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In order to prevent the mifchiefs, that might arife by placing this extenfive authority in hands, that are either incapable, or else improper to manage it, it is provided by the custom and law of parliament, that no one fhall fit or vote in either house, unless he be twenty-one years of age. This is also expressly declared by statute 7 & 8 W. III. c. 25, with regard to the house of commons; doubts having arisen from fome contradictory adjudications, whether or no a minor, was incapacitated from fitting in that house. It is alfo enacted by statute 7 Jac. I. c. 6. that no member be permitted to enter the house of commons, till he hath taken

No minors to

fit in either

houfe.

Oaths required

to qualify the take their feats.

members to

the oath of allegiance before the lord steward,
or his deputy; and by 30 Car. II. ft. 2. and
1 Geo. I. c. 13, that no member shall vote or
fit in either house, till he hath, in the prefence
of the house, taken the oaths of allegiance,
fupremacy, and abjuration, and subscribed,
and repeated the declaration against transub-
ftantiation, and invocation of faints, and the
facrifice of the mafs. Aliens, unless natura- aliens.
lized, were likewife by the law of parliament
incapable to serve therein; and now it is
enacted, by ftatute 12 & 13 W. III. c. 2.
that no alien, even though he be naturalized,
fhall be capable of being a member of either
houfe of parliament. And there are not only
these

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Exclufion of

Criminals ad

judged by the two houfes in

capable to fit.

Lex & confu tudo parliamenti.

Fach houfe judge of their own caufes.

thefe ftanding incapacities; but if any perfon is made a peer by the king, or elected to ferve in the houfe of commons by the people, yet may the refpective houfes, upon complaint of any crime in fuch perfon, and proof thereof, adjudge him disabled and incapable to fit as a member; and this by the law and cuftom of parliament.

The high court of parliament hath its own peculiar law, called the lex et confuetudo parliamenti; a law, which Sir Edward Coke obferves, is" ab omnibus quærenda, a multis ignorata, a paucis cognita." It will not, therefore, be expected that we fhould enter into the examination of this law, with any degree of minuteness; fince, as the fame learned author affures us, it is much better to be learned out of the rolls of parliament, and other records, and by precedents, and continual experience, than can be expreffed by any one man. It will be fufficient to obferve, that the whole of the law and custom of parliament has its original from this one maxim; "That whatever matter arifes concerning either houfe of parliament, ought to be examined, difcuffed, and adjudged in that houfe, to which it relates, and not elfewhere." Hence for inftance, the lords will not fuffer the commons to interfere in fettling

the

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the election of a peer of Scotland; the com-
mons will not allow the lords to judge of the
election of a burgefs; nor will either house
permit the fubordinate courts of law to ex-

amine the merits of either cafe. But the No limited
form nor proofs
maxims upon which they proceed, together in parliament.
with the method of proceeding, ref: entirely

in the breaft of the parliament itfelf; and are
not defined and afcertained by any particular
ftated laws.

The privileges of parliament are likewife Privileges of very large and indefinite. And therefore parliament inwhen in 31 Henry VI, the house of lords propounded a queftion to the judges concerning them, the chief juftice Sir John Fortefcue, in the name of his brethren declared," that they ought not to make anfwer to that queftion; for it hath not been ufed aforetime, that the juftices fhould in anywife determine the privileges of the high court of parliament. For it is fo high and mighty in its nature, that it may make law and that, which is law, it may make no law; and the determination and knowledge of that privilege belongs to the lords of parliament, and not to the justices." Privilege of parliament was principally established, in order to protect its members, not only from being molested by their fellow-fubjects, but also

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Reafons for definite.

their being in

Privilege of
Speech.

more especially from being oppreffed by the power of the crown. If, therefore, all the privileges of parliament were once to be fet down and ascertained, and no privilege to be allowed, but what was fo defined and determined, it were eafy for the executive power to devife fome new cafe, not within the line of privilege, and under pretence thereof to harass any refractory member, and violate the freedom of parliament. The dignity and independence of the two houfes are therefore in great measure preserved by keeping their privileges indefinite. Some however of the more notorious privileges of the members of either house are privilege of speech, of perfon, of their domestics, and of their lands and goods. As to the firft, privilege of speech, it is declared by the ftatute i W. and M. ft. 2. c. 2. as one of the liberties of the people, "that the freedom of speech, and debates, and proceedings in parliament, ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of parliament." And this freedom of speech is particularly demanded of the king in perfon, by the fpeaker of the house of commons, at the opening of every new parliament. So likewife are the other privileges of perfon, fervants, lands, and goods; which are immunities as ancient, as Edward

I

the

the confeffor; in whofe laws we find this precept, Ad fynodos venientibus five fum noniti fint, five per fe quid agendum habuerint, fit fumma pax :' and fo too, in the old Gothic constitutions, extenditur hæc pax et fecuritas ad

с

perfons.

quatuordecim dies, convocato regni fenatu.'. This Privilege of includes not only privilege from illegal violence, but alfo from legal arrefts, and feifures by process from the courts of law. To affault by violence a member of either house, or his menial fervants, is a high contempt of parliament, and there punished with the utmost severity. It has likewife peculiar penalties annexed to it in the courts of law, by the statutes 5 Henry IV. c. 6. and 11 HenryVI. c.11. Neither can any member of either house be arrested and taken into cuftody, nor ferved with any process of the courts of law; nor can his fervants, lands, menial fervants be arrested; nor can any entry be made on his lands; nor can his goods be diftreined or feifed; without a breach of the privilege of parliament.

"Thefe privileges however, which derogate from the common law, being only indulged to prevent the member's being diverted from the public bufinefs endure no longer, than the feffion of parliament, save only as to the freedom of his person: which in a peer is for ever facred and inviolable;

and

Privilege of

and goods.

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