Scotch

peers.

Irish peers.

Temporal

ual peers.

summons; their election is made in pursuance of a separate Proclamation, in a manner which I will describe hereafter; it is certified by the Lord Clerk Register of Scotland to the clerk of the Crown in Chancery, and by him to the clerk of the House of Lords.

3. The mode of election of the Irish representative peers

will be dealt with hereafter.

4. The temporal peers are summoned as in the mediaeval and Spirit-writs on their faith and allegiance,' and the spiritual peers in like manner on their faith and love,' and in other respects the writs of to-day differ little if at all from those of four hundred years ago.

Praemunientes clause.

Judges'

summons.

5. The Praemunientes clause by which the Bishop is instructed to summon the clergy of his diocese to be present and consent to that which Parliament may ordain still recognises the position of the clergy as an estate of the realm, and it must be distinguished carefully from the summons to Convocation, an exclusively clerical assembly, of which more hereafter.

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6. The Judges, together with the Queen's Ancient Serjeant (when that office is filled) and the Attorney and Solicitor General, are summoned, but in an inferior capacity. Their writs are writs of Attendance' not 'of Summons.' They are not invited to be present with the said Prelates, Peers, and Great Men,' but with Us and with the rest of Our Council to treat and give your advice.'

It is in virtue of this writ of attendance that the Judges are called upon to give their opinions on difficult points of law which come before the House of Lords as a Court of Appeal. But they do not come as Peers of Parliament, and recent procedure in the matter of their summons shows that it is regarded rather as an obligation than as a dignity.

For before the Judicature Act the summons, by long custom, was limited to the judges of the old Common Law courts, the Chief Justices and puisne judges of the Queen's Bench and Common Pleas, and the Chief Baron and Barons of the Exchequer.

Since the Judicature Act the summons is extended to all the judges of the High Court of Justice, but not to the Lords Justices of Appeal, because their higher rank is thought to exempt them from the liability to a summons. Nor would this writ in any case be issued to a judge who was entitled to be summoned as a temporal peer.

7. The writ addressed to the returning officer for the election of a member of the House of Commons is a modern form provided by the Ballot Act of 1872.

But it is worth while to set out the form of writ which was in use until that date, because it shows how near we still are to the constitutional forms of the middle ages, and because it indicates, more clearly than the abbreviated modern form, the objects of summons and the relation of the representative to his constituents.

Writ addressed to the Sheriff of Middlesex 17th July, 1837.

to Sheriff.

Victoria by the grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Common Britain and Ireland Queen, Defender of the Faith, to the Sheriff of law writ the County of Middlesex, Greeting. Whereas by the advice and assent of Our Council, for certain arduous and urgent affairs concerning Us, the State and defence of our said United Kingdom and the Church, We have ordered a certain Parliament to be holden at our city of Westminster on the 4th day of September next ensuing. And there to treat and have conference with the Prelates, Great Men, and Peers of our Realm, We command and strictly enjoin you (Proclamation hereof, and of the time and place of election being first duly made) for the said COUNTY two Knights of the most fit and discreet, girt with swords, and for the City of Westminster, in the same County, two Citizens, and for each of the Boroughs of the Tower Hamlets, Finsbury, and Marylebone, in the same County, two Burgesses of the most sufficient and discreet, freely and indifferently by those who at such election shall be present according to the form of the Statutes in that case made and provided, you cause to be elected; and the names of such Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses so to be elected, whether they be present or absent, you cause to be inserted in certain Indentures to be thereupon made between you and those who shall be present at such

election, and then at the day and place aforesaid you cause to come in such manner that the said Knights for themselves, and the Commonalty of the same County, and the said Citizens and Burgesses for themselves, and the Commonalty of the said City and Boroughs respectively, may have from them full and sufficient power to do and consent to those things which then and there by the Common Council of our said United Kingdom (by the blessing of God) shall happen to be ordained upon the aforesaid affairs, So that for want of such power or through an improvident election of the said Knights, Citizens, or Burgesses the aforesaid affairs may in no wise remain unfinished. Willing nevertheless that neither you nor Post, p. 76. any other Sheriff of our said Kingdom be in any wise elected. And the election so made distinctly and openly under your seal and the seals of those who shall be present at such election, certify you to us in our Chancery, at the day and place aforesaid, remitting to Us one part of the aforesaid indentures annexed to these presents, together with this writ. Witness Ourself at Westminster the 17th day of July in the 1st year of our reign.

