Petition

a formal statement to a ruler or government requesting the granting of a favor or the passing of desired legislation. A petition consists of two parts, a formal statement of the request made and a list of signatures. In order to avoid throwing the brunt of the petition upon the one who signs first, sailors long since invented a form of signature called the round robin in which each man places his name on the spoke of a wheel, or in the circumference of a circle. The right to petition the sovereign was granted by King John by the famous Magna Charta signed at Runnymede. The framers of the United States Constitution took the view that the colonists inherited this right. They merely inserted a provision to the effect that Congress shall make no law to abridge "the right of the people to peaceably assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Among the famous petitions presented to Congress in this country were those for the abolition of the slave trade, and for the prohibition of slavery in the District of Columbia. These petitions became so annoying that a rule was passed that no further petitions on the subject of slavery should be considered. This procedure, known as "gag law," was the subject of the most acrimonious debate.

A statute of Parliament requires that public petitions should be couched in the following terms:

We, your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of the United Kingdom, do most humbly beseech your Majesty that it may be enacted; etc.

In 1848 a monster petition was presented to Parliament requesting that workingmen be allowed to vote. It was signed by over a million people.

In modern times, petitions are numerous. Petitions play an important part in local life also. Petitions for a half holiday, an increase of wages, the appointment of a favorite citizen as postmaster, a change of school district boundaries, the laying out of a new road, and the granting or refusal of a saloon license are familiar examples. They are intended primarily as a means of obtaining an expression of public opinion. It is so much easier to sign than to refuse to sign, that petitions do not always obtain the consideration they would otherwise receive.

See Round Robin