Parliament

par'li-ment, the representative body of the English government. It consists of two houses, the Lords and the Commons. The House of Lords consists of English, Scottish, and Irish peers. The English peers inherit their seats or receive them by appointment of the sovereigns, or else they hold their seats by virtue of offices, as in the case of the bishops of the English Church. Sixteen representatives of the Scottish peerage are elected by the Scottish peers to serve during the duration of the Parliament. Twenty-eight representatives are elected for life by the peers of Ireland. The present membership of the upper house consists of 590 members. It is presided over by the lord chancellor of England.

The House of Commons consists of members sent up by the various electoral districts of the United Kingdom. The House is presided over by a speaker. Only householders and people of some property are allowed to vote. Paupers are excluded from the polls. A young man still residing at home, a member of the household, may not vote though he be of full age and have considerable property. No clergyman of the Church of England or of the Roman Catholic church or the Church of Scotland may serve in the House of Commons. Certain judicial officers, known in Great Britain as sheriffs, and others connected with the elections are disqualified from election as members of the lower house. According to the act of 1885 there are 465 English members, thirty Welsh members, seventy-two Scottish members, and 103 Irish members, or 670 in all. Among these members are a certain number chosen by the various universities.

As in the Congress of the United States, bills for revenue must originate in the lower house. Money bills may be rejected by the House of Lords, but may not be amended. The House of Lords stands in fear of the authority of the king to secure a majority at any time by the creation of new peers. The House of Commons is the real power in Parliament. Once, in 1831, when the House of Lords stood out against a certain measure deemed absolutely essential by the majority of the Commons, the king was obliged to sign a bit of paper still to be seen in the British Museum: "The king grants permission to Earl Gray (the head of the ministry) to create such a number of new peers as will insure the passage of the Reform Bill." The authority of the House of Lords is real only so far as it is exercised with judgment.

A Parliament once elected remains in office for seven years, or until it is dissolved by the ministry. There were fifteen Parliaments during the reign of Queen Victoria. The first was elected in 1837 and remained in office until 1841. Others served from six years to six months. When a Parliament has been dissolved, an election is ordered in the name of the sovereign but really by the ministry. The adjournments of Parliament from time to time are called recesses. To fill a vacancy, a writ for the election of a new member is issued on motion of the House. In case of a vacancy occurring during a recess a writ is issued by the speaker.

The English Parliament grew out of an Anglo-Saxon assembly, the Witenagemot, or meeting of the wise men. Under the Norman kings it began to do its work in sections, or large committees, in order to facilitate business. In the thirteenth century representatives of counties and towns were added to the "lords" who previously had composed the body. During the fourteenth century, in the reign of Edward III, Parliament was divided into two houses, the House of Lords, including the lords spiritual and the lords temporal, and the House of Commons, including knights, citizens and burgesses. The year in which the two houses began to sit separately is not known. In 1707 the Parliament of Scotland was united with that of England. In 1800 a parliamentary union with Ireland took place.

Early in the nineteenth century a cry for reform both in voting and representation went up. A number of districts, called "rotten boroughs," had lost their population; while Manchester, Birmingham, and other large manufacturing towns were without representation. Old Sarum, for instance, contained but the ruins of a castle, yet its owner was permitted to name two members of Parliament. Reform bills were passed in 1832, 1867, and again in 1884.

The British Parliament meets in an edifice known as the House of Parliament. It stands on the left bank of the Thames, between Westminster Abbey and the river. It covers an area of eight acres. The river front is 900 feet in length. The building is of brick, faced externally with limestone. A terrace of Aberdeen granite leads down to the river. The building is of the style known to architects as Tudor-Gothic. Victoria Tower, at the southwest angle, is 340 feet in height. A central tower is 300 feet high. The clock tower at the north end of the edifice is 320 feet high. The House of Peers is the most richly decorated chamber in the building. It is adorned with statues and armorial bearings of the kings, queens, and nobility of England from the time of the Conquest to the present day. The main room is ninety-seven feet long, forty-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. It is paneled with carved oak and ornamented with a profusion of gilding, fresco paintings, and richly stained glass. The main apartment of the House of Commons is somewhat smaller and less richly decorated. It is entered through Westminster Hall, the old hall of William Rufus, considered the finest hall in the United Kingdom. All in all, the Houses of Parliament constitute the greatest government building in the world. They have been imitated widely in the British colonies.

See Congress