PARLIAMENT. IMPERIAL, 



PARLIAMENT. IMPERIAL. 



sot 



Tfce OKMtituiion of Urae council* cannot be known with any 

 nrUintT, and there tat bn much controveny on the subject, and 

 esMctally M to UM share of authority enjoyed by the people. 

 DUbrwit period. tare kern assigned (or Utnr admitttnce into the 

 . r-kr. Spolman. Camdeo. and Prynne agree that the 

 formed put of UM gnat synods or council* before the 

 ; but bow they wr sainrauood, and what degree of |>.T 

 eseed, U a matter of doubt and obscurity. " The niuin con- 

 JMio* of parliament, a* Know und,' aim BbobfcMM," was marked 

 out alias* ago as the arrenteeoth yew of King John, A.D. 1215. in the 

 gnat charter grantl by that prince. wherein be promise* to suiiiim.ii 

 all anhbfatops, bubo,.. al.U>U. earl*, and greater baron. [BAKONS] 

 penonallT. and all other tenanU in chief under the crown l.y the 

 sheriff and bailinV, to meet at a certain place, with forty days' notice, 

 to UM. aide and acutagee when Decenary ; and thii constitution has 

 nheietirt, fa fact at leat. from the year 1266, 49 Hen. 111. .there being 

 till extant writ* of that date, iattied by Simon de Montfort, earl of 

 to .minion knight*. rit i/.viw, and burgesses to parliament." 

 abo, paawxt 1." K.!. II (l::.M, declares that " the matters 

 _ ilibed for the estate of the king and of his heirs, and for the 

 of the realm and of the people, should be treated, accorded, and 

 I in parliament, by the king and by the ft/went of the pre- 

 lates, earls, and barons, and the commonwealth of the realm, ncc<intiy 

 at kud t*f before accustomed." In reference to this statute, Mr. 

 Hallam obserres, " that it not only establishes by a legislative decla- 

 ration the present constitution of parliament, but recognises it as 

 Already Hfffvti"*; upon a custom of some length of time." (1 ' Const. 

 H-t.'S.) 



CONSTITUENT PARTS OF PARLIAMENT. 



These have been treated of in separate articles, aud nothing more 

 frill be attempted in this place than a brief analysis, which will bring 

 the whole under one view. Of the king (or queen), the first in rank, 

 nothing wed be repeated. 



The House of Lords is at present composed of 



LORDS SPIRITUAL. 



2 archbishops (York and Canterbury) 

 24 English bishops 



4 Irish representative bishops 



Total, 30 



LORDS TEMPORAL. 



3 princes of the blood royal 

 20 dukes 



21 marquesses 

 111 earls 



22 viscounts 

 21 3 barons 



18 representative peers of Scotland 



28 representative peers of Ireland 



Total, 461 



The number has been greatly augmented from time to time, and 

 there U no limitation of the power of the crown to add to it by 

 further creations. The titles of all temporal peers are now hereditary ; 

 since the decision of the House of Lords in 1856 (when by letters 

 patent Baron Wensleydale was created " for and during his natural 

 life "), that neither such letters patent, nor the writ of summons could 

 enable the person named therein to sit or vote in parliament The 

 introduction of the representative peers of Scotland and Ireland was 

 effected on the union of those kingdoms respectively with England 

 The former are elected by the hereditary peers of Scotland descended 

 tish peers at the time of the Union, and sit for one par- 

 liament only ; the Utter are chosen for life by the peers of Ireland, 

 liber hereditary or created since the Union. The power of the 

 crown to create Irish peers is limited by the Act of Union, so that 

 one only can be created when three of the peerages of Ireland have 

 become extinct. 



o T jL H U *V'o Commolul properly consists of 658 members, but 

 L Albane and Sudbury having been disfranchised, and not having 

 flW * y r town *' il now consi t of 654 only, dig- 

 ENGLAND AND WALKS. 



159 knights of shires 

 837 citizens and burgesses 



Total, 



SCOTLAND. 



30 knight* of shirr* 



23 citizens and burgesses 



Total, (3 



IRELAND. 



Hi knights of shires 



41 citizens and burgesses 



TuUl. 

 T..tal of the United Kingdom, 6il. 



An a'v.i.nt of the changes effected in the parliamentary consti- 

 tuencies at different times, more particularly by the Reform Act, aud 

 a full view of the present system of representation, U given in the 

 article COMMONS, HOL'SK OP. 



