Chapter XXVIII. The attendance of the lords upon such committees is Sittings of very strictly enforced. Each committee is to meet "Not later than eleven o'clock every morning, and shall sit till four, and shall not meet at a later hour nor adjourn at an earlier hour without leave of the house or without reporting to the house the cause of such later meeting or earlier adjournment. No committee shall adjourn over any day except Saturday, Sunday, Christmas Day, and Good Friday, without leave of the house, or without reporting to the house the cause of such adjournment; but should a committee meet on a Saturday, the sitting is to be in conformity with this order." committees on bills. S. O. 99. Every member is to attend the proceedings during their whole S. O. 100. continuance; "and no lord who is not a member of the committee shall take any part in the proceedings." If any member "is prevented from continuing his attendance, the S. O. 101. committee shall adjourn, and shall not resume its sittings, in the absence of such member, without leave of the house: but if the house is not then sitting, the committee may, with the consent of all parties, continue its sittings in the absence of any member, provided that the number of the committee be not less than four, and that the committee report accordingly to the house at its next meeting."1 which com In accordance with standing order No. 99A, the com- Order in mittee take the bill or bills first into consideration which mittees shall have been named by the committee of selection, "And may from time to time appoint the day on which they will enter upon the consideration of each of the remaining bills without reporting to the house any adjournment of the committee caused thereby." consider bills. S. 0.99A. drawn. S. O. 102. If no parties appear on their petitions against a bill, or, Where opposition having appeared, withdraw their opposition before their withcase has been fully opened-or if their locus standi is disallowed, the committee are required, by standing order No. 102, to report accordingly to the house, and the bill is then dealt with as if originally unopposed. But nothing contained in this order prevents the committee "from requiring the preamble of a bill to be proved in Costs. any case in which an application for Costs has been made." 2 1 See debates on the absence of Lord Gardner, 24th and 26th June, 1845, 81 H. D. 3 s. 1104. 1190. 2 As to the power possessed by committees of the House of Lords, Witnesses on oath. XXVIII. The proceedings of a Lords' committee on an opposed Chapter bill differ in no material point from those of a committee in the Commons, except as to questions of locus standi presently to be mentioned. By section 2 of the Act 21 & 22 Vict. c. 78, any committee of the House of Lords may administer an oath to the witnesses examined before them; and thus the inconvenience of a previous attendance at Petitioners the bar of the house is avoided. Petitions against the bill are referred, and the parties are heard by themselves, their counsel, agents, and witnesses, in the same manner, and subject to nearly the same rules, as in the Commons. Some are heard upon the preamble, and others against particular clauses, or in support of new clauses or amendments. The bill is gone through, clause by clause, and, after all amendments have been made, it is reported, with the amendments, to the house. heard. Locus standi of Questions on the locus standi of the petitioners against petitioners, a bill are heard by the committee to which the bill is referred. In this respect the House of Lords have preserved the original practice of both houses, which was abandoned by the House of Commons in 1865, when the court of referees was established; but the House of Lords, like the House of Commons, has passed several standing orders-some mandatory, and some permissive— respecting the locus standi of petitioners in certain cases. Thus: As to the locus standi of dissentients at "In case any proprietor, shareholder, or member of or in any company, society, association, or co-partnership shall, by himself or any person authorized to act for him in that behalf, have dissented at any meeting called in pursuance of any of the aforesaid standing orders Nos. 62. 63. a "Wharn- 64. 65. and 66, or at any meeting called in pursuance of any similar cliffe " order of the House of Commons, such proprietor, shareholder, or member shall be permitted, on petitioning the house, to be heard by the committee on the bill, by himself, his counsel or agents, and meeting. S. O. 105. Locus standi of bodies re witnesses." "Where any body of persons corporate or unincorporate sufficiently presenting representing a particular trade, business, or interest in any district to which any railway bill relates, petition against the bill, alleging that such trade, business, or interest will be injuriously affected by the rates 1 See supra, p. 760. XXVIII. Chapter and fares proposed to be authorized by the bill, it shall be competent particular for the select committee to whom the bill is referred, if they think fit, trades, &c. to hear the petitioners or their counsel or agents and witnesses on such S. O. 105A. allegation against the bill, or any part thereof, or against the rates and fares proposed to be authorized by the same." standi of "Where a chamber of agriculture, commerce, or shipping, or a Locus mining or miners' association, sufficiently representing the agriculture, chambers trade, mining, or commerce, in any district to which any bill relates, of agripetition against the bill, alleging that such agriculture, trade, mining, culture, or commerce will be injuriously affected by the provisions contained &c. in the bill, it shall be competent for the select committee to whom the S. O. 105B. bill is referred, if they think fit, to hear the petitioners or their counsel or agents and witnesses on such allegation against the bill or any part thereof." standi of county "Where the council of any administrative county or county borough Locus or being