VII. be reviewed and recorded on rolls of parchment." But this chapter practice has long since been discontinued by the Lords, and does not appear to have been adopted by the Commons. Persons have access to the printed Journals of the House of Commons in the same manner as to the journals of the Commons' other house. The Journals of the House of Commons,1 however, are not regarded as records, although their claim to that character has been upheld by weighty arguments.2 Journals. How au thenticated. : When the Journals of the House of Lords are required as evidence, a party may have a copy or extract, authenticated by the signature of the Clerk of the Parliaments, and, if necessary, the Lords have allowed an officer of their house to attend a trial with the original journal. In the Commons, it is usual for an officer of the house to attend with the printed journal, when a cause is tried in London but when it is tried at the assizes, or at a distance, a party may either obtain from the Journal Office a copy of the entries required, without the signature of any officer, and swear himself that it is a true copy; or, with the permission of the house, or, during the recess, of the Speaker, he may secure the attendance of an officer to produce the printed journal, or extracts which he certifies to be true copies.3 By Act 8 & 9 Vict. c. 113, s. 3 (which does not extend to Scotland), it is enacted that all copies of the journals of either house of Parliament, purporting to be printed by the printers to either house of Parliament, shall be admitted as evidence thereof by all courts, justices, and others, without proof being given that such copies were so printed. 1 Before the commencement of the Lords' Journals, the proceedings of Parliament were recorded in the Rolls of Parliament, A.D. 1278-1503, 6 Edward I. to 19 Henry VII. The Lords' Journals commence in 1509, 1 Henry VIII.; 2 Oxford Debs. 22; 1 C. J. 608; 3 Hatsell, 37. The Journals of the Commons commence in 1547, 1 Edward VI.; and, with the exception of a short period during the reign of Elizabeth, are complete to the present time. 2 Coke, 4th Inst. 23. 3 L. J. 13th and 15th Feb. 1844; for cases where the production of the original MS. journal was required, see 99 C. J. 128; 100 ib. 114; Lord Melville's case, 29 Howell, St. Tr. 683; R. v. Lord G. Gordon, 2 Doug. 593; 29 Howell, St. Tr. 685; Chubb v. Salomons, 3 Carrington and Kirwan, 75. Chapter from the minute Entries in the journal have occasionally been ordered to Entries in the jourbe expunged.1 When the resolution of the 17th February, nal, and 1769, affirming the incapacity of Wilkes, was ordered to be motions expunged, on the 3rd May, 1782, "the same was expunged Clerk's by the Clerk at the table accordingly; "2 and the entry was book erased in the manuscript journal of that day: but the printed journal, though reprinted since that time, still contains the resolution. On the 16th May, 1833, a motion was made by Mr. Cobbett, impugning the conduct of Sir Robert Peel. Lord Althorp moved, "That the resolution which has been moved be not entered in the minutes:" but the Speaker put the question thus, "That the proceedings be expunged," on the ground that the minutes had already been entered in the Clerk's book. The question thus put was carried by 295 to 4, and no entry of the motion or other proceedings was made in the "votes." 8 On the 6th March, 1855, a motion was made relative to the appointment of a recorder for Brighton; and on proceeding to a division the mover was left alone, his seconder, pro forma, declining to vote with him. A member immediately rose and moved that the motion should not be entered in the votes, which was agreed to by all the members except the mover of the original motion. Accordingly, there is no entry of either motion in the votes.1 The house, 27th January, 1891, resolved that the resolution of the 22nd June, 1880,5 which debarred Mr. Bradlaugh from taking the oath or affirmation, be expunged. from the journals; and accordingly the Clerk passed a red line through that resolution, in the volumes preserved in the library and Journal Office of the house, and noted on the margin of the page that the paragraph was expunged pursuant to the resolution of the house." The Clerk also addressed letters to the librarians of the British Museum, expunged. Serjeantat-arms. VII. the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin, and Chapter This notice with regard to the journals has necessarily The appointment of the Serjeant-at-arms is in the gift of the king, under a warrant from the lord chamberlain, and by patent under the great seal, "to attend upon his Majesty's