CHAPTER II.

THE ORDER OF PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

THE proceedings in the House of Lords are, in many respects, very similar to, and in some exactly the same as those in the House of Commons, upon private bills. It will not, therefore, require the length in describing the stages through which such bills pass in the Upper House of Parliament, that has been devoted to detailing their progress through the Commons.

A large proportion of the Standing Orders of the House of Lords (consisting of the first 214 orders, excepting Nos. 198, 210, and 211) relate more particularly to“ Private Bills," properly and strictly so designated,—namely, the four classes of bills (estate, name, naturalization, and divorce bills) that usually originate in that House; while other private bills (as has been before stated) have always hitherto been introduced first into the Commons, though a different practice has been arranged this session (1846) owing to the great

pressure of private business from the unexampled number of railway schemes submitted to Parliament, and which led to the adoption by the House of Commons of resolutions permitting the introduction of certain railway bills into the House of Lords, contrary to previous practice. (See chapter on Special Practice for this Session" 1846.)

66

The Lords' Standing Orders for 219 to 234 refer more especially to local and personal bills that pass the other House before they are sent to the peers. Thus, though the term "Private Bill" is applied alike to all the above-enumerated bills, there is really a broad distinction between the several classes.

The whole of the Standing Orders of the House of Lords (as well as those of the Commons) being printed from the official copies in the Appendix to this volume, the following abstract of the Lords' orders that differ from those already described in the preceding pages, relates alone to railway and other private bills of the second class.

First Reading.

All bills of this class hitherto originated in the House of Commons; and having been read a third time, and passed there, they were forwarded to the House of Peers. As previously stated, however, certain railway bills have been allowed,

this session, (by resolutions temporarily changing the Standing Orders and practice of Parliament in this respect) to be commenced in the House of Lords. Still as this is but a temporary alteration, the following particulars relate to the practice of the House of Lords, according to its existing Standing Orders, the special practice for the present session (1846) being fully described in a subsequent portion of this volume.

The bill, being thus sent up from the House of Commons, is usually read a first time by the Lords the same night, or the night after, no preliminary steps being requested, as in the other House of Parliament, and no notice being necessary of this first stage in the above-mentioned

cases.

After the first reading of the bill, and before any further proceedings thereupon, it is required (by resolutions adopted by the House of Lords, 3rd July, 1845, but not added to their Lordships' Standing Orders) that “after any road, or canal, or railway, or dock bill, shall be read a first time, and before any further proceedings thereupon, there be deposited in the office of the clerk of the Parliaments a statement of the length and breadth of the space which is intended or sought to be taken for the proposed works, and to give up which the consent of the owners of the land has not been obtained, together with the names of such owners, and the heights above the surface

of all proposed works on the ground of each such owner."

Likewise, that “a return shall also be presented at the same time of the names of the owners or occupiers of any houses situated within 300 yards of the proposed works, who shall have, before the 31st December preceding the introduction of the bill into Parliament, deposited written objections to the said railway with any public officer appointed to receive the plans of the said railway within the parish or township in which their property is situate, or if the railway should not be proposed to be carried through that parish or township, in the one in which the railway is to pass, in the manner objected to by the abovementioned parties."

If those orders of their Lordships' House have been duly attended to, the bill is referred to the Standing Order Committee.

A copy of all railway bills, as brought into the House, has to be deposited in the office of the Railway Department of the Board of Trade. (H. L. 227, sec. 2.)

Lords' Committee for Standing Orders.

At the commencement of each session, a "Standing Order Committee" is appointed, consisting of forty peers, in addition to the chairman of the committees of the House of Lords, who, ex officio,

is chairman also of this Standing Order Committee. Three of the Lords so appointed, including the chairman (at the present time the Earl of Shaftesbury) form a quorum. Three clear days' notice has to be given of the meeting of such committee on any private bill. (H. L. 219, sec. 2, 3, and 7.)

Before the second reading of any bill relating to railways included in the second class of bills, (excluding any bill to continue or amend an Act passed for forming a railway, and where no further work than such as was authorised by that former Act, is proposed to be made) and previously to the meeting of the committee on any opposed bill included in any of the three classes (except bills for such railways as aforesaid) such bill has to be referred to the Standing Order Committee, before which compliance with the Standing Orders of the House required to be proved before that committee, must be shown to have been made. (H. L. 219, sec. 4.)

This committee unites in itself the powers and duties of a sub-committee on petitions, and the Standing Order Committee of the House of Commons.

If any petition have been presented to the House, complaining of non-compliance with their Lordships' Standing Orders, such petition is referred to this committee, and parties are then at liberty to appear thereon, and to be heard by