The lords and commons originally were one assembly, but the date 

 of their separation U not known. Sir Edward Coke states that he hod 

 seen a record, 80 Hen. I. (1180), of their degrees and seats as one 

 body, and affirms that the separation took place at the desire 

 commons. (13 'State Trials/ 1410.) Elsynge avers that " the commons 

 ever had a place for their consultation apart fn.ni the lords, though 

 they did often meet and sit together in one room," and gives several 

 precedent* in support of his position. (' Manner of Holding Parlia- 

 ments,' pp. 101-104, 165.) 



POWER AND JURISDICTION OF PARLIAMENT. 



1. LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY COLLECTIVELV. The authority of par- 

 liament extends over the United Kingdom and all its colonies and 

 foreign possessions. There are no other limit* to its power of malting 

 laws for the whole empire than those which are common to it and to 

 all other sovereign authority, the willingness of the people to obey, 

 or then- power to resist them. It has power to alter the constitution 

 of the country, for that is the constitution which the last act of 

 parliament has made. It may take away life by acts of attainder, and 

 make an alien be as a natural-born subject. 



Parliament does not in the ordinary course legislate directly fur !! 

 colonies. For some, the queen in council legislates, and others have 

 legislatures of their own, and propound laws for their internal govern- 

 ment, subject to the approval of the queen in council ; but these may 

 afterwards be repealed or amended by direct statutes from this 

 country. Their legislatures and their laws ore both subordinate to the 

 mother country. 



The power of imposing taxes upon colonies for the support of the 

 parent state was attempted to be exercised by parliament upon the 

 provinces of North America; but this attempt was the immediate 

 occasion of the severance of that great country from our own. The 

 injustice and hardship of colonial taxation must be admitted ; but the 

 legal power of parliament to impose such taxes can only be restrained 

 by its own acts conferring constitutions and privileges upon the 

 colonies, which are all subject to its authority. 



There are some subjects indeed upon which parliament, in familiar 

 language, is said to have no right to legislate ; such for instance as the 

 Church ; but no one can intend more by that expression than that it 

 is inexpedient to make laws as to such matters. The very prayers 

 and services of the Church are prescribed by statute. I'ariiaim nt 'has 

 changed the professed religion of the country, and has altered the 

 hereditary succession to the throne. To conclude, in the words of 

 Sir Edward Coke, the power of parliament " is so transcendent and 

 absolute, that it cannot be confined, either for causes or persons, 

 within any bounds." 



2. DISTRIBUTION OF POWKUS BETWEEN KING, LORDS, AND COMMONS. 

 Custom and iv.nvi-nience have assigned to different branches of the 

 legislature peculiar powers. These are subject to any limitation or 

 even transference which parliament may think fit. The king swears 

 at the coronation to govern " according to the statutes in parliament 

 agreed upon," and these of course may be altered. Prerogatives of the 

 crown which have ever been enjoyed might yet be taken away by the 

 king, with the consent of the three estates of the realm. The king 

 sends and receives ambassadors, enters into treaties with foreign 

 powers, and declares war or peace, without the concurrence of lords 

 and commons ; but these things he cannot do without the advice of 

 his ministers, who ore responsible to parliament. Without entering 

 into a view of his general prerogatives, which are treated of elsewhere 

 [ K i NO] , it will be necessary to advert to certain parliamentary functions 

 exercised by him, and which ore most important in the conduct of 

 legislation. 



Summon*. It is by the act of the king alone that parliament can be 

 assembled. There have been only two instances in which the lords 

 and commons have met of then- own authority, namely, previously to 

 the restoration of King Charles II. and at the Revolution in 1688. 



The first act of Charles II.'s reign declared the lords and commons 

 to be the two houses of parliament, notwithstanding the irregular 

 manner in which they had been assembled, and all their acts were 

 confirmed by the succeeding jmrliameut summoned by the king; 

 which however qualified the confirmation of them by declaring that 

 'the manner of the assembling, enforced by the difficulties aud 

 exigencies which then lay upon the nation, is not to be drawn into 

 example." In the same manner the first act of the reign of William 

 and Mary declared the convention of lords and commons to be the 

 ;wo houses of parliament, as if they had been summoned according to 

 the usual form, and the succeeding parliament recognised the legality 



