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Chapter Speaker: but after the question has been first put, no member is permitted to speak; and the debate cannot, therefore, be reopened after the turning of the sand-glass.

XIII.

Members speak sitting, &c., see p. 310.

See similar

procedure in case of insulting words

during a

committee,

to clear

When the house proceeds to a division, every member is Members bound to retire from the house into one of the lobbies. On the house. the 3rd February, 1881, a teller reported that he was unable to clear the house, as several members refused to quit their places. The Speaker, having already called the attention of the house to their conduct during a previous division, now cautioned them that, if they again refused to withdraw, he should consider that they were disregarding the authority of the chair. As they persisted in retaining their seats, the Speaker proceeded to name them, twentyeight in number, and they were severally suspended from the service of the house. On the 5th March, 1901, in committee of supply, several members refused to leave the house for a division. The chairman left the chair to report the circumstance to the house. The Speaker resumed the chair and a motion for the suspension of the members in question was carried. As they refused to leave the house on the Speaker's direction they were removed by force.2 The refusal of members to leave the house for a division in committee has been similarly reported to the house.3

on breach

On the 3rd February, 1881 (vide supra), and also on the Procedure 2nd September, 1886 (see p. 346), the Speaker, after his of order attention had been called to the breach of order, directed during a that the division should proceed, and dealt with the matter when the division was completed.

division.

a division.

Although the general rule is that a member who is Method of division in within the folding-doors of the house when the question is put from the chair, for the first or second time, ought to go into the lobby and vote, a member is not forced to give

p. 387.

1136 C. J. 56; 258 H. D. 3 s. 78-88.

2156 C. J. 62. 64; 90 Parl. Deb. 4 s. 831. For the subsequent alteration of standing order No. 18, see p. 341.

151 C. J. 241; 159 ib. 389. On the 21st May, 1896, a member who

declined to leave the house to go
into a division lobby was directed
by the chairman to withdraw im-
mediately from the house, and on
his declining to do so was removed
by the Serjeant-at-arms, 151 C. J.

242.

Division

upon an amendment.

Division in the Lords.

3

XIII.

put, see p.

his vote, but it is convenient that a member who does not Chapter
intend to vote should withdraw before the question is fully
put.1 If a member has not heard the question put, either Question
the first or the second time,' the question is again stated 286.
to him from the chair; and, if he has entered a division
lobby, he may therefore claim to give his vote irrespective Members in
of the division lobby into which he may have passed. If lobby, see
a member has heard the question put, then his vote must Divisions
accord with the division lobby that he has entered, if he in com-
remain and is counted therein.5

A member who has not voted upon an amendment is
nevertheless entitled to vote upon the main question, when
subsequently put. He therefore should be admitted to the
house, so soon as the numbers have been declared after
the first division; and it is the duty of the Serjeant to
ensure that the doors of the house are reopened for that
purpose.

the wrong

mittee, see

p. 370.

The mode of taking divisions is regulated, in the House of Lords, by standing order No. 32. Until 1857, a division was effected in the Lords by the not contents remaining within the bar, and the contents going below the bar: but in that year their lordships adopted nearly the same arrangements as those which had been in successful operation, for many years, in the Commons. The proceedings, as at present conducted, may be briefly described. When the question has been "entirely put," the lobbies on the right and left of the house are cleared of strangers, and the doors locked. The Lord Speaker appoints two tellers for When the Speaker is every member who appears at the not a peer, table, regarding his vote in a division, see p. 191. 380 C. J. 307; 114 ib. 112; 137 ib. 172; 140 ib. 93.

130 Parl. Deb. 4 s. 1416; 56 ib. 871. The rooms behind the Speaker's chair are not within the house for the purposes of a division, and members may retire to these rooms after the house has been cleared for a division, and before the question has been put from the chair a second time (see p. 355), 123 H. D. 3 s. 713; 16th July, 1880, 254 ib. 730.

2 A question to ascertain whether a member, being within the foldingdoors, has heard the question put, should be invariably addressed to

• 137 ib. 172.

5 Members found in the house: 103 ib. 406; 114 ib. 102; 121 ib. 140; 129 ib. 234. Members found in a division lobby: 117 ib. 151; 129 ib. 243; 144 ib. 333; 203 H. D. 3 s. 460.

Statements by the Speaker, MS. notes, 28th May, 1845, and 13th March, 1849; see also 4th June, 1866, 183 H. D. 3 s. 1916.

XIII.

Chapter each party, without respect to their degree. The contents then go into the right lobby, and the not contents into the left lobby, and on returning into the house are counted by the tellers, and their names recorded by the clerks. The vote of the lord on the woolsack, or in the chair, is taken first, in the house; and any lord may, on the ground of infirmity, by permission of the house, be told in his seat. The tellers having counted the votes, announce them to the lord on the woolsack, or in the chair. Alphabetical lists of the names are printed with the Lords' Minutes; and similar lists, but arranged according to the rank of the peers on the roll, are also inserted in the journal. If a A peer in peer goes into the wrong lobby, he may, pursuant to standing lobby. order No. 32, correct the error. Being accompanied by the tellers to the table, he there declares the vote that he intended to give, which is recorded by them accordingly.3

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the wrong

voices

equal in

In case of an equality of voices, the not contents have it, when and the question is declared to have been resolved in the negative. When this occurs, it is always entered in the the Lords. journal, "Then, according to the ancient rule of the law," or "the ancient rule in the like cases, Semper præsumitur pro negante,' &c." In view of this rule when the house is sitting judicially, the question is put "for reversing, and not for affirming;" and consequently, if the numbers be equal, the house refuses to reverse the judgment, and an order is made that the judgment of the court below be affirmed.5

As a general rule, none but "law lords," i.e. peers who Law lords. have held high judicial offices, and lords of appeal, vote in judicial cases, or otherwise interfere with the decisions of the house. All peers, however, are entitled to vote, if they Votes of think fit, and the right has been exercised in some very in judicial remarkable cases. In 1685, in the case of Howard v. the cases. Duke of Norfolk, a decree of the Lord Keeper Guildford

1 Until 1857, the two tellers were required to be of the same degree.

2 Resolutions, 10th March, 1857; Reports of the Lords' Committee on the minutes and journals, 1857.

3 166 H. D. 3 s. 1608; 94 L. J. 230; 116 ib. 254.

