Methods and Forms," 320.

[383:3] This applies to many matters connected with local government. It is true also of the construction of light railways. 59-60 Vic., c. 48, -- 9.

[383:4] This is true, for example, of certificates granted by the Board of Trade to railways, for raising capital, working agreements, and other matters.

[384:1] To this cla.s.s belong the orders for providing dwellings for the working cla.s.ses, granting charters to munic.i.p.al boroughs, changing the boundaries of divided parishes, constructing tramways in Ireland, etc.

[384:2] For a description of the various statutes giving authority to issue provisional orders see Clifford, Ch. xviii., and May, Ch. xxvi., and for a more exhaustive list of those relating to the Local Government Board see Rep. of Com. on Priv. Business, Com. Papers, 1902, VII., 321, App. 10.

[384:3] The only ones that apply are S.O.P.B. 38 and 39 about replacing workmen's dwellings and the deposit of plans.

[385:1] S.O.P.B. 208a.

[385:2] In the House of Lords an unopposed bill, like a public bill, is referred after second reading to a Committee of the Whole. An opposed order goes to a private bill committee, and then, with the rest of the bill to a Committee of the Whole.

[385:3] S.O.P.B. 151.

[386:1] Rep. of Com. on Priv. Business, Com. Papers, 1902, VII., 321, App. 11.

[386:2] _Ibid._, p. 185.

[386:3] _Ibid._, App. 6.

[386:4] _Ibid._, App. 15, and see the tables appended to the standing orders.

[387:1] Return of Expense of Private Bill Legislation, 1892-98, Com.

Papers, 1900, LXVII., 111, p. 7.

[387:2] _Ibid._, 187, p. 66. See also the returns for the preceding seven years in Com. Papers, 1892, LXIII., 51.

[387:3] Clifford, II., 800.

[387:4] At the local inquiries held by the departments for the purpose of issuing provisional orders, any resident of the district has, in some cases, at least, a right to be heard. Maca.s.sey, "Private Bills and Provisional Orders," 388, 418.

[388:1] Rep. of Com. on Munic.i.p.al Trading, Com. Papers, 1900, VII., 183, Qs. 421, 423.

[389:1] Rep. of the Com. on Munic.i.p.al Trading, Com. Papers, 1900, VII., 183, Q. 987; Rep. of the Com. on Priv. Business, Com. Papers, 1902, VII., 321, Qs. 2368-69, 2403-4.

[389:2] Rep. of Com. on Priv. Business, 1902, VII., 321, Qs. 2378, 2401-2.

[389:3] Rep. of Com. on Munic.i.p.al Trading, 1900, VII., 183, Qs. 233-34.

[389:4] _Cf. Ibid._, Qs. 3, 103, 145, and 1063.

[389:5] S.O.P.B. 80.

[389:6] Rep. of Committee on Priv. Business, 1902, VII., 321, Qs. 403-5.

[389:7] _Ibid._, Qs. 391-94.

[389:8] _Ibid._, Q. 2327.

[389:9] _Ibid_., Qs. 85-87.

[389:10] Rep. of Com. on Priv. Bill Legislation, Com. Papers, 1888, XVI., 1, Qs. 340-42.

[390:1] Rep. of Com. on Priv. Bill Legislation, Com. Papers, 1888, XVI., I., Qs. 348. Rep. of Com. on Munic.i.p.al Trading, 1900, VII., 183, Q. 545.

[390:2] Rep. of Com. on Munic.i.p.al Trading, 1900, VII., 183, Qs. 2372, 2393, and 2399.

[390:3] Rep. of Com. on Priv. Business, 1902, VII., 321, Q. 248.

[390:4] Rep. on Munic.i.p.al Trading, 1900, VII., 183, Q. 3915.

[390:5] _Ibid._, Qs. 290-91 and 3923-24.

[390:6] _Ibid._, Qs. 284-85, 390, 3912, 3920, 3922; Rep. of Com. on Priv. Business, 1902, VII., 321, Qs. 77-80, 214-15.

[390:7] Rep. on Munic.i.p.al Trading, 1900, VII., 183, Qs. 454-55 and 3917-18.

[391:1] _Cf._ Rep. on Munic.i.p.al Trading, 1900, VII., 183, Qs. 298, 341-44, 347, 3939-41.

[391:2] For a careful study from this point of view of a fairly good legislative body, by one of its members well fitted to observe, see an article by Francis C. Lowell, in the _Atlantic Monthly_, LXXIX., 366-77, March, 1897.

[392:1] In the five years 1891-95 the number of bills opposed on second reading averaged 17-3/5, while from 1897-1901 they averaged 32. Rep. of Com. on Priv. Business, 1902, VII., 321, Q. 218.

[392:2] Rep. of Com. on Priv. Business, 1902, VII., 321, App. 2. But these periods are too short to warrant any accurate conclusion. In not more than eight or nine per cent. of the cases does the opposition seem to have succeeded. _Ibid._, Q. 219-20.

[393:1] _Cf._ Rep. of Com. on Priv. Bill Leg., Com. Papers, 1888, XVI., 1, Qs. 346-47, 487-88, 553, 1244. Rep. of Com. on Munic.i.p.al Trading, 1900, VII., 183, Qs. 519, 523-26, 529. Com. on Priv. Business, 1902, VII., 321, Qs. 42-43. In conversation the writer found the opinion that the habit was increasing substantially universal.

When the Speaker's Counsel hears that opposition in the House is likely to be made, he sometimes tries to prevent it by arranging for a conference between the promoters and opponents in the presence of the Chairman of Ways and Means. Rep. of Com. on Priv. Bill Legislation, 1888, XVI., 1, Q. 346.

CHAPTER XXI

THE HOUSE OF LORDS

Tracing its origin to the ancient council of the magnates of the realm, the House of Lords has, in the fulness of time, undergone several changes of character.[394:1] From a meeting of the Great Council of the King, it became an a.s.sembly of his princ.i.p.al va.s.sals, the chief landholders of the Kingdom, ecclesiastical and lay; and finally it was gradually transformed into a chamber of hereditary peers, enjoying their honours by virtue of a grant from the Crown. Each phase has left a trace upon its organisation or functions, or upon the privileges of its members.

[Sidenote: Composition of the House.]

Before the Reformation the ecclesiastics in the House of Lords,[394:2]

including the abbots and priors, usually outnumbered the laymen; but upon the dissolution of the monasteries, and the disappearance therewith of the abbots and priors, the proportions were reversed, and the hereditary element became predominant. At present the House contains several kinds of members, for it must be remembered that every peer has not a right to sit, and all members of the House are not in every respect peers.

[Sidenote: The Hereditary Peers.]