the sums granted for wages, or building, or rebuilding of ships, to those immediate services and no other.' Members. By the 5th of Elizabeth, chapter 1, section 16, all mem- Oaths to be taken by bers, before they come into the parliament house, are to take the oath of supremacy before the lord steward for the time being, or his deputy or deputies, for that time to be appointed. By the 7 of James the First, chapter 6, section 8. the oath of allegiance is, in like manner, ordered to be taken by members, before they come into the house. By the 30 of Charles the Second, statute 2, every member is to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and make and subscribe the declaration against transubstantiation, between the hours of nine in the morning and four in the afternoon, at the table, in the middle of the House of Commons, while the House is sitting, with the Speaker in the chair. By the 1 of William and Mary, chapter 8, the oaths of allegiance and supremacy are altered, and others substituted in their room. By the 13 of William the Third, chapter 6, section 10, every member is to take the oath of abjuration at the table, in the same manner and between the same hours, as he takes the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, by the 30 of Charles the Second. By the 33 of George the Second, chapter 20, every member (except as is therein excepted) is, before he presumes to vote in the House of Commons, to take the oath of his being qualified, and to deliver in his qualifications at the table.2 Such members as are elected at a general election, are Introduction to not introduced; but as soon as they have been sworn out the House. of doors, before the lord steward, or one of his deputies, they come up to the table, and there take the oaths appointed, and subscribe the declaration. But when a member is elected on a writ issued after the general election, such member must be introduced by two other members, and is brought up from the bar, making three obeisances to the chair; and this in order, as it is expressed in the rule of the 23d of February, 1688, that the member may be known to the House.3 The limitation of time, by the 30 of Charles the Second Time of taking and by the act of the 13 of William the Third, for members the Oaths. 1 3 Hats. 209, 210. laws which are introductory to a member's taking his seat in the House, a person when returned is, though he should not have taken his seat, to all intents a member, except as to the right of voting, and is entitled to the same privileges as every other member of the House. 2 Hats. 88, in notis. 2 2 Hats. 86-88. Notwithstanding all these 2 Hats. 88, 89. Cessation of to be sworn in the House being from nine o'clock till four, is, it seems, the reason for the Speaker's continuing to sit in the chair till four o'clock, though it should have appeared, by a division or otherwise, that forty members are not present. It is also for the same reason, that if forty members do not appear before four o'clock, the Speaker waits till that hour, and then takes the chair and adjourns the House.1 When a member appears to take the oaths, within the other business. limited time, all other business is immediately to cease, and not to be resumed till he has been sworn and has subscribed the roll.2 Majority. Proxies. Non-attend bers. 3 In each house, the act of the majority binds the whole; and this majority is declared by votes openly and publicly given. Every peer, by licence obtained from the king, may make another lord of parliament his proxy, to vote for him in his absence; which a member of the Commons cannot do. And the usual course is, for a temporal lord to make a temporal lord his proxy, and for a lord spiritual to make a spiritual lord. Two (but not more) may be named for proxies. So, conjunctim et divisim.9 In which case, if both are present, they must agree in opinion, or the vote goes for nothing. 10 The peer by coming into the house himself, revokes his proxy."1 In case a member, whether peer or commoner, neglects ance of Mem- to attend, he may be amerced and otherwise punished by the House, according to ancient usage ;12 and a commoner moreover by departing from the house without licence of the Speaker and Commons, entered in the book of the clerk, loses his wages; 13 and refusing to attend, may be expelled.1 Nor can a member absent from illness, be discharged,15 nor when absent on official duty, thus, on an 12 Hats. 90. 1 Com. 168. * 4'Inst. 12. 54 Inst. 12. Seld. Baronage, p. 1. c. 1. 1 Com. 168. 64 Inst. 12. Ha. Parl. 11. 7 Seld. 3 vol. 2 p. 1477. 8 Rush. 269. Vide 4 Inst. 12. Seld. 3 vol. 2 p. 1477. antecedent to this order. 94 Inst. 12. Seld. 3 vol. 2 p. 1477. 10 4 Inst. 13. Ha. Parl. 11. 11 4 Inst. 13. Ha. Parl. 11. 12 5 R. 2. c. 4. 4 Inst. 44. D'Ew.309. 13 6 H. 8. c. 16. 14 7 March, 1715. 