Chapter when the Speaker adjourns the house without question ment on If more than one exempted motion stands upon the notice paper, and the first is not disposed of until after the time appointed for the adjournment of the house without question put, other exempted business may be brought forward; and in that case, adjournment without question put is postponed until that matter and the remaining business upon the notice paper for that sitting has been disposed of. Adjourn On a Friday sitting, the adjournment of the house takes Adjourn ment from Friday till place without question put as soon as the business on the Friday. see p. 212. paper has been disposed of, or at half-past five o'clock in the afternoon precisely; and as standing order No. 1 makes no provision for the consideration on that sitting of exempted business, the house cannot sit on a Friday beyond half-past five o'clock, save to complete business (see p. 222), or by order. In that case, if the house continues sitting on Friday beyond half-past five o'clock for the consideration of a special matter, the Speaker, immediately upon the conclusion thereof, adjourns the house forthwith.1 Monday, Amendment to such motions, S. 0. 3, Appendix I. The time for the adjournment of the house on Saturday Saturday. is not prescribed by standing order. Adjournment beyond the next day of sitting.—When it is intended that the house should be adjourned to a day besee p. 295, yond the next sitting day, a motion is made, by a member of and debate the government, with or without notice (see p. 256, n. 4), that see p. 316. the house do "now,"5 or at its rising," or at the conclusion of the sitting, or at its rising on a future day, adjourn until the specified day. thereon, Adjournment on question.-Except on occasions when a quorum of the house is not present (see p. 228), or when the Speaker, in pursuance of a standing or other order, adjourns the house without question put, the house can only be adjourned upon a question put from the chair.9 1 153 C. J. 49; 155 ib. 54. 76. 99; 2 143 C. J. 404; 144 ib. 446. 147 ib. 419; 148 ib. 178; 158 ib. 114; 158 ib. 213; 159 ib. 201; 160 ib. 151. 6157 ib. 432. 146 ib. 178; 147 ib. 182. 8 150 ib. 147; 160 ib. 218. House counted. Chapter VIII. Suspension of a sitting.-The sitting of the house is Quorum, presence of.-Forty members, including the Also, when the house has met at ten o'clock to receive a royal assent message, 3rd July, 1891, 18th Aug. 1892, 7 Parl. Deb. 4 s. 450. 2 12th June, 1885, 298 H. D. 3 s. 1532. 3 On the 17th Feb. 1866, the Lords sent a message to the Commons, requesting them to continue sitting for some time, to which the latter agreed, the object being to ensure the passing of the Habeas Corpus Suspension (Ireland) Bill on that day, 121 C. J. 88. 4 Between the 2nd May, 1902, and Easter, 1906, there was a suspension of the sitting under standing order No. 1, from half-past seven o'clock till nine o'clock on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and on one occasion the business appointed for an afternoon sitting being concluded before half-past seven o'clock, the Speaker in leaving the chair said that he would resume it if any formal business such as receiving a bill from the Lords had to be transacted, 116 Parl. Deb. 4 s. 1245. When the business appointed for an afternoon sitting had been completed before half-past seven o'clock, and there was not any government busi- 5 5th Jan. 1640, 2 ib. 63. " Forty see p. 389, VIII. Chapter a quorum be proved after four o'clock, except by a division between a quarter-past eight and a quarter-past nine o'clock (see p. 231), the immediate adjournment of the house takes place: 1 but if before four o'clock, presumably under the usage already mentioned (see p. 212), the sitting of the house is suspended until four o'clock, unless forty members be sooner present.2 At that hour, if the number of members in the house remains below forty, the adjournment must take place.3 At the meeting of the house it is the duty of the Speaker to ascertain whether a quorum is present: but the state legislatures of the United States, a majority of the house forms a quorum.-Cushing, on Legislative Assemblies, 96. This rule, which dates from the year 1640, is only one of usage, and may be altered at pleasure. The rule was suspended by order of the house, 1st March, 1793, 48 C. J. 305, for the purpose of receiving messages from the Lords relating to proceedings on the trial of Warren Hastings. And such messages were received when even one member only was present, 48 C. J. 305. 310. 660. 804. In 1833, it was determined that sittings of the house from twelve o'clock till three, for private business and petitions, might be held with only twenty members, 88 C. J. 95. 