PARLIAMENT 113 by adjournment or prorogation, and ended by dissolution. The power of adjournment be- longs to each house respectively ; the sovereign may request but not command an adjournment. A royal proclamation may issue, however, sum- moning parliament to meet within not less than 14 days, notwithstanding an adjournment be- yond that period. Parliament may be pro- rogued to a certain day only by the sovereign; it is effected through the lord chancellor, or by writ under the great seal, or by commission. The effect of a prorogation is to put an end to all proceedings pending at the time, except im- peachments by the commons and appeals and writs of error in the house of lords. On the meeting of parliament after prorogation, a bill pending before must be renewed as if it had never been introduced. The power of dissolv- ing parliament is vested in the sovereign ; its existence is ended by dissolution, after which writs of election for a new parliament must be issued. In practice, parliaments assemble an- nually, and must continue to do so while the legislation for the army, the judiciary, and the whole service of the kingdom has validity and makes appropriations for only a twelvemonth. Among the other constitutional prerogatives of the crown, as a branch of parliament, are its negative upon the choice of a speaker by the commons, and upon bills passed by both houses. But neither of these prerogatives could now with safety be arbitrarily asserted by the sov- ereign. House of Lords. This body is com- i posed of the lords spiritual and temporal, the former consisting of the archbishops of Canter- bury and York, and 24 bishops. Until the dis- solution of the monasteries in the time of Henry VIII., the mitred abbots and two priors had seats with the lords ; and after the union with Ireland one archbishop and three bishops of
- the church of Ireland also had seats until the
disestablishment of that church on Jan. 1, 1871. The whole number of peers in 1873 was 479. Most of the peerages are of recent creation. The three oldest date from the 13th century, j and only four others go back to the 14th. Up I to 1874, 239 had been created within the pres- i ent century. The bishops were excluded from
- ment during the commonwealth, but were
vd by statute. With this single interrup- hey have always been present in parlia- and with unquestioned right. The lords iial are lords of parliament, though not - of the realm. "When therefore a peer is tried, the bishops are entitled to take part i n the proceedings, though, in conformity with mons of the church, which forbid them to n capital causes, they are generally absent the judgment. Being not of noble blood, lie hereditary peers, for a capital offence ire tried by a jury like other commoners.
- -d* temporal are divided into dukes, mar-
3, earls, viscounts, and barons. They are
- hereditary peers of the realm, ennobled in
lood, and subject to loss of their dignities only taimler or by act of parliament. Since the union with Scotland in 1707, and with Ire- land in 1801, 16 Scottish and 28 Irish represen- tative peers have been returned to parliament by the peerages of those countries. The former sit during one parliament only ; the latter are chosen for life. They enjoy all the privileges of parliament, and may sit upon the trial of peers. A peer is made so by the royal patent or writ which summons him to parliament, and the dignity is usually made hereditary by limita- tion to the heirs male of his body, although it is sometimes provided that it may descend to others, as for instance to his nephew or brother. The power of the crown to create a life peer- age raised in 1856 an important question, which was earnestly debated. On retiring from the bench Sir James Parke (Lord Wensleydale) was created baron of the United Kingdom for and during his life, instead of the usual limitation. Government urged as a reason for granting life peerages, the convenience of adding to the number of law lords in the house, these being peers who have held high judicial office in the kingdom, and who substantially alone determine all judicial causes. It had happened in 1855 that only two law lords, the lord chancellor and Lord St. Leonards, had sat to hear arguments. Upon some of the causes they differed in opin- ion, and as, upon a familiar maxim in the proce- dure of the lords, this equality of votes led in each case to affirmance of the decrees brought up from inferior courts, appellants argued that there was virtually no decision, and expressed great discontent. For the remedy of this and other mischiefs the creation of life peerages was proposed. After prolonged discussion, the lords decided, if not against the strict legality of the measure, yet against its constitutional expediency. The crown retreated from its po- sition, and Lord Wensleydale received a patent in the usual form. The peers of the realm possess titles of honor which give them the privileges of rank and precedence, and they are individually the hereditary counsellors of the crown; with the lords spiritual they form, when not assembled in parliament, the perma- nent council of the sovereign, though they may act in the same capacity when so assembled, as for example in addressing the throne upon mat- ters of foreign or of domestic policy. When sitting in parliament the peers form in con- junction with the lords spiritual a branch of the supreme legislature of the kingdom ; and, in the exercise of peculiar functions, they con- stitute a court of judicature. In its judicial office the house of lords has a distinctive char- acter as the highest tribunal of the realm. The lords have an original and exclusive juris- diction in the trial of peers, and under refer- ence from the crown upon claims of peerage and affairs of honors. By the acts of union they have a like jurisdiction over cases of con- tested elections, or the rotation of the Scottish or Irish representative peers. They also had until recently a general jurisdiction as the su- preme court of appeals. These judicial func-
