CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



executive branch, is sworn to govern in accordance 

 with constitutional form and precedent, and pre- 

 serve the Protestant religion and the church estab- 

 lished by law in England and Scotland. 



The legislative branch of the government is 

 called parliament. It consists of the Sovereign, the 

 Lords, and the Commons ; and their united con- 

 currence is necessary for the repeal of old, or the 

 enactment of new laws. The colonial depend- 

 encies are not represented in parliament The 

 House of Lords, or Peers, or Upper House of par- 

 liament, consists of a class of persons who form 

 the peerage, and enjoy certain exclusive hereditary 

 rights and legislative privileges. They are divided 

 into lords temporal and spiritual ; the former being 

 laymen, the latter, ecclesiastics, bishops, and arch- 

 bishops of the state church, who sit in the House 

 of Peers only ex officio. The members of the 

 Upper House hold their seats (i) by virtue of 

 hereditary right ; (2) by creation of the sovereign ; 

 (3) by virtue of office, e.g. bishops ; (4.) by elec- 

 tion for life, e.g. Irish peers ; (5) by election for 

 the duration of parliament only, e.g. Scottish peers. 

 In 1873, the House of Lords consisted of 479 

 members, of whom 4 were peers of the blood- 

 royal, 2 archbishops, 20 dukes, 19 marquises, 109 

 earls, 24 viscounts, 24 bishops, 233 barons, 16 

 Scottish representative peers, and 28 Irish repre- 

 sentative peers. There are nine ladies peeresses 

 in their own right, but they take no part in the 

 deliberations of the Upper House, though they 

 are members of the peerage. The number of 

 names on the roll of peers was 393 in 1830, 457 m 

 1840,448 in 1850,458 >" '860,473 in 1870; so that, 

 with the increase of the democratic power m the 

 nation, we find going on a manifest increase in 

 the aristocratic element of the legislative branch 

 of the government More than two-thirds of the 

 hereditary peerages were created within the present 

 century. Of existing peerages, the three oldest 

 date from the latter part of the I3th century, four 

 date from the Hth, and seven from the i5th 

 century. Twelve go back to the i6th century, 

 35 to the i;th, 95 to the l8th, and 239 are of the 

 present century. From 1830 to 1873, 188 peerages 

 were created ; 34 being created under the adminis- 

 tration of Earl Grey, 39 under that of Lord Mel- 

 bourne, 1 1 under that of Sir Robert Peel, 24 under 

 that of Earl Russell, 23 under that of Lord Palmer- 

 ston, 25 under that of Lord Derby, 4 under that of 

 Mr Disraeli, and 28 under that of Mr Gladstone. 

 In olden times, no peer could take his seat without 

 a special writ from the king. It has long been 

 held, however, that every hereditary peerage en- 

 titles the holder of it to sit in the House of Lords 

 and any one giving proof that he is the lawful heir 

 of one who had been called in these early times to 

 the Upper House by the old royal 'writ of sum 

 mons,' may claim to sit as a hereditary peer. The 

 creation of a new peerage is the act of the sovereign 

 advised by the prime-minister or head of the 

 cabinet, and is done by the issue of a royal patent 

 the writ summoning the peer to the Upper House 

 ' ad consulendum et defendendum regem ;' but the 

 rights of a peerage are acquired whether the part- 

 so summoned ever sits in the House at all. Th 

 sovereign may create a life-peer, one, that is, whos 

 heirs have 'not the succession to peerage rigb.tr 

 but the House of Lords have refused to recognis 

 as valid the ' writ of summons ' calling such a pee 

 to the Upper House, and have prevented him 



178 



aking his seat there. The peers could one 

 ote by proxy, but this privilege was suspended 

 iy a standing order of the House on March 31, 

 868. 



The House of Commons, or Lower House, has 

 jcen composed, since the reign of Henry III. of 

 cnights of the shire, or representatives of counties ; 

 >urgesses, or representatives of boroughs ; citizens, 

 ir representatives of cities. Though the number 

 jf constituencies in England and Wales, when 

 Henry VIII. ascended the throne, was only 147, 

 arge additions were made in each reign, up to the 

 ime of Charles II. In early times, all members 

 f the Lower House were paid by their constit- 

 uents. When members introduced the custom of 

 jiving their services gratuitously, many constit- 

 aencies that had been exempted from returning 

 representatives, on the score of poverty, began to 

 resume their franchises, and hence the additions 

 o the House that raised its members up to about 

 500 in the reign of the Stuarts. When, in the 

 ime of Queen Anne, the Union of England and 

 Scotland took place, 45 members from Scotland 

 were added to the 513 members that then formed 

 the House. The Irish Union, in the beginning of 

 he present century, added 100 Irish members ; 

 and since that time the number of members has 

 remained at 658, and there is a general feeling 

 against this number being increased ; so much so, 

 that even the last Reform Bill left it unaltered. 

 The members of the House of Commons are 

 elected by that portion of the people possessing 

 the electoral qualification. In English counties, 

 previous to the Reform Bill of 1832, an elector 

 required to have freehold property to the annual 

 value of 405. In boroughs, the qualification 

 varied, according to local usage freemen and 

 burgesses only being in most cases entitled to 

 vote ; and in Scotland the parliamentary franchise 

 was enjoyed only by members of town-councils. 

 The Reform Bill of 1832 increased the English 

 county constituencies from 52 to 82, and the num- 

 ber of members from 94 to 159, but left Scotland 

 and Ireland unaltered as regards county represen- 

 tation. It disfranchised 56 English boroughs, con- 

 taining a population of less than 2000 each, and 

 returning 1 1 1 members ; it made 30 boroughs, with 

 a population of less than 4000 each, send only one 

 representative instead of two. Twenty-two new 

 boroughs, containing 25,000 inhabitants and up- 

 wards, each received the privilege of having two 

 representatives ; and 20 other new boroughs, 

 containing 12,000 inhabitants and upwards, got 

 the privilege of having one representative in par- 

 liament In Scotland, the Reform Bill increased 

 the borough members from 15 to 23, giving her 

 8 more members than she had received by the 

 Act of Union. The old 403. freeholders in 

 English counties then existing were not deprived 

 of the franchise, but those acquiring freeholds 

 after 1832 were only to have the franchise when 

 their freehold was of ^10 annual value. Copy- 

 holders holding an estate of ^10 a year, 60 years' 

 leaseholders of property worth 10 a year, lease- 

 holders of .50 with 20 years' leases, tenants at 

 will of property rented at ^50 a year, also had 

 the franchise by the Reform Bill of 1832. In 

 English boroughs, the franchise was conferred 

 on the old freemen, and on all occupiers of 

 houses of ;io annual value. In Scotland, the 

 franchise was extended in the same way from 



