all views of private ambition, only think of their interests as subjects. Regarding the decisions upon controverted elections, an excellent regulation is now made: formerly the House decided them in a very summary manner, and the witnesses were not examined upon oath; but now, by the statute 9 Geo. 4, c. 22, the decision is left to a committee of eleven members, formed in the following manner:-Out of the members present, who must not be less than 100, the names of 33 of that number are to be drawn from ballot boxes; out of these each candidate strikes off one, till the number is reduced to 11, who form the committee, and are sworn to try the merits of the petition: they are to elect a chairman, and to sit from day to day, and are invested with powers to send for persons, papers, and records, and to examine witnesses on oath.

In order to secure the necessary number of members, all other business in the House is to be suspended till these operations are completed, except that of swearing in members, receiving reports from this committee, and proceeding in cases of impeachment.

SECTION II.

Of the Legislative Power.

THE HOUSE of PEERS or LORDS is composed of the Lords Spiritual, who are the two archbishops of Canterbury and York, and twenty-five bishops; and of the Lords Temporal, who are the Peers of the realm, under

the titles of Dukes, Marquisses, Earls, Viscounts, and Barons, being of full age.

The number of Lords Temporal is indefinite, and may be at all times increased by the sovereign.

At the present time the House consists of 435 Peers. The Peerage of Scotland, under the Act of Union (10), elect sixteen from their body to sit in the House of Lords, but they only hold their seats during the term of a parliament. The remainder are peers of Great Britain, with all the privileges enjoyed by the peers of England, except the right and privilege of sitting in the House of Lords, and the privileges depending thereon. This right and privilege also applies to the Irish Peers who are not elected to sit in the House of Lords (11), but they waive their privileges if elected and sitting as a member of the House of Commons.

The Peerage of Ireland, under the Act of Union (12), elect twenty-eight peers from their number, to sit in the House of Lords, who hold their seats for life, and four Irish bishops sitting in rotation.

The Bishops are not considered to be peers of the realm, but only lords of parliament (13); though Selden (14) and Gibson (15) both speak to the contrary (16).

The lords spiritual and temporal, though formerly spoken of as two of the estates of the realm, have, since

(10) 5 Anne, c. 8, explained by 6 Anne, c. 23.

(11) Robinson v. Lord Rokeby, 8 Ves. 601; Lord Milsington v. Lord Portman, 1 Ves. & Beames, 419.

(12) 39 & 40 Geo. 3.

(13) 1 Blackst. Comm. 156.

(14) 3 Seld. Works, 1538, 1588, 1646.

(15) 5 Gibs. Co. c. 6.

(16) See 3 Hall. Mid. Ages, p. 9.

the reign of King James I., been as one joint or indiscriminate estate (17), although the ancient distinction still nominally continues. That king declared that the parliament consisted of the monarch and the two estates, namely, lords and commons (18); a majority will clearly bind the rest dissentient, though it should happen to consist entirely of prelates, or entirely of lay nobles (19). The Act of Uniformity, 1 Eliz. c. 2, was passed with the dissent of all the lords spiritual (20).

The first parliament of Henry VIII. consisted of 298 members in the House of Commons; the statute 27 Hen. 8, c. 26, added to that number 27 for Wales; the 34 Hen. 8, c. 13, further added four for the county and city of Chester; the 25 Car. 2, c. 9, further added four for the county and city of Durham; the Act of Union with Scotland also added 45, and the Act of Union with Ireland 100. 180 were restored by charter in various reigns, making the total of 658 members, the number as before the Reform Bill.

In the first parliament of James I., the members of the Upper House were 78, and of the Lower House 470 (21).

The House of Lords is the principal constitutional support of the rights as well of the Crown as of the people, and at the same time it forms a barrier to withstand the encroachments of both. The nobility are the

(17) 1 Rushw. Coll. 21; 1 Blackst. Comm. 156, Christian's note. (18) Dyer, 60.

(19) 1 Woodd. Lect. 35; see also 3 Hall. Mid. Ages, 157, note, ed. 3.

(20) See 4 Inst. 25.
(21) 5 Parl. Hist. 11.

pillars which are reared from among the people more immediately to support the throne, and if that falls they must also be buried under its ruins, and with them all the liberties enjoyed by a free people. In our mixed and compounded constitution the House of Peers is peculiarly necessary to support the rights of the people against any encroachments that might be attempted by the other estates of the United Kingdom; and it is therefore expedient that they should form a separate body independent of those estates. If they were confounded with the mass of the people, and like them had only a vote in electing representatives, their privileges would soon be borne down and overwhelmed by the popular torrent, which would effectually level all distinctions.

Since the stat. 31 Hen. VIII. c. 10, the king cannot create a new peerage with precedency above those of a more ancient date, but he can give any person not being a peer precedence above the peerage, as in the case of the King of the Belgians by his late Majesty George IV.

The king or queen regnant, for it matters not to which sex the crown descends, is the third constituent part of the parliament; and the consent of these three branches of the legislature must be had to make any law that shall bind the people.

It is the king or queen regnant alone who can convoke it, and he or she alone can dissolve or prorogue it.

In extreme cases, and when the peace of the nation has been at stake, we have two precedents where the parliament has met by its own authority, which, to remove all doubts upon the question, have been afterwards confirmed; and these are upon record. The one is that

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of the Convention Parliament, which restored Charles II. a month before his return, and was confirmed by 13 Charles II. c. 7. The other is that of the Convention Parliament, which, upon the abdication of James II. in 1688, called the Prince of Orange to the vacant throne. This was also confirmed by 1 William & Mary, c. 1; so that the doubts which existed as to the validity of the acts of these convention parliaments were effectually removed by the proper constituent parts of parliament.

It is, therefore, the established law, that the king can only convoke a parliament, and this he is obliged to do at least once a year, for redress of grievances and dispatch of business. If there should be no parliament in being at the demise of the king or queen, the last parliament revives, and is to sit again for six months, unless dissolved by the successor; but as it must originally have been summoned by the Crown, this forms no exception to the general rule.

The effect of a dissolution is, that from that moment the parliament completely ceases to exist; the commission, given to the members by their constituents is at an end; and whenever a new meeting of parliament shall happen, they must be elected anew. A prorogation is an adjournment to a term appointed by the king; till which the existence of parliament is simply interrupted, and the function of the deputies suspended.

When the parliament meets, whether it be by virtue of a new summons, or whether, being composed of members formerly elected, it meets again at the expiration of the term for which it had been prorogued, the king either goes to it in person, invested with the insignia of 66 his dignity, or appoints proper persons to represent him on that occasion, and opens the session by laying before