STATE PAPERS. 



445 



quire) may direct the warrant of 

 this House to the lord Chancellor 

 of England, for the awarding of 

 such writs of supersedeas ac- 

 cordingly." 



But tiie House used to stay also 

 proceedings by its own authority ; 

 sometimes sending the serjeant-at- 

 arms to deliver the person arrested 

 out of custody ; and sometimes by 

 letter from the Speaker to the 

 judges before whom the cause was 

 to be tried. Of this latter mode 

 of proceeding, your committee 

 find many instances previous to 

 the third of Charles I. Your 

 committee find a decision against 

 the authority of such a letter in 

 the Court of King's-bench, which 

 is reported in the margin ot Dyer's 

 Reports, p. 60, and in Latch pp. 

 48, and 150. And shortly after 

 the refusal by the Court of King's- 

 bench to notice this letter from 

 the Speaker, the parliament was 

 dissolved. There are, however, 

 manyother instances of this course 

 of proceeding after the Restora- 

 tion ; and in the instance of lord 

 Newburgh (23rd of February, 

 1669) the House ordered the pro- 

 ceedings to outlawry to be staid 

 during the sessions, and the record 

 of the exigents to be vacated and 

 taken off the file. 



The last instance which your 

 committee find of such letters 

 having been written, occurs in the 

 lord Bulkeley's case in 1691, in 

 which the Speaker is directed to 

 write a letter to the prothonotary 

 that be do not make out, and to 

 the sheriff of the county of Pem- 

 broke that he do not execute, any 

 writ whereby the lord Bulkeley's 



Sossessions may be disturbed, until 

 Ir. Speaker shall have examined 

 and reported the matter to the 

 House^ and this House take fur- 



ther order thereon. By the twelfth 

 and thirteenth of William HI. c. 3, 

 this privilege was curtailed ; and 

 furtlier by statutes two and three 

 of Anne, c. IS — eleventh of Geo. 

 H. c. 24— tenth of Geo. III. c. 50. 

 Lord Chief Justice de Greysays, 

 in Crosby's case, •' If a member 

 wasarrested before the twelfth and 

 thirteeenth of W. III. the method 

 in Westminster-hall was, to dis- 

 charge him by writ of privilege, 

 under the great seal, which was 

 in the nature of a supersedeas to 

 the proceeding. The statute of 

 William has now altered this, and 

 there is no necessity to plead the 

 privileges of a member of parlia- 

 ment." All these acts merely 

 applyto proceedings against mem- 

 bers in respect of their debts and 

 action as individuals, and (not 

 in respect of their conduct as 

 members of parliament ; and 

 therefore they do not in any way 

 abridge the ancient law and privi- 

 lege of parliament, so far as ihey 

 respect the freedom and conduct 

 of members of parliamen: as such, 

 or the protection which the House 

 may give to persons acting under 

 its authority. 



IV. Upon the whole it appears 

 to your committee, that the bring- 

 ing these actions against the 

 Speaker and the Serjeant for acts 

 done in obedience to the orders 

 of this House, is a breach of the 

 privilege of this House. 



And it appears, that in the 

 several instances of actions com- 

 menced in breach of the privileges 

 of this House, the House has pro- 

 ceeded by commitment not only 

 against the party but against the 

 solicitor and other persons con- 

 cerned in bringing such actions ; 

 but your committee think it right 

 to observe, that the commitment 



