The following is an outline of the present mode of selecting members for the trial of election petitions :—At the beginning of a session the Speaker appoints a general committee of six members, to any or all of whom the house may object, in which case the Speaker is bound to appoint others. If by irreconcileable disagreement of opinion, or by the continued absence of more than two members, the committee, when appointed, should be unable to proceed in the discharge of its duties, or if the house should determine that it shall be dissolved, its functions are to cease. To this general committee all election petitions are referred. The names of all the members of the house are put into an alphabetical list and called over, when certain excuses are allowed to be made ; but all who do not then excuse themselves from serving are bound to act as members of election committees when hereafter chosen. This list is taken by the general committee, from which are elected six, eight, ten, or twelve members, but in no case to exceed eighteen, who, on signifying their willingness to serve, are formed into " the chairman's panel" The list is then divided into five panels by the general committee, exclusive of the chairman, the order of which is decided by lot, and a number attached to each in the order in which it is drawn. These panels are to be corrected from time to time by the general committee, according to circumstances. The general com mittee gives three weeks' notice to the parties before it proceeds to appoint a committee for the trial of an election petition. At the expiration of that time it chooses, from the panel standing first in order of service, four members, whose names are read to the parties, who have power to object to any of them on grounds of disqualification specified in the Act. When the four members are finally chosen, the chairman's panel appoint one of their own body to act as chairman, who is added accordingly to the general committee. The committee, when thus completed, is sworn, and proceeds to business. All questions are decided by a majority.
As witnesses giving false evidence before an election committee are guilty of perjury, it is usual for the house, when acquainted with such misconduct, to instruct the attorney-general to prosecute the parties. The mine course has also been pursued with respect to persons proved to have been concerned in bribery.
The determinations of election committees are final, and are imme diately carried into effect by the house. If an election be reported void, a new writ is issued ; if it be decided that a member has not been duly elected, and that another candidate should have been returned, the deputy clerk of the crown is ordered to attend and amend the return, after which the new member is sworn, and takes his seat; and if a petition or the opposition to it be held by the committee to have been frivolous and vexatious, the petitioner or sitting member, as the case may be, is liable to the payment of all the costs.
The last proceeding in parliament which we shall describe is that of Impeachment.—Impeachment by the commons is a proceeding of great importance, involving the exercise of the highest judicial powers by parliament; and though in modern times it has rarely been resorted to, in former periods of our history it was of frequent occurrence. The earliest instance of impeachment by the commons at the bar of the House of Lords was in the reign of Edward Ill. (1376). Before that time the lords appear to have tried both peers and commoners for great public offences, but not upon complaints addressed to them by the commons. During the next four reigns, cases of regular impeach , ment were frequent ; but no instances occurred in the reigns of 1 Edward IV., Henry VII., Henry VIII., Edward VI., Queen Mary, or 1 Queen Elizabeth. The constitution " had fallen into disuse," says Mr. Hallam, "partly from the loss of that control which the commons had obtained under Richard II. and the Lancastrian kings, and partly from
the preference the Tudor princes had given to bills of attainder or of pains and penalties, when they wished to turn the arm of parliament against an obnoxious subject" Prosecutions also in the Star-Chamber during that time were perpetually resorted to by the crown for the punishment of state offenders. In the reign of James I., the practice of Impeachment was revived, and was used with great energy by the commons, both as an instrument of popular power and for the further er.* of public justice. Between the year 1620, when Sir Odes Maitre...or and Lord Bacon were impeached, and the Revolution in 16$8, there were about forty owes of impeachment. In the reigns of William III., Anne, and George I., there were fifteen ; and in George II. only one (that of Lord Lovat, in 1746, for high treason). The lost memorable caste are these of Warren Hastings, in 1788, and Lord Melville, In 1805.
An outline of the forms observed in the conduct of impeachments may bo briefly given. A member of the House of Commons charges the accused of certain high crimes and misdemeanors, and moves that he be impeached. If the house agree to it, the member is ordered to go to the lad., and at their bar, in the name of the House of Com mons and of all the commons of the United Kingdom, to impeach the accusal. A committee is then ordered to draw up articles of impeachment, which are reported to the house, and, having been dis cussed and agreed upon, are engrossed and delivered to the lords. Further articles may be delivered from time to time. In the case of Warren Hastings, the articles had been prepared before his impeach ment at the bar of the House of Lords. The accused sends answers to each article, which are communicated to the commons by the lords ; to these, replications are returned if necessary. After these prelimi naries, the lords appoint a day for the trial. The commons desire the lords to summon the witnesses required to prove their charges and appoint managers to conduct the proceedings. Westminster Hall has been usually fitted up as the court, which is presided over by the lord high steward. The commons attend with the managers as a com mittee of the whole house. The accused remains in the custody of the usher of the black rod, to whom he is delivered, if a commoner, by the tterjeantmt-arms attending the House of Commons. The managers should confine themselves to charges contained in the articles of impeachment. Mr. Warren Hastings complained of matters having been introduced which had not been originally laid to his charge, and the house resolved that certain words ought not to have been spoken by Mr. Burke. Persons impeached of high treason are entitled, by statute 20 Geo. II, c, 30, to make their full defence by counsel, a privilege which is not denied to persons charged with high crimes and misdemeanors.
When the have made their charges and adduced evidence in support of them, the accused answers them, and the managers have a right to reply. The lords then proceed to judgment in this manner: The lord high steward puts to each peer, beginning with the junior Won, the question upon the first article, whether the accused be guilty of the crimes charged therein. The peers in succession rise in their places when the question is put, and, standing uncovered, and laying their right hands upon their breast, answer "guilty," or "not guilty," as the case may be, " upon my honour." Each article is pro ceeded with separately in the same manner, the lord high steward giving his own opinion the bat. The numbers are then cast up, and being ascertained, are declared by the lord high steward to the lords, and the accused is acquainted with the result.
(A Treatise on the Late, Privileges, Proceeding:, and Usages of Parlia ment, by T. E. May, Esq., fourth edit., 1859.)