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Leave of absence.

Obligation to attend committees.

VII.

of little avail in taking the sense of the house, as there is Chapter
no compulsory process by which members can be obliged
to vote;1 hence calls of the house have long since ceased
to find favour; and no call of the house has been enforced
since 1836.2 On several subsequent occasions calls of the
house have been ordered: but in every case the order was
discharged or negatived. On the 10th July, 1855, and
again on the 23rd March, 1882, motions for a call of the
house were negatived.3

Parlia

On the 3rd March, 1801, when a call of the house was deferred for a fortnight, it was ordered "that no member do presume to go out of town without leave of the house." + And, in the absence of any specific orders to that effect, members are presumed to be in attendance upon their ser- Service in vice in Parliament. When they desire to remain in the ment, see country, they should apply to the house for "leave of p. 178. absence;" for which sufficient reasons must be given, such as urgent business, ill health, illness in their families, or Time for domestic affliction. Upon these and other grounds, leave making of absence is given, though it has been refused.5 A member motions, see forfeits his leave of absence if he should attend the service of the house before its expiration.

Attendance upon the service of Parliament includes the obligation to fulfil the duties imposed upon members by the orders and regulations of the house. And unless leave of absence has been obtained, a member cannot excuse himself from attending on a committee, when his attendance, as in the case of a private bill committee, is made compulsory by standing or other orders.

1 See 19th and 22nd Nov. 1852, 123 H. D. 3 s. 266. 302.

2 Mr. Whittle Harvey's motion on the Pension List, 19th April, 1836, 91 C. J. 265.

3 Motions discharged: 22nd Feb. 1838, 93 C. J. 300; Repeal of the Corn Laws, 15th March, 1839, 94 ib. 121; National Education, 4th June, 1839, 94 ib. 302; 24th March, 1840, 95 ib. 207; Repeal of the Corn Laws, 19th Nov. 1852, 108 ib. 53. Motions

6

negatived: 110 ib. 367; 205 H. D.

3 s. 746; 137 C. J. 117.
56 ib. 103.

5 75 ib. 338; 82 ib. 376; 86 ib.
863. Leave of absence has also been
enlarged, 126 ib. 266; 127 ib. 96.

• Commons' standing order, private business, No. 119. See debates on the absence of Lord Gardner from a private bill committee in the House of Lords, 24th and 26th June, 1845, 81 H. D. 3 s. 1104. 1190.

such

p. 238.

Chapter
VII.

tions in the

orders,

To facilitate the attendance of members without interrup- Obstruc-
tion, both houses, at the commencement of each session, by streets, &c.
order, give directions that the commissioners of the police of Sessional
the metropolis shall keep, during the session of Parliament, Appendix I.
the streets leading to the houses of Parliament free and open,
and that no obstruction shall be permitted to hinder the
passage thereto of the lords or members. And when tumul- Tumultu-
tuous assemblages of people have obstructed the thorough- blages.
fares, lobby, or passages, orders have been given to the
local authorities to disperse them.1

Presen- With the same object, it is enacted that not more than ten
tation of
petitions, persons shall repair together to the houses of Parliament
see p. 522. for the purpose of the presentation of a petition; and
that not more than fifty persons shall meet together within
the distance of one mile from the gate of Westminster Hall,
save and except such parts of the parish of St. Paul's,
Covent Garden, as are within the said distance, to consider
or prepare a petition or other address to both houses, or
either house of Parliament, on any day on which those
houses shall meet and sit.2

Saturday sittings, see

p. 265.

"Pairs"

ous assem

The hours and regulations of the meeting of both houses on Extraordi nary sitordinary occasions, are dealt with on pp. 209, 213. day not being an ordinary day of meeting in the

131 L. J. 206. 209. 213; 32 ib. 147. 187; 36 ib. 142; 11 C. J. 667; 13 ib. 230; 17 ib. 661; 33 ib. 285; 37 ib. 901.

2 13 Car. II. stat. 1, c. 5; 57 Geo. III. c. 19, s. 23.

