Parliament itself, that a Peer cannot be degraded but by Act of Parliament *.

17. The last, but not the least, privilege of the Peerage was granted by Act of Parliament, in the first year of Edward the VI. chap. 12. It is equivalent to the privileges, or benefit, of Clergy, formerly possessed by the ecclesiastical body, in England. In the latter case all persons who were clerks, or who could read, were exempted from the punishment of death for first offences in cases of petit treason and capital felonies; whilst persons actually in holy orders were amenable only to ecclesiastical censure and jurisdiction, and owed no responsibility to secular judges, except in case of high-treason, petty larceny, and misdemeanour. These privileges have, however, been greatly abridged by various Acts of Parliament, and a recent one (6th Geo. IV. c. 25.) provides that Clerks in holy orders, being convicted of clergyable offences, are liable to the same punishment as lay persons would be in similar situations. By the above Act of Edward, however, Peers, even although they should not be able to read, have their privilege for all offences clergyable at that period, also for the crimes of house-breaking, highway-robbery, horse-stealing, and robbing of churches. As no subsequent law has repealed this clause in the statute of Edward, a Peer may, at this day, rob on the highway, steal horses, break into a house, or rob a church (crimes capital in a Commoner); for by pleading it to be his first offence, in these several felonies, he is liable to no personal punishment whatever. As burning houses, however, was never a clergyable offence, and as that felony is not specified in Edward's Act, as an innocent pastime befitting the rank of a nobleman, it is hard to say whether a Peer guilty of arson would not be likely to share the fate of a more common incendiary.

There is only one instance on record of the degradation of a Peer for this cause, by Act of Parliament: it occurred in the reign of Edward the Fourth, and happened in the case of George Neville, Duke of Bedford, on account of his poverty, which rendered him unable to support the dignity of the Peerage. "This solitary instance," says Judge Blackstone, "serves to show the power of Parliament, and, at the same time, their tenderness in exerting so high a power." As many of our laws and customs were borrowed from the Romans, and, through them, from the Greeks, there can be little doubt that this power of degradation is founded upon the practice of those ancients.-Among the Athenians, such as were spendthrifts by repute or conviction, or who had brought themselves and families to poverty by lewdness and prodigality, had a public mark of infamy put upon them; by which they were prevented from voting and making speeches in the senate, as well as popular assemblies. The Emperor Adrian, likewise, decreed that all who squandered away their estates on women, luxury, or in gaming with dice, should not appear in the theatres, or senate, but should be held up to public scorn and ridicule.

the

STANDING ORDERS

OF THE

HOUSE OF PEERS;

RESPECTING THE PRIVILEGES OF THE PEERAGE, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE BILLS, &c.

WITH

REMEMBRANCES FOR ORDER AND DECENCY TO BE KEPT IN THE UPPER HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT BY THE LORDS, WHEN HIS MAJESTY IS NOT THERE; LEAVING THE SOLEMNITY BELONGING TO HIS MAJESTY'S COMING, TO BE MARSHALLED BY THOSE LORDS TO WHOM IT MORE PROPERLY APPERTAINS.

order of SITTING.

I. FIRST, the Lords are to sit in the same order as is prescribed by the Act of Parliament *, except that the Lord Chancellor sitteth on the Woolsack, as Speaker to the House.

THE LORD CHANCELLOR AS SPEAKER.

II. The Lord Chancellor, when he speaks to the House, is always to speak uncovered, and is not to adjourn the House, or do any thing else as mouth of the House, without the consent of the Lords first had, except the ordinary thing about Bills, which are of course; wherein the Lords may likewise overrule, as for preferring one Bill before another, and such like; and in case of difference amongst the Lords, it is to be put to the question, and if the Lord Chancellor will speak to any thing particularly, he is to go to his own place as a Peer.

CHOICE OF A SPEAKER BY THE LORDS.

Die Sabbathi, 9 Junii, 1660.

III. Ordered by the Lords in Parliament assembled, that it is the duty of the Lord Chancellor, or the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal

This act, which was passed in the reign of Henry VIII., is to be found at the end of these Standing Orders.

of England, ordinarily to attend the Lords' House of Parliament; and that in case the Lord Chancellor, or the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, be absent from the House of Peers, and that there be none authorized under the Great Seal from the King to supply that place in the House of Peers, the Lords may then choose their own Speaker during that vacancy.

THE JUDGES AND PRIVY COUNCILLORS.

IV. The Judges, and such of the King's Privy Council [as are called by Writ to attend] sitting by, are not to be covered till the Lords give them leave, which they ordinarily signify by the Lord Chancellor; and they being there appointed to attend the House, are not to speak or deliver any opinion until it be required, and they be admitted so to do by the major part of the House, in case of difference.

