Royal Assent

Royal Assent is the final stage in the legislative process in constitutional monarchies, by which the sovereign (or a delegated representative) signifies agreement to a bill, transforming it into an Act of Parliament. While the procedure originates in medieval English practice, it survives today across the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other Commonwealth realms, as well as in monarchies such as Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and Norway.

In modern practice, Royal Assent is almost always a formality dictated by the principle of responsible government: the monarch acts on the advice of ministers and does not exercise personal discretion. In the United Kingdom, no sovereign has refused assent to a bill passed by both Houses of Parliament since Queen Anne withheld it from the Scottish Militia Bill in 1708. The process is governed by the Royal Assent Act 1967, which allows assent to be notified to each House by its Speaker rather than requiring the older ceremony with Lords Commissioners reading the Norman French formula "La Reyne le veult" ("The Queen wills it").

In the realms outside the UK, assent is given by the Governor-General or, at the sub-national level, by a Governor or Lieutenant Governor acting on the monarch's behalf. These representatives may, in theory, reserve a bill for the sovereign's personal decision or withhold assent, though such powers are now considered effectively obsolete. The last reservation in Canada occurred in 1961 in Saskatchewan.

Elsewhere, the equivalent function takes different forms. In Belgium, the monarch sanctions and promulgates laws under Article 109 of the Constitution — a power that briefly became politically contentious in 1990 when King Baudouin declined to sign an abortion bill and was temporarily declared unable to reign. In Spain, Article 91 requires the King to sanction laws within 15 days of passage by the Cortes Generales.

For MUN delegates and IR students, Royal Assent is useful as an illustration of how ceremonial executive functions coexist with parliamentary sovereignty.