8. 0.22.

Appendix I.

XII.

The offence must arise in the house, and be dealt with at Chapter
No motion can be made that a suspended member
be heard at the bar.1

once.

Temporary provision was also made by the urgency resolutions of sessions 1881 and 1882, to facilitate the consideration of several important bills; 2 and in subsequent sessions resolutions have been agreed to by the house prescribing the conditions under which, and the times at which, the outstanding stages of bills should be concluded.R

Limitations were also placed by standing orders No. 22. 23, and 30; 23. and 30, passed during session 1882, amended session 1888, upon obstructive motions for adjournment, and vexatious divisions (see p. 316), and provision was made, 8. O. 19, by standing order No. 19, to check irrelevance or repetition Appendix I. in debate. These standing orders, during session 1888, received increased stringency; and the transaction of business was also furthered by providing for the classification, on the notice paper, of bills other than government bills, after Whitsuntide (see p. 260), and for the appointment of motions for the introduction of bills, and for the

8. 0.6, Appendix I.

8. O. 11. Appendix I.

withdraw from the house, and of
members suspended from its service
prior to standing order No. 20,
see 136 C. J. 227; 261 H. D. 3
s. 182.

1 313 ib. 1126-1128.

2 Pursuant to these resolutions, a minister of the Crown, by a motion which declared that the state of public business was urgent (the question being put thereon forthwith, and decided by a majority of three to one in a house of not less than 300), was enabled to vest in the Speaker "the powers of the house for the regulation of its business." The Protection of Person and Property (Ireland) Bill, the Peace Preservation (Ireland) Bill, and the Prevention of Crimes (Ireland) Bill, 1881, 1882, were dealt with accordingly under rules laid upon the table of the house by the

Speaker. A power conferred by
these rules of ensuring the com-
pletion, at a prescribed hour, of the
consideration of a bill in committee
and on report was used in 1881, 136
C. J. 84. 93. 113. 116. A motion to
apply urgency to votes in supply
failed, 136 ib. 124.

3 Criminal Law (Ireland), &c.,
Bill, 142 ib. 285. 332; the Members
of Parliament (Charges, &c.) Bill,
143 ib. 420; Government of Ireland
Bill, 148 ib. 400. 513; Evicted
Tenants (Ireland) Arbitration Bill,
149 ib. 334; Education (England
and Wales) Bill, 157 ib. 473; Licens-
ing Bill, 159 ib. 291; Aliens Bill,
160 ib. 294. A similar course
was adopted for dealing with the
outstanding business of supply that
had to be concluded before the 31st
March, 1905, 160 ib. 70.

XII.

Chapter nomination of select committees at the commencement of business (see p. 256). By standing order also, with few exceptions, the Speaker leaves the chair forthwith for a s. 0. 51, Appendix I. committee of the house (see p. 380). And the Speaker or the chairman can direct a member whose conduct is grossly s. 0. 20, Appendix I. disorderly, to withdraw from the precincts of the house for the remainder of that day's sitting (see p. 350).

II. The rules to be observed by members present in the Rules to be observed by house during a debate are (1) to keep their places; (2) to members enter and leave the house with decorum; (3) not to cross not speaking. the house irregularly; (4) not to read books, newspapers, or letters; (5) to maintain silence; (6) not to hiss or interrupt.1

their

(1) By standing order No. 19, the lords are directed to To keep keep their dignity and order in sitting, and not to move places. out of their places without just cause; and that when they Lords. cross the house, they are to make obeisance to the cloth of estate.

By the resolutions of 10th February, 1698, and 16th Commons. February, 1720, members of the House of Commons are ordered to keep their places, and not walk about the house, or stand at the bar or in the passages.2

If, after a call to "order," members who are standing at the bar or elsewhere do not disperse, the Speaker orders them to take their places; when it becomes the duty of the Serjeant-at-arms to clear the gangway, and to enforce the order of the Speaker, by desiring those members who still obstruct the passage immediately to take their places (see p. 204). If they refuse or neglect to comply, or oppose the Serjeant in the execution of his duty, he may report their names to Mr. Speaker.

(2) Members of the Commons who enter or leave the house Commons. during a debate must be uncovered, and should make an obeisance to the chair while passing to or from their places.3

1 For the order, "That no member do presume to take tobacco in the gallery of the house or at a committee table," see 11 C. J. 137.

2 12 ib. 496; 19 ib. 425.

3 D'Ewes, Journal, 282; 2 Hatsell, 232.

Crossing before members

Lords.

XII.

(3) In the Lords, it has been seen that care should be Chapter taken in the manner of crossing the house, and it is especially speaking. irregular to pass between the woolsack and any peer who is addressing their lordships, or between the woolsack and the Commons. table. In the Commons, members are not to cross between the chair and a member who is speaking,1 nor between the chair and the table, nor between the chair and the mace, when the mace is taken off the table by the Serjeant. When they cross the house, or otherwise leave their places, they should make obeisance to the chair.

Silence.

Lords.

Commons.

Hissing or

(4) They are not to read books, newspapers, or letters in their places. This rule, however, must now be understood with some limitations; for although it is still irregular to read newspapers, any books and letters may be referred to by members preparing to speak, but ought not to be read for amusement, nor for business unconnected with the debate.

