, or eight cantons, to demand a referendum on a federal act within a hundred days of publication, and article 190 prevents the Federal Supreme Court from setting a federal act aside. The electorate performs the function a veto or judicial review performs elsewhere.
How a Bill Passes in Each System
4. What is unusual about Article 26 of the Irish Constitution? It allows constitutional review before a Bill becomes law. The President, after consulting the Council of State, may refer any Bill other than a Money Bill or a Bill to amend the Constitution to the Supreme Court, which decides whether it is repugnant to the Constitution; if the Court upholds the provision, its validity can never afterwards be questioned in any court.
The rest of this subject
These notes are cut from the University's printed syllabus. Open the syllabus itself, or the past papers, for the same subject.