Indentures.

To the Sheriff of the County of Middlesex. Writ of election to Parliament to be holden the 11th day of September next.

The Sheriff thereupon issued precepts to the bailiff of the 'Liberty of the Dean and Chapter of the Collegiate Church of St. Peter at Westminster,' and to the Returning Officers of the boroughs, and the precepts were returned to him when the elections were duly made; the county election took place in the county court, and the return was sent, together with the returns from the city and boroughs, to the Crown Office in Chancery.

These returns were in all cases accompanied by indentures, to which the Returning Officer and a number of electors were parties. These indentures were required by Acts of Henry IV and Henry VI1, and their object was to secure that the persons returned by the Sheriff were in truth the persons elected by the constituencies. They follow closely the terms of the writ, and the terms of the writ, being the same or nearly the same as in the early days of representation, are express in the requirement that the person returned should have full power 7 Hen. IV, c. 15; 23 Hen. VI, c. 14.

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to bind the constituency. The indenture therefore at first sight creates the impression that it was designed to constrain the electors to abide by the acts and promises of their representative done on their behalf. But in fact the object of the indenture, as may be seen from the statute which requires it, was to secure the identity of the person elected with the person returned.

These indentures are still in use in the University constituencies in which voting takes place by voting papers, and which are not governed by the Ballot Act.

Thus much as to the mode in which a Parliament is summoned. We have next to see how it is brought together and its business set in motion.

§ 5. The opening of Parliament.

The Parliament meets on the day appointed in the Pro- The assemclamation of summons. The Sovereign is not usually present House. bling of the

at the opening of a new Parliament, but issues a commission under the Great Seal for that purpose. The Houses assemble in their respective chambers, and the Commons are summoned to the House of Lords. There the letters patent constituting a commission for the opening of Parliament are read, and the Lord Chancellor desires the Commons to choose a Speaker.

Of the Speaker we shall have more to say presently. It is enough here to note that he is not only chairman of the Commons for the purpose of maintaining order and declaring or interpreting the rules of the House, but also the spokesman and representative of the House for the purpose of communications made in its collective capacity to the Crown.

Speaker.

The Commons retire to choose their Speaker, the formal Election of business of the chair being, for the purposes of the election, discharged by the clerk of the House. On the election being made the Speaker takes the chair, and the mace, the symbol of his office, is laid before him on the table.

The House adjourns until the following day, and then the Speaker takes the chair until summoned by the officer of the

Evidence

Lords to the presence of the Lords Commissioners. He goes to the bar of the House of Lords with the members of the Commons, announces his election, and submits himself with all humility to her Majesty's gracious approbation.'

The Lord Chancellor expresses the approval by her Majesty of the choice of the Commons, and confirms him as Speaker. After this is done he demands the ancient and undoubted rights and privileges of the Commons.' These are granted, and the Speaker with the Commons returns to the Lower House.

There are two things to consider before we come to the declaration by the Queen of the objects of summons in the speech from the Throne.

(a) The first is the evidence by which the members of the of member- two Houses can establish their rights to membership.

ship.

Perfecting

of title to sit.

(b) The second is the perfecting of the title to sit.

(a) In the Lords those who have received writs of summons present them at the table of the House, the roll of those entitled, as hereditary peers of England, to receive writs, being delivered by the Garter King at Arms. The title of the representative peers of Scotland is evidenced by a certificate delivered by the clerk of the Crown of a return made to him by the Lord Clerk Register of Scotland. Garter King at Arms delivers at the table of the House a list of the Lords Temporal, and the list is ordered to lie upon the table. A new peer presents his patent to the Lord Chancellor at the Woolsack, and this, together with his writ of summons, is read by the clerk of the House.

In the Commons the clerk of the House receives from the clerk of the Crown in Chancery a book containing a list of the returns made to the writs issued, and this is the sole evidence furnished to the House. The returns themselves are retained in the Crown Office during the continuance of a Parliament in case reference should be required to be made to them. After this they are transferred to the Record Office. (b) The second is the perfecting of the title of a member to discharge the duties of his office, and for this it is necessary in