a joint committee of councils of administrative counties or county boroughs petition against a bill, alleging that such county or councils, county borough or some part thereof will be injuriously affected by &c. the bill, it shall be competent for the select committee to whom the S. O. 105c. bill is referred, if they think fit, to hear such petitioners or their counsel or agents and witnesses on such allegation against the bill or any part thereof.” "The council of any administrative county alleging in their (a) By the provisions of any bill relating to the water supply of (b) By the provisions of any bill proposing to authorize the con- S. O. 105D. Locus Commons' And " a petitioner against a bill originating in the House standi of Commons, who has discussed clauses in that house, shall against not on that account be precluded from opposing the bills. preamble of the bill in this House."1 S. O. 102A. Unopposed re open com Unopposed local bills are referred to the chairman of bil committees, "and such lords as think fit to attend:" but ferred to the business is practically transacted by the chairman of mittees. committees, assisted by his counsel, and the responsi- Chairman bility is vested in the chairman by the house. Every of commitbill has been previously examined by the chairman and counsel. 1 This is analogous to the standing order No. 143 of the Commons regarding petitioners against bills tees and his Unopposed bills, when treated as opposed. S. O. 95. Standing orders to to local bills. XXVIII his counsel: but at this period the chairman exercises Chapter The chairman of committees may, in any case, report The directions to Lords' committees upon local bills be observed are generally similar to those of the Commons, already in regard described, and the greater part of the standing orders relating to railway and other local bills are the same (see pp. 792 et seq.) They differ, however, in regard to particular matters, which, by special standing orders, are required to be proved or enforced, either in relation to all bills or to bills of particular classes or descriptions. To various Substantially the same provision is made as in the House of Commons in regard to certain bills in which power is sought to take houses inhabited by the working-classes, 138. 108, inclosure bills, bills under which the level of any road is 134. 135. to be altered or under which water is to be impounded, bills authorizing gas companies to raise additional capital, and bills promoted by local authorities; and also in regard to the consideration by the committee of certain reports made by public departments. Standing order No. 104 provides that kinds of local bills. S. O. 111. 110A.140A. S. O. 106. 106A. S. O. 104. S. O. 107. "Any agreement intended to be scheduled to any bill shall contain a clause declaring the same to be made subject to such alterations as Parliament may think fit to make therein: but if the committee on the bill make any material alteration in any such agreement, it shall be competent to any party thereto to withdraw the same." Standing order No. 107 provides for the insertion, in 1 Viscount Eversley, 13th Feb. 1871, 103 L. J. 15, and 23rd April, 1874, 106 ib. 77; Earl of Selborne, 15th May, 1888, 120 ib. 180; Lord Balfour of Burleigh, 12th Feb., 1904, 136 ib. 33. 2 Gaslight and Coke Company Bill, 1873: Durham Water Bill, 1878. XXVIII. Chapter every local bill of the second class, of a clause to the effect that, if the work authorized by the bill be not completed within a specifically prescribed period, the powers and authorities, under the bill, for completing it shall cease. Standing order No. 110 provides that, where a S. O. 110. public navigable tidal river or channel is included within the limits of deviation of any work (other than a railway), a clause shall be inserted in the bill, making the consent of the Board of Trade necessary to any deviations that diminish the navigable space. And in any bill by which S. 0. 109. the profits of any company are limited, a provision has to be inserted restricting the company's power to convert into capital the money borrowed under the bill. relating to With regard to bills for the construction of gasworks, To bills the making of cemeteries, the generation of electricity, gasworks, &c., standing orders No. 139 and 140 provide that electricity, &c. "In every bill for making or constructing gasworks or sewage works S. O. 139. or works for the manufacture or conversion of the residual products of gas or sewage, or for making or constructing, altering or enlarging any sewage farm, cemetery, burial ground, crematorium, destructor, or hospital for infectious disease, there shall be inserted a clause defining the lands in or upon which such gasworks, sewage works, farm, cemetery, burial ground, crematorium, destructor, or hospital may be made or constructed. In the case of a bill authorizing the generation, supply, or use of electricity there shall be inserted either a clause defining the lands in or upon which any station for generating electricity may be constructed or a clause to the effect that the undertakers shall not be exonerated from any indictment, action, or other proceeding for nuisance in the event of any nuisance being caused or permitted by them on the lands on which any such generating station may be constructed.” "In every bill for making, altering, or enlarging any cemetery or S. O. 140. burial-ground, a clause shall be inserted prohibiting the making, altering, or enlarging of such cemetery or burial-ground, within 300 yards of any house of the annual value of 501., or of any garden or pleasure-ground occupied therewith, except with the consent of the owner, lessee, and occupier thereof in writing." bills. In the case of railway, tramroad, and tramway bills, in To railway addition to the general inquiries which they conduct, S. O. 112. committees are required to see that certain conditions 113. are observed, regarding the raising of loans on mortgage, or the crossing of roads on a level. They are |