614 P A R L I A 
cafe it mull have been affeffed to the land-tax, within 
two years before the election, either in the name of the 
predeceffor or perfon through whom the voter derives his 
title, or in the name of the tenants of fuch perfon, or in 
the name of the tenant actually occupying the fame. 
In Ireland, the electors of the knights of the (hire mud 
have 40s. a-year freehold in the county : and fuch free¬ 
hold mull be duly regiftered. 
The right of election in boroughs is various ; depending 
entirely on the feveral charters, cuftoms, and conftitu- 
tions, of the refpedlive places, which have occafioned in¬ 
finite difputes. In fome rneafure to prevent this evil, 
the flat. 7 & 8 Will. III. c. 7, enacted, that the determina¬ 
tion of the houfe of commons, as to the right of election, 
fnould bind the returning officer in taking the poll. 
That ftatute was enlarged by flat. 2 Geo. II. c. 24. by 
the 4th fedlion of which, the lad determination of the 
houfe of commons was declared to be final. 
Ey flat. 3 Geo. III. c. 15. no freeman of any city or 
borough (other than fuch as claim by birth, marriage, or 
fervitude) (hall be entitled to vote therein, unlefs he hath 
been admitted to his freedom twelve calendar months be¬ 
fore. This is called the Durham-adl, and it was occafioned 
by the corporation of Durham having, upon the eve of 
an election, in order to ferve one of the candidates, ad¬ 
mitted 215 honorary freemen. Some corporations have 
the power of admitting honorary freemen, viz. perfons 
who, without any previous claim or pretenfion, are ad¬ 
mitted to all the franchifes of the corporation. The 
Durham Adi is confined to perfons of that defcription 
folely. It has frequently been contended, that if hono¬ 
rary freemen are created for the occajlon, that is, merely 
for an eledtion-purpofe, it is a fraud upon the rights of 
election ; and that, by the common law, as in other cafes 
of fraud, the admiffion and all the confequences would 
be null and void ; that within the year, by the llatute, 
fraud was prefumed ; but that, after that time, the fta¬ 
tute left the neceffity of proving it upon thofe who im¬ 
puted it. 
No length of pofleffion is required from voters in bur¬ 
gage-tenure boroughs. There are about 29 burgage-te¬ 
nure boroughs in England, x Dougl. 224. In thefe the 
right of voting is annexed to fome tenement, houfe, or 
fpot of ground upon which a houfe in ancient times has 
ftood. Any number of thefe burgage-tenure eftates may 
be purchafed by one perfon, which, at any time before a 
contefted eledlion, may be conveyed to l'o many of his 
friends, who would each in confequence have a right to 
vote. 
Ey flat. 26 Geo. III. c. 100, it is enadled, that in bo¬ 
roughs, in England, where the houfeholders or inhabi¬ 
tants of any defcription claim to eledl, no perfon ffiall 
have a right to vote as fuch inhabitant, unlefs he has 
actually been refident in the borough fix months previous 
to the day on which he tenders his vote. By an Iriffi adl, 
35 Geo. III. c. 29. § 53, &c. inhabitants of boroughs in 
Ireland, claiming to vote, mull be regiftered at the fef- 
fions of the county twelve months before the eledlion. 
As to the qualifications of perfons to be cleBed members 
of the houfe of commons ; every knight of a (hire ffiall 
have a clear eftate of freehold or copyhold, (or mortgage, 
if the mortgagee has been feven years in pofleffion,) to 
the value of 600I. per annum ; and every citizen and bur- 
gefs to the value of 300I. except the eldeft fons of peers, 
and except the members for the two univerfities. 9 Ann. 
c. 5. But this adl does not extend to Scotland or Ire¬ 
land. 
If a vacancy happens by the death, Sec. of any member 
during the fitting of parliament, the fpeaker may, by 
order of the houfe, fend his warrant to the clerk of the 
crown ; who thereupon proceeds as in other cafes where 
the warrant is fent by the lord chancellor. And, with re¬ 
gard to a vacancy happening by death or peerage during 
the prorogation or recefs of parliament, the flat. 24 Geo. 