person when there is no Parliament; and, at the time of every Parliament, to attend upon the Speaker of the House of Commons:" but after his appointment he is the servant of the house, and may be removed for misconduct. On the 2nd June, 1675, the house committed Sir James Norfolke to the Tower, for "betraying his trust," and addressed the Crown to appoint another Serjeant-atarms "in his stead." His duties are to attend the Speaker, with the mace, on entering and leaving the house, or going to the House of Lords, or attending his Majesty with addresses. It is his duty to keep the gangway at and Order in below the bar clear, and to desire the members to take see p. 343. their places, and not to stand with their backs to the chair, nor to stand, nor remove from their places, with their hats on, when the house is sitting. He takes strangers into custody who are irregularly admitted into the house, or who misconduct themselves there; causes the removal of persons directed to withdraw; gives orders, to the doorkeepers and other officers under him, to lock the doors of the house upon a division; introduces, with the mace, peers or judges attending within the bar, and messengers from the Lords; attends the sheriffs of London at the bar, on presenting petitions; brings to the bar prisoners to be reprimanded by the Speaker, or persons in custody to be 1 See Mr. Disraeli's statement, 1st March, 1875, 222 H. D. 3 s. 998; officers and usages of the house, MS. 1805; 9 C. J. 351 2 MS. account of the office and duty of the Serjeant-at-arms attending the House of Commons. the house, VII. Chapter examined as witnesses. For the better execution of these duties, he has a chair close to the bar of the house, and is assisted by a deputy Serjeant. Out of the house, he is entrusted with the execution of all warrants for the commitment of persons ordered into custody by the house, and for removing them to the Tower or Newgate, or retaining them in his own custody. He serves, by his messengers, all orders of the house, upon those whom they concern. He also maintains order in the lobby and passages of the house.1 It is another of the Serjeant's duties to give notice to all committees, when the house is going to prayers (see p. 413). He has the appointment and supervision of the several officers in his department; and, as housekeeper of the house, has charge of all its committee-rooms and other buildings, during the sitting of Parliament. of By the ancient custom of Parliament, and by orders of Admission both houses, strangers are supposed not to be admitted strangers. while the houses are sitting. The Lords' standing order Lords. No. 8 prescribes that no person shall be in any part of the house during the sitting of the house, except lords of Parliament and peers of the United Kingdom not being members of the House of Commons, and heirs apparent of peers or of peeresses of the United Kingdom in their own right, and the attendants on the house. Strangers, however, are regularly admitted below the bar, and in the galleries: but the standing order may at any time be enforced. Until 1845, the Commons, by a sessional order, maintained Commons. the exclusion of strangers from every part of the house: but since that time that order has not been made, and the presence of strangers has been recognized in those parts of the house not appropriated to the use of members. 19 H. D. 1; 137 Parl. Deb. 4 s. 982. 21 C. J. 105. 118. 417. 484; 2 ib. 74. 433, &c. 3 The admission of strangers to the house and its precincts was con On sidered by a select committee, Parl. Ladies' gallery. Commons S. O. 88. 89, Appendix I. 3 VII. the 3rd May, 1836, the house, in pursuance of the report Chapter 191 C. J. 319. The clerks and officers of the house are not "strangers." 3 Stow says, "In the year 1584, a new Parliament sat in November, when one Robinson, a lewd fellow, and a skinner, had the confidence to sit in the house all the day, though no member. . . He remained for some time in the Serjeant's custody, and so, it seems, was dismist."Survey of London and Westminster (Skinners' Company). See also 15 C. J. 527, from which it appears that members had been prevented from sitting by the pressure of strangers; see also H. D. 12th Feb. 1844 (Mr. Christie's motion). On the 9th March, 1875, two strangers passed into the body of the house, with a number of members pressing in to a division, and being discovered after the doors were locked and the division was proceeding, the Serjeant removed them, and reported their 429 C. J. 23; 74 ib. 537; 86 ib. 5 15 H. D. 310 (Walcheren Expedition, 1810); 77 H. D. 3 s. 138 (see Mr. Speaker's explanation of the rule). |