The history of the House of Commons, more especially during recent years, contains examples of sittings rendered extraordinary by during pro- their excessive length. On Tuesday, tracted 31st July, 1877, the house, having met sittings, see p. 371. at a quarter before four, continued sitting until Wednesday afternoon at a quarter-past six-a period of twenty-six and a half hours, and the longest sitting in the previous history of Parliament. This long sitting was held to overcome an obstructive opposition to the South

Satur- tings.
House

Africa Bill. As there was no ad-
journment of the house on Tuesday,
the twelve o'clock Wednesday sit-
ting, under the standing orders, was
superseded, and absorbed in the pro-
longed sitting of the previous day.
On Monday, 31st Jan. 1881, the
house, having met at a quarter be-
fore four, continued sitting until
Wednesday morning at half-past
nine-a continuous sitting of up-
wards of forty-one and a half hours,
136 C. J. 49-51. On Thursday the
21st May, 1896, the house having
met at three continued to sit until
half-past one upon Friday after-
noon, 151 ib. 244. On Tuesday
the 19th July, 1904, the house
having met at two continued to
sit until five and twenty minutes

Sittings on Satur.

day.

S. O. 24,
Appendix I.

Sittings on
Sunday,

VII.

of Commons, it was usual, until 1861, at an early hour on Chapter
Friday, to resolve that the house, at its rising, do adjourn
till Monday next, lest the Speaker should be obliged, by
the want of members, to adjourn the house till Saturday:
but, while the committees of supply and ways and means
are open, the adjournment of the house until Monday is
now effected by standing order No. 24, unless the house
shall otherwise resolve.

It need scarcely be stated that the meeting of either
house on a Sunday is a rare occurrence. On the demise of
the Crown (see p. 41), Parliament has occasionally been
assembled on a Sunday. During the Commonwealth period
the Commons met, on several occasions, on a Sunday,1 as
well as on Good Friday 2 and Christmas-day. During
the mania of the popish plot, also, both houses met occa-
sionally on Sundays. On the 18th May, 1794, the debate
on the bill for securing suspected persons was not concluded
until nearly three o'clock on Sunday morning. The Reform

before four on Wednesday afternoon.
As the time for meeting on Wednes-
day afternoon under the standing
orders had passed, the Speaker, at
the conclusion of the sitting, in de-
claring that the house stood ad-
journed, stated that it stood
adjourned until the following day,
159 ib. 336; 138 Parl. Deb. 4 s.
676. Among the longest sittings
previously on record were the follow-
ing: On the 14th Feb. 1764, on
Wilkes' case, till half-past seven in
the morning; the 17th Feb. 1783,
on the address concerning the peace
with France, Spain, and America,
till nearly eight; on the 12th May,
1785, on commercial. intercourse
with Ireland, till after eight; on the
30th March, 1810, on the Scheldt
expedition, till after seven; and on
the 5th April, on the commitment
of Sir F. Burdett, till half-past
seven; on the 12th July, 1831, on
the Reform Bill till after seven; on
the 13th May, 1878, until half-past
nine; and on the 11th Aug. 1879, to
a quarter-past seven.

5

18th Aug. 1641, to stay the king's journey into Scotland, 2 C. J. 245; 6th and 13th June, 1647 (chiefly for prayer), 5 ib. 200. 209; 1st Aug. 1647, for secular affairs, 5 ib. 263; 8th May, 1659, for prayers and a sermon, 7 ib. 646.

2 23rd April, 1641, 2 C. J. 126.
In 1689, the House of Commons met
on Easter Monday, as the Puritans
and Latitudinarians objected to the
usual adjournment, 3 Macaulay,
Hist. 113; see C. J. 28th March, 1st
April, 1689.

325th Dec. 1656, 1 Burton's
Diary, 229-243; 7 C. J. 475; Hist.
Rec. MSS. Com. 6th report, 441;
Palgrave's Oliver Cromwell, the
Protector, 192.