(5) Silence is required to be observed in both houses. In the Lords, it is ordered, by standing order No. 24

"If any lord has occasion to speak with another lord while the house is sitting, they are to retire to the Prince's Chamber, and not to converse in the space behind the woolsack, or else the Lord Speaker is to call them to order, and, if necessary, to stop the business in agitation."

In the Commons, all members should be silent, or should converse only in a whisper. Whenever the conversation is so loud as to make it difficult to hear the debate, the Speaker calls the house to order. On the 5th May, 1641, it was resolved

“That if any man shall whisper or stir out of his place to the disturbance of the house at any message or business of importance, Mr. Speaker is ordered to present his name to the house, for the house to proceed against him as they shall think fit."3

(6) They are not to disturb a member who is speaking, interrup by hissing, exclamations, or other interruption; and the

tion.

XII.

Chapter resolution of the house, 22nd January, 1693, enjoins "that Mr. Speaker do call upon the member, by name, making such disturbance; and that every such person shall incur the displeasure and censure of the house."1

Members

whose conduct is

This rule is too often disregarded. In the House of Commons, disorderly noises are sometimes made, which, grossly dis- from the fulness of the house, and the general uproar ordered out maintained when five or six hundred members are imof the house, see p. 350.

orderly

Call to order, see p. 323.

patiently waiting for a division, it is scarcely possible to
repress. On the 19th March, 1872, while strangers were
excluded, notice was taken of the crowing of cocks, and
other disorderly noises, proceeding from members, prin-
cipally behind the chair; and the Speaker condemned
them as gross violations of the orders of the house, and
expressed the pain with which he had heard them.2

Without such noises, there are words of interruption "Hear,
hear," &c,
which, if used in moderation, are not unparliamentary; but
when frequent and loud, cause serious disorder; such as
the cry of "question," "order, order," or "hear, hear,"
which has been sanctioned by long parliamentary usage, in
both houses. When intended to denote approbation of the
sentiments expressed, and not uttered till the end of a
sentence, the cry of "hear, hear," offers no interruption to
the speech. But the same words may be used for very
different purposes, and instead of implying approbation,
they may express dissent, derision, or contempt. When- Members
ever exclamations of this kind are obviously intended to
interrupt a speech, the Speaker calls to "order," and, if
persisted in, he names the disorderly members according
to ancient usage; or puts in force standing order No. 18
or No. 20.

3

A gross form of interruption, by loud cries of "shame," has been strongly condemned by the Speaker, who declared

11 C. J. 152. 473; see also motions against hissing, &c., 1604, 1 ib. 243. 935; 11 ib. 66.

2210 H. D. 3 s. 307.

31 C. J. 483; 2 ib. 135; see anecdotes of Mr. Speaker Onslow

and Sir F. Norton, as to the calling
of members by name; 1 Lord
Sidmouth's Life, 692; Fox's speech,
23rd April, 1804. The case of Major
O'Gorman, 6th August, 1878, 242 H.
D. 3 s. 1380. 1438.

named, &c

Misbe

haviour to

his intention to take notice of the committal of the Chapter offence.1

On the 15th December, 1792, Mr. Whitmore, having dismembers in turbed the debate by a disorderly interruption, was "named" the house. by the Speaker, and directed by the house to withdraw.

XII.

On the 8th June, 1852, "complaint being made by a member
in his place, that Mr. Feargus O'Connor had been guilty of
misbehaviour to him, Mr. Speaker informed Mr. O'Connor
that if he persisted in such conduct, it would be necessary
for him to call the particular attention of the house towards
him, in order that the house might take such steps as would
prevent a repetition of it for the future. Upon which Mr.
O'Connor rose in his place, and addressed the house, without
expressing his regret for what had occurred. Whereupon
Mr. Speaker called upon him by name; and Mr. O'Connor
then apologized to the house for his misconduct." On the
3rd February, 1881, Mr. Dillon, Mr. Parnell, Mr. Finigan,
Mr. O'Kelly, and Mr. O'Donnell, having persisted in repeated
interruptions of Mr. Gladstone, who had been called upon Disorder in
the lobby,
by Mr. Speaker to move a resolution of which he had given
see p. 348.
notice, and was in possession of the house, were named and
suspended. On the 2nd September, 1886, whilst a division
was in progress, complaint was made of offensive words
addressed by one member to another. They were heard Breach of
sitting and covered; and then the Speaker recommended during a
that the division should be completed. After the declaration
of the numbers, the Speaker informed the house that, as
the words had been uttered in the house, the matter came
under his cognizance; and that he was authorized by both
the members to tender to the house due expressions of
regret and of apology for the occurrence. Again, 4th May,
1887, complaint having been made of insulting words
directed against certain members of the house by a member
standing below the bar, the Speaker directed the Clerk to
take down the words. The Speaker then, having sought

1 310 H. D. 3 s. 166; 12 Parl. Deb.

4 s. 731. 790; 14 ib. 469. 472.

2 48 C. J. 11. 13; 30 Parl. Hist. 113; 107 C. J. 277.

3 136 ib. 55; 258 H. D. 3 s. 68.
141 C. J. 347; 308 H. D. 3 s.

1165.

order

division,

see p. 357.