Page images
PDF
EPUB

mons is as able and disinterested a body, in their opinion, as could by any other means be collected, they contrast the prospect of obtaining any remunerating reform in representation, with the danger of breaking in upon immemorial usages, and customs deeply seated in the prejudices especially of the wealthy and influential.

12. Besides the property qualification already noticed, a seat in the lower house is guarded by a great number of requirements, or prohibitions, the most important of which are these :- Members must be natural born citizens, not attainted of treason or felony, not under twenty-one years of age; they must not be clergymen, nor must they hold any office, the duties of which would interfere with their duty in Parliament, or which would lay them under temptation to legislate corruptly. Of the first kind are the offices of sheriffs, mayors, and bailiffs; and of the second, of which there is a considerable number, are all such as would involve the principle of a member's holding a place the profit of which Parliament alone can create or increase. Neither can a pensioner under the crown during pleasure, nor one holding any office under the crown, which would give the crown any influence over him, have a seat in the House of Commons.

13. The Commons choose their own Speaker, whose duty it is to preside and preserve order in their sittings, and manage the formalities of their business. But he cannot give his opinion, or argue any question before the house. The speaker must be approved by the king before he can enter on the duties of his office. 14. The House of Lords is composed of Lords spiritual, and Lords temporal. The Lords spiritual are three Archbishops and twenty-seven Bishops, who are

How else is a seat in the lower house guarded? What of the speaker of the House of Commons? How is the House of Lords composed? Who are lords spiritual? Why admitted?

admitted to seats in the House of Lords in right of their succession to certain estates in lands, which their ancestors have held by feudal tenure since the time of William the Conqueror. The admission of these ecclesiastics is justified by considering the number and importance of the clergy, and their exclusion from the House of Commons.

15. The Lords temporal are farther distinguished by the appellation of Peers of the realm, which Lords spiritual are not. Some of these hold their place by descent, and are called ancient peers, their honor coming to them through a long line of ancestors. It is traced, not to the royal patent, but to some civil or military authority held by their ancestors. Some hold their place by creation, i. e. they, or their ancestors, have been created peers, which means that the king, by his patent, has conferred the peerage on them. Finally, the Scotch peers, sixteen in number, and the Irish peers, twenty-eight in number, hold their places in Parliament by election, being chosen in Scotland and Ireland to represent the body of the nobility in each country.

16. The Lords temporal are Dukes, Marquises, Earls, Viscounts, and Barons.

17. A Duke is considered next in honor below the king. The name is undoubtedly derived from the principal chiefs, generals, or leaders of armies, of feudal times, when the Roman state was becoming merged in the petty kingdoms and principalities of Europe. It was customary then for the territories of the conquered nation to be divided among the generals of the conqueror, and these were the hereditary possessions of their posterity; hence a duke always has possession of a certain territory, called a dukedom or duchy.

How are lords temporal farther distinguished? What difference between ancient peers and peers by creation? What of the Scotch and Irish peers?

18. A Marquis is next in honor to a duke. The name is derived from an ancient word, signifying a limit, or boundary. The office was to guard the limits, or bounds, of the empire, while hostile incursions were feared from Wales and Scotland. The possessions of a marquis, when that title is not a mere ensign of honor, are called a marquisate.

19. An Earl is next in honor to a marquis. Anciently they had each the civil government of a shire, or what is now a county. This government is now devolved on other officers, especially the sheriffs, so that the name is now a mere title of honor. The etymology of the word seems to mark it as anciently meaning an elder or senior. The possessions and dignity of an earl are called an earldom.

20. A Viscount is next in honor to an earl. This is much the same as an earl's deputy. Earls were for a time called counts, after the Norman conquest, and their shires or jurisdictions are still called counties. Hence the next inferior officer was called a vice-count, or viscount. No authority is at present attached to the name.

21. A Baron is next in honor to a viscount. This is the most general and universal title of nobility in Great Britain. It seems indeed to have been the origin of all others, as a barony, or some extent of territorial jurisdiction, seems anciently to have belonged to every degree of nobility. But when a baron was raised to a new degree of peerage, it sometimes happened that the honors of the two estates descended differently, those of the barony, for instance, to the oldest male heir, and those of the earldom to all the male heirs, or to male and female heirs conjointly; so that a peerage often subsists without a barony. The same happens also sometimes by the creation of earls and viscounts without baronies, i. e. without territorial

What titles are among lords temporal? Give some account of each.

jurisdictions. Hence not every peer is a baron; but a peer, of whatever grade, is also a baron, if he has a barony added to his other honors.

22. The Speaker of the House of Lords is the lord Chancellor, or keeper of the king's great seal; or the king may appoint one by his commission; or, in the failure of both these ways, the House of Lords may elect a speaker.

23. If the speaker of the House of Lords is a lord of Parliament, elected by the house, or appointed by the king's commission, he may speak to, or argue, any question before the house.

24. Both houses may originate bills, except for raising a revenue, which must always begin in the House of Commons.

25. A bill, in order to pass, goes through three readings in each house, receiving such amendments and suggestions as are made and approved on the way. If amendments are made by the reviewing house, they must be sent back to the originating house for their concurrence. Should this not be given, and should the houses fail to agree by a conference of committees, the bill is lost. But the Lords can make no changes, or new-modelling, of a revenue-bill, neither can the Commons alter a bill respecting the dignity or privileges of peerage.

26. Peers may vote in Parliament by proxy, but Commons cannot. It is understood, however, that the king grants this license to the peers, and that they use and acknowledge it as a royal favor.

27. Each house is the sole judge of the claim any one of its own members has to his seat; or whether

Who is the speaker of the House of Lords? What privilege has he when elected by the house?

What may both houses do? What exception?

How are bills passed? In what cases are they lost? How are the Lords restricted from altering a bill? and the Commons?

What rule in voting by proxy?

Of what is each house the sole judge?

any informality, attainder, forfeiture, or legal disability, renders it proper that a seat should be declared vacant.

28. Freedom of speech and debate in Parliament is held sacred, and no member is liable to be questioned in any other place on things which he may say in Parliament.

29. Members are free from arrest on civil cases, peers at all times, by the privilege of the peerage; and commons, by the privilege of Parliament, for forty days before meeting, during session, and forty days after the prorogation of Parliament.

30. A dissolution is the civil death of a parliament. But if the death of the king should happen before the election of a new parliament, the last parliament revives and continues in authority for the term of six months. This is also the longest time any parliament can exist after the death of the king. A parliament can therefore come to its end in three ways, -by the royal prerogative, by the death of the king, and by length of time, which at present is seven years.

31. In respect of the operation of laws, members of parliament are all private men, and subject to all the laws which they enact.

32. Formerly members had a right to draw from the national treasury a suitable remuneration for their services during session. But recent authority says that members of parliament receive no pay.

33. Before taking seats, members must take the prescribed oath of allegiance, and formerly also against popish sentiments and partialities. But at present,

[graphic]

What is said of freedom of speech?

What freedom from arrest do members enjoy?

What is a dissolution of parliament? What if the death of the king happen before the election of a new parliament? In how many ways

may a parliament come to its end?

Are members paid for their services?

What oath must members take?

« PreviousContinue »