15 2 Hats. 36. Notwithstanding his disorder be incurable. Ibid. The impossibility of ascertaining the degree of infirmity under which a member may labour, and of pronouncing that he is incurable, is a sufficient cause for not removing him, though to all appearance he may never be able to attend again; besides that such a practice would open a door for members to quit their seats under this pretence; and therefore "when they are once chosen, they are not embassy; or when in execution; an outlaw; or in captivity. SECTION IV. Of the Privileges of Members. MEMBERS are entitled to freedom of speech upon mat- Freedom of ters debated in parliament. None therefore shall be put speech. to answer elsewhere for what he has spoken in the house, though with an evil intention. And by the statute I W. & M. st. 2. c. 2.7 it is declared as one of the liberties of the people, " that the freedom of speech, and debates, and proceedings in parliament, ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of parliament. Antecedent to the statutes in the margin, persons hav- Privilege from ing privilege of parliament claimed for themselves and arrest. their servants, an exemption not from arrest only, but from being sued in any civil proceeding." Though by an order of the Lords, peers might be compelled by process out of Westminster hall to pay obedience to a habeas corpus directed to them.10 The statute however of the 10 G. 3. has taken away the exemption from being sued, though not from being arrested. This privilege in the case of peers is the privilege of peerage, not of parliament; it extends therefore to peers not members of the legislature, namely, Scotch, Irish, and Roman Catholics;!! and is perpetual. In the case of members, the privilege is that of parliament only; its duration is for forty days after every prorogation, and forty days before the next appointed meeting;12 and upon a dissolution a reasonable time is allowed for returning home.19 It may be claimed In the case of cutions. 8 in all cases but treason, felony, and breach of the peace1 (of which latter a seditious l'el is an example2); against an attachment therefore out of Chancery, or out of a court of law for nonpayment of money or performance of an award pursuant to its order; and as well in the king's as a subject's suit ;5 and so likewise against informations." Nor can it be waived. But a prisoner by being chosen a member cannot claim to be discharged; and, as a consequence, when in prison upon the mesne process of the King's Bench, he may be declared against as in the custody of the marshal. And the 4 G. 3. c. 33. has provided that any trader, having privilege of parliament, may be served with legal process for any just debt (to the amount of 100%.), and unless he makes satisfaction within two months, it shall be deemed an act of bankruptcy; and that commissions of bankrupt may be issued against such privileged traders, in like manner as against any other.10 A complaint against a peer cannot be entertained by the House of Commons. In regard to servants, the privilege extends only to menial servants ;12 only to such as are servants bonâ fide, not therefore to a debtor who procures the situation to screen his person;13 and only to those who are servants merely, without any additional character, so that an attorney, though a menial servant, may be arrested.14 It is doubtful whether a gamekeeper is entitled to the privilege; and even though he should be, he will not be discharged without an affidavit of what the manor (of which he is the keeper) is, where it lies, that the lord is in possession, and himself the gamekeeper.15 In criminal cases, the House has the right of receiving criminal prose- immediate information of the imprisonment or detention of any member, with the reason for which he is detained. A practice that is daily used upon the slightest military accusations, preparatory to a trial by a court martial;16 and which is recognised by the several temporary statutes for suspending the habeas corpus act," whereby it is pro 14 Inst. 25; Cott. Abr. Pref. 8. b. 3 D'Ew. 203. 47 T. R. 172. 448. 5 H. Parl. 16. 6 H. Parl. 30. 7 B. R. H. 37; 7 T. R. 172. 9 5 T. R. 361. 10 1 Com. s. 165, 166. 11 Seld. 3 vol. 2 p. 1478. 12 D'Ew. 315. 655. 13 D'Ew. 373. 14 Str. 1065. 15 1 Wils. 278. 16 Com. Journ, 20 April, 1762. vided, that no member of either house shall be detained, till the matter of which he stands suspected, be first communicated to the House of which he is a member, and the consent of the said House obtained for his commitment or detaining. But yet the usage has uniformly been, ever since the revolution, that the communication has been subsequent to the arrest." If in the face of this privilege, a peer, member, or ser- Discharge from vant is arrested, he may obtain his discharge either, 1. by arrest. writ of privilege in the nature of a supersedeas; 2. or by moving the Court whence the process issues, that, upon filing common bail, he may be discharged. And where a member illegally detained under process of the court of King's Bench, is brought up by habeas corpus to be charged in execution in the Common Pleas, that court will remand him, that he may be discharged by the King's Bench. But the Speaker's letter for allowing the privilege, is of no avail. The House moreover has the power of punishing the offender by commitment; which, however, they will only exercise after the matter has been examined and reported upon by a committee." To assault by violence a member of either house, or Assaulting a his menial servants, is a high contempt of parliament, and there punished with the utmost severity. It has likewise peculiar penalties annexed to it in the courts of law by the statutes 5 H. 4. c. 6. and 11 H, 6. e. 11.o Member. SECTION V. Of the Wages of Members. MEMBERS of the House of Commons are entitled, Amount. knights of the shire to four shillings, and other members two shillings a day for their expenses veniendo ad parlia- Assessment. mentum, ibidem morando, et exinde redeundo. To assess these wages for knights of the shire, the st. 23 H. 6. |