quite invaluable to the present Editor. The present Editor of Book III. desires further to express his deep indebtedness to Mr. Albert Gray, Counsel to the Chairman of Committees in the House of Lords, for the valuable suggestions and most material help which he has kindly given him throughout his task. Similar help, in regard to points upon which their knowledge and experience are of the greatest value, has most generously been given him by Mr. J. M. Dodds, Assistant UnderSecretary for Scotland; by Mr. Herbert Boyce of the Local Government Board; by Mr. Campion, Examiner of Petitions for Private Bills; by Mr. J. D. Fitzgerald, K.C., Mr. R. Manders, K.C., Mr. J. W. Martyn of the Board of Trade, and Mr. A. H. Robinson of the House of Lords; by Mr. Arthur Pritt; and by many others connected, either officially or otherwise, with the course of Private Bill Legislation. And he desires also very warmly to thank Mr. Bryan Fell and numerous other colleagues of his own, who have similarly given him very kind and essential assistance.

T. L. W.

W. G.

1906.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

Ir is the object of the following pages to describe the various functions and proceedings of Parliament, in a form adapted, as well to purposes of reference, as to a methodical treatment of the subject. The well-known work of Mr. Hatsell abounds with Parliamentary learning, and, except where changes have arisen in the practice of later years, is deservedly regarded as an authority upon. all the matters of which it treats. Other works have also appeared, upon particular branches of parliamentary practice; or with an incidental rather than direct bearing upon all of them: but no general view of the proceedings of both Houses of Parliament, at the present time, has yet been published; and it is in the hope of supplying some part of this acknowledged deficiency that the present Treatise has been written.

A theme so extensive has only been confined within the limits of a single volume, by excluding, or rapidly passing over, such points of constitutional law and history as are not essential to the explanation of proceedings in Parliament; and by preferring brief statements of the general result of precedents, to a lengthened enumeration of the precedents themselves. Copious references are given, throughout the work, to the Journals of both houses, and to other original sources of information: but quotations have been restricted to resolutions and standing orders, to printed authorities, and to precedents which serve to elucidate any principle or rule of practice better than a more general statement in the text.

The arrangement of the work has been designed with a view to advance from the more general to the particular

and distinct proceedings of Parliament, to avoid repetition, and to prevent any confusion of separate classes of proceedings; and each subject has been treated, by itself, so as to present, first, the rules or principles; secondly, the authorities, if any be applicable; and, thirdly, the particular precedents in illustration of the practice.

It only remains to acknowledge the kind assistance which has been rendered by many gentlemen, who have communicated their knowledge of the practice of Parliament, in their several official departments, with the utmost courtesy while the author is under peculiar obligations to Mr. Speaker (Shaw-Lefevre), with whose encouragement the work was undertaken, and by whose valuable suggestions it has been incalculably improved.

HOUSE OF COMMONS,

May 2, 1844.

PREFACE TO THE NINTH EDITION.

THIS work has continued to expand, in each successive edition; and the last four years have been unusually fruitful of parliamentary incidents. It will be sufficient to mention the case of Mr. Bradlaugh, the conflicts of the House of Commons with obstruction, the exceptional rules of urgency, the new standing orders for the regulation of procedure, and the appointment of standing committees for the consideration of bills relating to law and courts of justice, and to trade, shipping, and manufactures. During the same period, questions of order have also been frequent, beyond any previous experience; and many additional precedents, of earlier date, have been inserted in various parts of the work.

I gladly avail myself of this opportunity of acknowledging my obligations to many gentlemen, specially qualified to assist me,-to some of whom I am bound more particularly to allude. Mr. Speaker placed his valuable Note-books at my disposal. My colleagues, Mr. Palgrave and Mr. Milman, gave me the benefit of their judicious minutes of decisions from the Chair, and collections of precedents. Mr. Bull, the Clerk of the Journals, aided me with many skilful searches for precedents; and Mr. Bonham-Carter advised and assisted me in the review of cases of locus standi before the court of referees, and the practice of committees on private bills.

HOUSE OF COMMONS,

June 6, 1883.

PREFACE TO THE TENTH EDITION.

THE text of the eminent author of this treatise, and his mode of treatment, so far as practicable, are preserved throughout this edition; though condensation became necessary to obtain the admission of much new matter within the compass of a book of fairly manageable dimensions, and revision and rearrangement, to a certain extent, became expedient.

The first edition of this book was in preparation exactly fifty years ago, during those halcyon days of parliamentary existence when the standing orders of the House of Commons, now 97 in number, were only 14; when no rule or order prescribed that previous notice should be given of a motion, however important; and when a motion might be met by any form of amendment, however grotesquely irrelevant. Excluding the standing orders which require the recommendation of the Crown to motions involving a money charge, and which regulate the presentation of petitions, the parliamentary procedure of 1844 was essentially the procedure on which the House of Commons conducted business during the Long Parliament.

That is not so now. Since then Parliament has done much by way of self-reformation. The Lords no longer tolerate vote by proxy; they have substituted for the quorum of three a more suitable number; and a standing committee has been created to which every bill in its progress through the house may be referred. The Lords also have rearranged their hours of meeting to further the transaction of business. The Commons also have aggravated their labours by fixing three o'clock as the ordinary time for meeting; they have simplified their method of