Command paper

A command paper is an official document in the United Kingdom which is issued by His Majesty's Government (HMG) and presented to Parliament.

White papers, green papers, treaties, government responses, draft bills, reports from royal commissions, reports from independent inquiries and various government organisations can be released as command papers, so called because they are presented to Parliament formally "By His Majesty's Command".

Dissemination

Command papers are:

produced by government departments
printed on behalf of His Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO)
presented to Parliament "by Command of His Majesty" by the appropriate government minister
recorded by the House of Commons and the House of Lords
published by government departments on gov.uk
subject to statutory legal deposit

Numbering

Command papers are numbered. Since 1870 they have been prefixed with an abbreviation of "command" which has changed over time to allow for new sequences.

Prefix	Dates	Numbers
	1833–1869	1 to 4222
C.	1870–1899	C. 1 to C. 9550
Cd.	1900–1918	Cd. 1 to Cd. 9239
Cmd.	1919–1956	Cmd. 1 to Cmd. 9889
Cmnd.	1956–1986	Cmnd. 1 to Cmnd. 9927
Cm.	1986–2018	Cm. 1 to Cm. 9756
CP	2019–	CP 1 upwards

References

1 2 3 4 Williams, G. L. (1982). Learning the Law (11th ed.). London: Stevens. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-420-46290-9.
↑ The Australian Guide to Legal Citation. Third Edition. Melbourne University Law Review Association Inc. Melbourne Journal of Law International Inc. Melbourne. 2010. Page 248.

External links

Command papers on GOV.UK
UK national government publications at the British Library

[gw-1] 1 2 3 4 Williams, G. L. (1982). Learning the Law (11th ed.). London: Stevens. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-420-46290-9.

[2] The Australian Guide to Legal Citation. Third Edition. Melbourne University Law Review Association Inc. Melbourne Journal of Law International Inc. Melbourne. 2010. Page 248.

Command paper

Dissemination

Numbering

See also

References

External links