1st Dec. 1678, the House of
Commons met to take the oaths of
allegiance and supremacy under the
Act 30 Car. II., recently passed, 9
C. J. 551; and again 27th April and
11th May, 1679, 9 ib. 605. 619. On
the latter day the Lords also met,
13 L. J. 506.

5 49 C. J. 613.

VII.

Chapter Bill was read a second time by the Commons on Sunday morning, the 18th December, 1831. The royal assent was signified to the Habeas Corpus Suspension (Ireland) Act at a quarter before one o'clock on Sunday morning, the 18th February, 1866; 2 and on some later occasions, the house has continued its sitting until Sunday morning.

3

Sunday, the 4th May, 1856, having been appointed a day of thanksgiving, in respect of the treaty of peace with Russia, the House of Lords met and proceeded to Westminster Abbey; and the Speaker and the members of the House of Commons met at the house, and thence proceeded to St. Margaret's Church, to attend divine service but in the mean time the house had adjourned from Friday till the Monday following; and this precedent was followed when the Commons attended at St. Margaret's Church, on the 22nd May, 1887, and the 20th June, 1897, in celebration of the fiftieth and sixtieth years of Queen Victoria's reign.5

thanks

Whenever a day of thanksgiving, or of fast and humilia- Days of tion, is appointed during the sitting of Parliament, it is giving or customary for both houses to attend divine service: the fast. Lords at Westminster Abbey, and the Commons at St. Margaret's Church. Each house appoints a preacher: the Lords appoint a bishop, the Commons a dean, a doctor of divinity, or the Speaker's chaplain. On the 31st January, 1699, the house resolved "that for the future no person be recommended to preach before this house, who is under the dignity of a dean in the Church, or hath not taken his degree of doctor of divinity." 9 On the 4th June, 1762, this resolution was repeated, making an exception, however,

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Houses of Parliament go to St. Paul's.

Queen

Victoria's jubilee.

Attendance

at corona

VII.

in favour of the chaplain of the house: but a bachelor of Chapter
divinity has also been selected for this honour.1 It is
customary to thank the preacher, and to desire him to
print his sermon.2

On some occasions of special solemnity, the king and
both houses of Parliament have attended divine service at
St. Paul's Cathedral; as on the king's recovery from his
illness in 1789, after the naval victories in 1797, on the con-
clusion of peace in 1814, in 1852 at the funeral of the Duke
of Wellington, and on the recovery of the Prince of Wales
in 1872. On the latter occasion the house was represented
in the royal procession by the Speaker; and in like manner,
when both houses attended the service held in Westminster
Abbey, on the 21st June, 1887, the Commons were, on the
desire of Queen Victoria, and pursuant to a resolution of the
house, represented by the Speaker; and the presence of
the members was regulated by a select committee.3

If Parliament be sitting at the time of a coronation, it tions. has been customary for both houses to attend the ceremony in Westminster Abbey; and to make orders concerning such attendance.4

Adjourn.

ments as a mark of respect to deceased

ment, royal

see note t.

Sometimes an adjournment is agreed to as a mark of Adjourn respect to a deceased member. On the 15th September, marriages, 1646, both houses adjourned to mark their sense of the loss members. of the Earl of Essex. On the 3rd July, 1850, an adjournment was agreed to by the Commons, nem. con., as a suitable mode of expressing the grief of the house on hearing of the

1 24 C. J. 272; Rev. H. Melvill, B.D., 13th March, 1855, 110 ib. 121.

2 88 L. J. 124; 98 C. J. 339; 142 ib. 262; 152 ib. 322.

3 23rd April, 1789; 38 L. J. 397;
44 C. J. 288; 53 ib. 140; 7th July,
1814; 49 L. J. 1046; 69 C. J. 441;
108 ib. 29; 127 ib. 52. 61; 142 ib.
293; 119 L. J. 253.

William & Mary, 1689, 10 C. J.
82, &c.; Anne, 1702, 13 ib. 851;
William IV., 1831, 86 ib. 793, &c.;
Queen Victoria, 1838, 93 ib. 621, &c.
This precedent was not followed at

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