1 First recorded count out, 22nd April, 1729, 21 ib. 351. The importance attached to the hour of four has been said to arise from the provisions of the Acts which required the oaths to be taken between the hours of nine in the morning and four in the afternoon (2 Hatsell, 90): but is, perhaps, more properly referable to usage; four o'clock having been the customary hour for the rising of the house when those Acts were passed. In all times, the proceedings of the house have been liable to such interruptions from the engagements or recreations of members. Writing of the grave 4 Long Parliament in 1641, Mr. Palgrave relates that "one day's 'discourse was stopped because the Earl of Strafford came in his barge to the upper house from the Tower, and divers ran to the east windows of the house, who, with them that sat by, looked out at the said windows, and opened them; and others quitted their seats with noise and tumult;' and another sitting was, in like manner, broken up, in the very crisis of national anxiety, because such members preferred 'the play-houses and bowling-alleys' to the committee of supply."-Death of the Earl of Strafford, in Fraser's Magazine for April, 1873, citing D'Ewes Harleian MSS. I have myself seen the benches nearly deserted during a boat-race, which could be seen from the same east windows, before the great fire of 1834. In Dec. 1648, so many members were in prison, that sometimes there were not enough to make a house, and the Speaker was "obliged to send to the guards to bring in some of their prisoners to make up the number of 40; and when the jobb was done, to receive them again into custody," Carte, iv. 601.-Author's note. 3140 C. J. 39; 154 ib. 214; 155 ib. 181; 158 ib. 37. On Friday sittings the Speaker takes the chair although a quorum is not present, and the transaction House counted out. VIII. when he has taken the chair, that responsibility rests upon chapter between sec p. 231. After the house has been made, if notice be taken that No count forty members are not present, the Speaker directs strangers 8.15 and to withdraw; the two-minute sand-glass upon the table is 9.15o'clock, turned, and members are summoned as if for a division. Then, after the sand-glass has run down, the Speaker proceeds to count the house, the outer door being kept open throughout the proceeding. As has been explained, if it be after four o'clock that the absence of a quorum is of business is commenced when the 3 the Serjeant-at-arms attending the 14th April, 1865, 120 C. J. 188; 2 78 ib. 8. 3 On the 10th June, 1874, complaint was made that members had been obstructed on their return to the house during a count. The Speaker said it was the duty of the Serjeant to keep free access to the house, and he believed that duty had been properly discharged, 219 H. D. 3 s. 1304. VIII. Chapter proved, the Speaker at once adjourns the house until the next sitting day:1 but if it be before that hour, the sitting is suspended until four o'clock, unless the requisite number of members has previously appeared in the house.2 At four o'clock the Speaker again counts the house, and if a quorum is not present, he adjourns the house without question put until the next sitting day. The same course of action is followed if the non-presence of a quorum is proved by the report of the tellers of a division,1 taken at any time except between a quarter-past eight and a quarter-past nine o'clock. Authority of chair. man, see p. 385. 3 a In the duty respecting the presence of a quorum that Presence of devolves upon the chairman of a committee of the whole quorum house, he follows, in every respect, the course pursued by mittee. the Speaker. If the chairman ascertains that forty members are not present, he leaves the chair, the house is resumed, and, on his report, the Speaker counts the house." If forty members be then present, the house again resolves itself into the committee: but if not, the Speaker either suspends the sitting until four o'clock, or adjourns the house forthwith.6 out. The house cannot be counted between a quarter-past Counting eight and a quarter-past nine o'clock, but if on a division s. O. 25, taken on any business during that time it appears that Appendix I. forty members are not present, the business must stand over until the next sitting and the next business must be The Speaker has declined to count the house again, 1 128 C. J. 321. 2 100 ib. 721. 3 158 ib. 37. 181. 132 ib. 370; 137 ib. 420; 140 ib. 5 101 ib. 407. 85 ib. 60, &c.; 8th July, 1845, 100 ib. 701; 155 ib. 315. * 24th July, 1877, 235 H. D. 3 s. 1771; 311 ib. 620. 8 31st July, 1882, 273 ib. 331. |