There was originally no limit to the duration of a parliament except the will of the sovereign. By 6 Will. and Mary, c. 2, the continuance of a parliament was limited to three years, a term afterward extended by 1 Geo. I. e: 38 to seven years. The same net of William and Mary enacts that parliament shall assemble once in three years at the least; but the practice of granting the mutiny act and the budget for a year only, makes it .necessari that it should assenthle annually.
Conduct qf Bqsiness.—Each house is presided over by its speaker. The speaker of the house of commons does not take part in a debate, offer his opinion, or vote on ordi nary occasions; but, in case of'equality, he has a casting vote; his duty is to decide all questions which relate to order, putting the matter at issue in a substantive form for the decision of the house, if his own decision is not assented to. lie explains any doubts that may arise on bills. He determines the precedence of members rising to address the house. He examines witnesses at the bar. At the close of the session, he addresses the sovereign on presenting the money-bids passed during the session for the royal assCnt. He nominates the tellers on a division, and makes known the votes to the house. Ho may commit members to custody during the pleasure of the house, a confix meat which terminates with the close of the session. When a vacancy occurs by death, lie signs the warrant to the clerk of the crown to.-make out 1110 writ for the election of a new member. He audits the accounts of the receiver of fees, and directs the printing of the votes end proceedings of the house. The lord chancellor, or lord keeper of the great seal, is the speaker of the house of lords; in his absence, the chairman of the committee of ways and means takes the chair. The speaker is not, as in the lower house, charged with the maintenance of order, or the decision who is to be beard, which rest with the houso itself. The chairman of the committee of ways and means of the house of commons, as deputy speaker, performs the speaker's duties iu his absence. The chief (Ahrens of the house of lords are the clerk of the parliaments, who takes minutes of the proceedings of the house; the gentleman usher of the black rod, who, with his deputy. the yceman usher, is sent to desire the attendance of the commons, executes orders for committal. and assists in various ceremonies; the clerk-assistant; and the sergeant-at-arms, who attends the lord chancellor with the mace, and executes the orders of the house for the attachment of delinquents. The chief officers of the commons are the clerk cf the house, the sergeant-at-arms, the clerk-assistant, mid second clerk-assistant.
Each house has its Standing Orders, or regulations, adopted at different periods, relating partly to internal order, partly to certain preliminaries required in the introduc tion of bills and promulgation of statutes. A standing order endures till repealed r "vacated," as it is called in the upper house); but each house is also in the practice of agreeing to certain orders or resolutions of duration declaratory of its practice, which are considered less formally binding than standing orders.
The house of lords usually meets at 5 P.M.; the eommons at a quarter before 4, except on Wednesdays and other days specially appointed for morning sittings. In the lords the chancellor, as speaker, sits on the woolsack. A standing order, which is never enforced, requires the lords to take place according to precedence. Practically, the
bishops sit together on the right hand of the throne; the members of the administration the front bench on the right hand of the woolsack adjoining the bishops, and the peers who usually vote with them occupy the other benches on that side. The peers in opposition are ranged on the opposite side, and those considered politically neutral occupy the cross benches between the table and the bar. In the house of commons, the front bench on the right hand of the chair is reserved for the ministry, and called the treasury bench, the front bench on the opposite side being occupied by the leaders of the opposition. By ancient custom and orders of both houses, rarely enforced, strangers are excluded while the are sitting.
Prayers are read before business is begun—in the house of lords by a bishop; in the house of commons by the chaplain. Every member is bound to attend the house—in the lower house personally; in the upper personally, or but in ordinary cir cumstances, this obligation is not enforced. The house of lordsmay proceed to business wham three peers are present; in the commons, forty members are required to constitute a house for the dispatch of business. The speaker counts the house at four; and if that number be not then present, or if it be noticed, or appear on a division, that fewer than forty members are present, the house is adjourned. A call of the house is an expedient to secure attendance on important occasions; when it is made, members absent without leave may be ordered to be taken into custody. When matters of great interest are to be debated in the upper house, the lords are "summoned." To make a motion, or, more propeldy, to move the house, is to propose a question, and notices of motions should be given on a previous day. The commons are in the practice of setting apart Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays for considering orders of the day, or matters which the house bad already agreed to consider on a particular day, and to reserve Tuesdays for motions. Government orders take precedence of others on all order days except Wednesdays, which are'generally reserved for the orders of independent members. Notices of motions are by a standing order not allowed to b., given for any period beyond the four days next following on which motions are enti tled to precedence. Questions of privilege may be considered without previous notices, :tad take precedence both of other motions and orders of the day. A ?notion may be accompanied by a speech. and must iu the lower house be seconded, otherwise there is no question before the house. In purely formal motions this rule is not observed, and an order of the day maybe moved without a seconder. A seconder is not required in the house of lords. A motion.in the commons must be reduced to writing by the mover, and delivered to the speaker, who, when it has been seconded, puts iL to the house; it cannot then be withdrawn without leave of the house. In the lords, when a motion has beck made, a question is proposed " that- the motion be agreed to." When an amend ment is proposed to a question, the original motion cannot be withdrawn till the amend ment has been either withdrawn or negatived. Au amendment is properly such an alteration on a motion by striking out or adding words, or both, as may enable members to vote for it who would not have done so. therwise.