III. ft. 2. c. 26. which repeals the former ftatutes upon 
M E N T. 
this fubjedl, provides, that if, during any recefs, any 
two members give notice to the fpeaker, by a certificate 
under their hands, that there is a vacancy by death, or 
that a writ of fummons has iffued under the great feal 
to call up any member to the houfe of lords, the fpeaker 
fhall forthwith give notice of it to be inferted in the Ga¬ 
zette ; and at the end of fourteen days after fuch infer- 
tion he fhall ifl'ue his warrant to the clerk of the crown, 
commanding him to make out a new writ for the eledtiorx 
of another member. But this ffiall not extend to any cafe 
where there is a petition depending for fuch vacant feat; 
or where the writs for the eledtion of the member fo va¬ 
cating had not been returned fifteen days before the 
end of the laft fitting of the houfe ; or where the new 
writ cannot ifl’ue before the next meeting of the houfe for 
the difpatch of bufinefs. 
The place where the parliament meets is wherever the 
king pleafes: of late it has been in the palace of Well- 
minfter, the lords and commons each in a diftindt apart¬ 
ment. In the lords’ houfe, the princes of the blood are 
placed in diftindt feats ; the great officers of ftate, dukes, 
marquifes, and bilhops, on benches, and the vifeounts 
and barons on others acrofs the houfe ; all according to 
their order of creation, piace, See. The commons fit 
promifeuoufiy, forty members conftituting a houfe ; only 
the Speaker has a chair at the upper end, and the clerk 
and his affiftant fit at a table near him. 
Each houfe of parliament has its Speaker. The Speaker 
of the houfe of lords, whofe office it is to prefide there, 
and manage the formality of bufinefs, is the lord chan¬ 
cellor, or keeper of the king’s great feal, or any other 
appointed by the king’s commiffion : and if none be fo 
appointed, the houfe of lords (it is faid) may eledt. The 
Speaker of the houfe of commons is chofen by the houfe ; 
but muft be approved by the king. And herein the 
ufage of the two houfes differs, that the Speaker of the 
houfe of commons cannot give his opinion, or argue any 
queftion in the houfe, unlefs the houfe is in a committee 5 
or when the houfe is equally divided, and the calling vote 
of the Speaker is requifite to determine a queftion ; but 
the Speaker of the Houfe of Lords, if a Lord of Parlia¬ 
ment, may, in all cafes fpeak and argue. 
The falary of the Speaker of the Houfe of Commons is 
now fettled at 1 500I. a-quarter, or 6000I. a-year, under 
flat. 30 Geo. III. c. 10. which prohibits his holding any 
office under the crown during pleafure. Forty members 
are requifite to make a houfe of commons for difpatch 
of bufinefs. 
When a member of the houfe of commons fpeaks, he 
Hands up uncovered, and diredts his fpeech to the Speaker 
ogly. If what he fays be anfwered by another, he is not 
allowed to reply the fame day, unlefs perfonally alluded 
to : but when the commons, in order to have a greater 
freedom of debate, have refolved themfelves into a com¬ 
mittee of the whole houfe, every member may fpeak to a 
queftion as often as he thinks necelfary. 
In the houfe of lords they vote, beginning at the puifne 
or loweft baron, and fo up orderly to the higheft, every 
one anfwering, Content or Not content. In the houfe of 
commons they vote by ayes and noes; and, if it be du¬ 
bious which are the greater number, the houfe divides. 
If the queftion be about bringing any thing into the 
houfe, the ayes go out; but, if it be about any thing the 
houfe already has, the noes go out. In all divilions the 
Speaker appoints four tellers, two of each opinion. In a 
committee of the whole houfe, they divide by changing 
fides, the ayes taking the right and the noes the left of the 
chair; and then there are but two tellers. 
In the houfe of commons, the Speaker never votes 
(unlefs in committee), except when there is an equality 
without his calling vote, which in that cafe creates a 
majority of the houfe ; but the Speaker of the houfe of 
lords has no calling vote, his vote being connedled with 
the reft of the houle ; and, in the cafe of an equality, the 
Non contents, or negative voices, have the fame effedl and 
operation 
