Parliament uses language too
NORMAN French is still used in the Houses of Parliament in some of the formal exchanges during a Bill’s passage and at Royal Assent.
This is because these procedures between the Commons and Lords have barely changed since they began hundreds of years ago, when Norman French was the official language of Government.
‘A ceste Bille les Seigneurs sont assentus’ [the Lords assent to this Bill] is used on a Commons Bill to which peers have agreed. If the Bill has been amended, the words ‘avecque des amendments’ are added.
Norman French is also used if a Commons Bill has been amended by the Lords and MPs later disagree. In another relic of the very early days of Parliament, the language signals Royal Assent to a Bill with the words ‘La Reyne le veult’, or ‘the Queen wishes it’.