HANSARD, a well-known name in connection with the printing of the British par liamentary records. The first of the family was Luke Hansard, who was born in 1752 at Norwich, and coming to London, worked for some years its compositor in the office of Hughes, the printer to the house of commons; and in 1800 succeeded Hughes as sole proprietor of the business, which is still carried on by his family. Competition and other causes have led to a division of the parliamentary printing, but the Messrs. Hansard still print the bills before parliament, the reports of committees, and some of the accounts.
The name of Hansard is connected with an important question of parliamentary priv ilege. The case was briefly as follows: A bookseller named Stockdale brought an action for libel against the Messrs. Hansard, the libel consisting of statements in the parliamen reports which the latter had printed, and lord chief-justice Denman decided in favor of Stockdale. The house of commons complained of a breach of privilege. and another action was raised in the court of queen's bench, but, as before, the plea of the orders and privileges of the house was overruled: After a third had brought, with a similar result, an act of parliament was passed, directing that any proceedings against persons for publication of papers printed by order of either house of parliament are to be stayed by the courts of law, upon delivery of a certificate and affidavit that such publication is by order of either house.
The Hansards are, however, most widely known by the reports of the debates in parliament, which are published by them am: bear their name. When charges of
inconsistency are made in parliament, they are usually verified by a quotation from Han; sand, the accuracy of which is seldom or never disputed. An opinion, in consequence, widely prevails that the Messrs. Hansard retain a corps of parliamentary shorthand writ ers i n theirservice, from whose reports the debates printed in their work are prepared. This popular impression is entirely erroneous. The speeches printed in ilansurd are taken in the gross from the London morning newspapers. They are usually sent to the peers or members by whom they are spoken for revision and correction, and many important alterations, expurgations, and additions are made in the speeches thus revised, when a speaker has been led away by the heat of debate, or has, on the other hand, failed to say all that was in his mind when he rose. The convenience, however, of possessing some record more or less authentic of parliamentary proceedings has led the executive government to take a certain number of copies of Hansard for distribution among the public offices and departments. Many peers and members of parliament, foreign gov ernments, and public libraries, also subscribe to this work, which is issued at a certain fixed price, which the Messrs. Hansard guarantee, at the commencement of each session, shall not be exceeded.