33 L. J. 519; 14 ib. 167. 168. 5 115 ib. 461, etc.

other peers

In the

XIII.

was reversed, after an angry debate, by a house attended by Chapter
eighteen bishops and sixty-seven temporal peers.1 In 1689,
on Titus Oates' writ of error, the judgment of the court
below was affirmed, on a division, by thirty-five peers
against twenty-three, in opposition to the unanimous opinion
of the nine judges who attended.2 In June, 1806, in the
case of Lord Hertford's guardianship of Lord Hugh
Seymour's daughter, there was a large attendance of lay
peers. In the writ of error of The Queen v. O'Connell, in
1844, a discussion arose, in which some of the lay lords
seemed inclined to exercise their right, but abstained from
voting. On the 9th April, 1883, in the appeal of Bradlaugh
v. Clarke, Lord Denman, a lay peer, was present, and
expressed his opinion in support of the dissentient lord of
appeal, Lord Blackburn.

Any lords who desire to avoid voting may go within the
rails round the throne, where they are not strictly within
the house, and are not therefore counted in the division.5

Whilst the Commons sat in St. Stephen's Chapel, the Commons. separation of the "ayes" and "noes " for the purpose of a division was effected by the retention of one party within the house, to be counted there, and by the withdrawal of the other party into the lobby, who were counted on their return into the house. This practice continued until 1836, when a change of method being thought advisable, the

1 14 L. J. 50; Select Chancery Cases; 3 Lord Camp. Lives of Chancellors, 485. 486.

2 L. J. 31st May, 1689; 3 Lord Macaulay, Hist. 388; see also cases of Reeve v. Long, 16 L. J. 446; Sugden, Law of Real Prop., Introduction; Bertie v. Falkland, 16 L. J. 230. 236. 240. 247; Ashby v. White, 17 ib. 369; Douglas peerage case, 32 ib. 264; 16 Parl. Hist. 518; 1 Cavendish Deb. 618; Smith v. Lord Pomfret, 33 L. J. 303; 4 Walpole, Mem. of Geo. III. 285; Hill v. St. John, Sugden, Law of Real Prop., Introduction, 21; Bishop of London v. Fytche, 36 L. J. 687; 2 Brown's

Parl. Cases, 211; 5 Lord Campbell,
Chancellors, 523.

3 Lord Minto says, 16th June,
1806, "The House of Lords made a
very discreditable appearance on this
occasion, attending in great numbers,
at the solicitation or command of
the Prince of Wales."- Life and
Letters of Sir Gilbert Elliot, first
Earl of Minto, iii. 390.

4 11 Clar. and Fin. 155. 421.

On the second reading of Queen Caroline's Degradation Bill, in 1820, Lord Gage enforced an old order, and each peer gave his vote, in his place, seriatim, 53 L. J. 751. 754; 2 Plumer Ward's Mem. 91.

XIII.

Chapter present arrangement was adopted of two lobbies, one at each side of the house, whereby, on a division, the house is entirely cleared; one party being sent into each of the lobbies. The Speaker directs the ayes to go into the right Tellers. lobby, and the noes into the left lobby, and then appoints

1

two tellers for each party; of whom one for the ayes and
another for the noes are associated, to check each other in

without

the telling. If two tellers cannot be found for one of the No division
parties, the division cannot take place; and the Speaker two tellers.
forthwith announces the decision of the house. For
instance, if it appears that there are no tellers, or but
one teller for the ayes, the Speaker declares "that the
noes have it." 2

division

When there are two tellers for each party, the division Method of proceeds, and the house is cleared. Two clerks are stationed in the in each division lobby, at desks, on which are placed lists of Commons. the members, in alphabetical order, printed upon a sheet of paper; and, as the members pass by, the clerks place a mark against their names; and, at the entrance from the lobby into the house, the tellers count the numbers. Members disabled by infirmity are told in the house.

When both parties have returned into the house, the tellers state the numbers in the division to a clerk at the table, to be entered upon the division paper; they then come up to the table (the tellers for the majority being on the right); and one of the tellers for the majority reports the numbers. The division paper is handedto the

A member is bound to act as teller for that party with whom he has declared himself, when appointed by the Speaker; and his refusal would be reported to the house, Private Mem. 7th July, 1859; though a member, by seconding a motion, does not pledge himself to act as teller, 287 H. D. 3 s. 1220. A member cannot act as a teller on a question for his own suspension, 268 ib. 1017; 271 ib. 1129; 98 Parl. Deb. 4 s. 505.

297 C. J. 183. 354; 98 ib. 605;

23rd May, 1850, 105 ib. 364; 127 ib.
121. 347; 132 ib. 61; 144 ib. 256;
150 ib. 154; 151 ib. 130, 39 Parl.
Deb. 4 s. 463; 156 C. J. 62, 176;
160 ib. 303.

3 When on one occasion the door
of a division lobby was unlocked
without the tellers being present
and members entered the house un-
told, the chairman directed the
doors to be reopened and a fresh
division took place, 29th March,
1900, 155 ib. 125.

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