KING'S COUNSEL.

V. The Learned Counsel, &c. are likewise to attend on the woolsacks, but are never to be covered.

MEMBERS OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL.

VI. Those of His Majesty's Privy Council, who are or shall be called by His Majesty's writ, as the Judges are, are to be used with the same respect the Judges are; which is, not to be covered until they shall be bid so to do by the Lords.

PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.

VII. After the issuing the writ of summons, if the Parliament be prorogued to any farther day than was appointed for the meeting thereof by the writ of summons, it is done by writ directed to both Houses; and in that case the Lower House is to be called in, and to stand uncovered below the Peers, but not before the Lords be all set; who sitting and being all covered, the Lord Chancellor uses some words unto them to let them know the cause of their meeting, which he doth uncovered, in respect he speaks to the Lords as well as to the Commons; and after the writ is read the Parliament is accordingly prorogued. But, when the Parliament is prorogued at any time after the first meeting thereof, such prorogation is not to be by writ, but by commission, directed unto some of the Lords of the

Upper House. And the Lord Chancellor first acquainting the House with the purport of such commission, the Lords authorized thereby, or so many of them as are necessary, being in their robes, and seated on a form placed between the Throne and Woolsack, are to command the Usher of the Black Rod to let the Commons know the Lords Commissioners desire their immediate attendance in the House of Peers to hear the commission read; and the Commons being come up to the Bar of this House, and standing uncovered, the commission is to be read by the Clerk, after which the Parliament is to be prorogued in such manner and to such time as is commanded by the said commission.

PROCEEDINGS ON OPENING THE PARLIAMENT.

VIII. At the beginning of a Parliament, after prayers said, and the Lord Chancellor shall have taken the oaths appointed to be taken in lieu of the abrogated Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance, and made, repeated, and subscribed the declaration, and taken and subscribed the Oath of Abjuration, according to the several Acts of Parliament made for those purposes; the Certificate of the Clerk of the Crown of the return of the sixteen Peers who for that part of Great Britain called SCOTLAND shall be chosen, summoned, and certified to sit and vote in the House of Peers in the Parliament of Great Britain, shall be read; and then all the Peers and Lords of Parliament present shall in like manner take, make, and subscribe the said oaths and declaration; after which, some Bill (pro forma) is to be read; which being done, the Lord Chancellor is to report His Majesty's Speech from the Throne, and then the Committee of Privileges is to be appointed; and at the beginning of every other Session during the same Parliament, after prayers said, some Bill (pro formá) is to be read, His Majesty's Speech reported, and the Committee of Privileges appointed.

FINES FOR COMING LATE.

* IX. Every Lord that comes after prayers, if he be a Baron or Bishop, is to pay one shilling, and if he be of any degree above, two shillings for the poor; but every Lord who comes not at all, and makes

This Order is here preserved as a memorial of the attention to public business, and of the charitable disposition of our ancestors.

not his just excuse, is to pay five shillings for every day's absence.Vacat. per ordinem, 13th May, 1742.

RESPECT TO BE SHOWN TO THE HOUSE.

X. Before the House sit, so much respect is to be had to that room, as none but Members of the House ought to be covered there; not so much as the eldest son of any Peer whatsoever, unless he be called by writ; neither is any other persons to stay there, nor any attendant of any Nobleman, but whilst he brings in his Lord, and then he is to retire himself.

SALUTATIONS AND OBEISANCE TO THE CLOTH of estate.

XI. When the House is set, every Lord that shall enter is to give and receive salutations from the rest, and not to sit down in his place unless he hath made his obeisance to the Cloth of Estate.

STYLE OF WRITS.

XII. If there be any difference in the form or style of the writs from the ancient, it is to be examined how it came to pass.

DIGNITY AND ORDER IN THE HOUSE.

XIII. The Lords in the Upper House are to keep their dignity and order in sitting as much as may be, and not to remove out of their places without just cause, to the hindrance of others that sit near them, and disorder of the House; but when they must needs go cross the House from one side to the other, they are to make obeisance to the Cloth of Estate.

MODE OF ADDRESS IN SPEAKING.

XIV. When any Lords speak, they address their speech to the rest of the Lords in general.

OFFENSIVE SPEECHES, &c. to be avoided.

XV. To prevent misunderstandings, and for avoiding offensive speeches, when matters are debating either in the House or at Committees, it is for honour's sake thought fit and so ordered, that all personal, sharp, or taxing speeches be forborne; and whosoever answereth another man's speech, shall apply his answer to the matter