MANUAL OF PARLIAMENTARY PRACTICE.

NOTE.-The rules and practices peculiar to the SENATE are printed between brackets, []. Those of PARLIAMENT are not so distinguished.

IMPORTANCE OF RULES.

SECTION I.

IMPORTANCE OF ADHERING TO RULES.

Mr. ONSLOW, the ablest among the Speakers of the House of Commons, used to say: "It was a maxim he had often heard when he was a young man, from old and experienced Members, that nothing tended more to throw power into the hands of the administration, and those who acted with the majority of the House of Commons, than a neglect of or departure from, the rules of proceeding; that these forms, as instituted by our ancestors, operated as a check and control on the actions of the majority, and that they were in many instances, a shelter and protection to the minority, against the attempts of power." So far the maxim is certainly true, and it is founded in good sense, that as it is always in the power of the majority, by their numbers, to stop any improper measures proposed on the part of their opponents, the only weapons by which the minority can defend themselves against similar attempts from those in power, are the forms and rules of proceeding which have been adopted as they were found necessary, from time to time, and are become the law of the House; by a strict adherence to which, the weaker party can only be protected from those irregularities and abuses which these forms were intended to check, and which the wantonness of power is but too often apt to suggest to large and successful majorities. 2 Hats., 171, 172.

And whether these forms be in all cases the most rational or not, is really not of so great importance. It is much more material that there should be a rule to go by, than what that rule is; that there may be a uniformity of pro ceeding in business, not subject to the caprice of the Speaker, or captiousness of the Members. It is very material that order, decency and regularity be preserved in a dignified public body. 2 Hats., 149.

SECTION II.

LEGISLATIVE.

[All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representa tives.-Constitution of the United States, Art. 1, Sec. 1.]

[The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for their services to be acertained by law and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. Constitution of the United States, Art. 1, Sec. 6.]

[For the powers of Congress, see the following Articles and Sections of the Constitution of the United States. I, 4, 7, 8, 9. II, 1, 2. III, 3. IV, 1, 3, 5, and all the amendments.]

SECTION III.

PRIVILEGE.

The privileges of Members of Parliament, from small and obscure beginnings, have been advancing for centuries with a firm and never yielding pace. Claims seem to have been brought forward from time to time, and repeated, till some example of their admission anabled them to build law on that example. We can only, therefore, state the points of progression at which they now are. It is now acknowledged, 1st. That they are at all times exempted from question elsewhere for anything said in their own House; that during the time of privilege, 2d. Neither a Member himself, his1 wife, nor his servants, (familaries sui,) for any matter of their own, may be arrested on mesne process, in any civil suit: 3d. Nor be detained under execution, though levied before time of privilege: 4th. Nor impleaded, cited or subpoenaed it. any court: 5th. Nor summoned as a witness or juror: 6th. Nor may their lands or goods be distrained: 7th. Nor their persons assaulted, or characters traduced. And the period of time covered by privilege, before and after the session, with the practice of short prorogations under the connivance of the Crown, amounts in fact to a perpetual protection against the course of justice. In one instance, indeed, it has been relaxed by the 10 G. 3, c. 50, which permits judiciary proceedings to go on against them. That these privileges must be continually progressive, seems to result from their rejecting all definition of them; the doctrine being that "their dignity and independence are preserved by keeping their privileges indefinite; and that the maxims upon which they proceed, together with the method of proceeding, rest entirely in their own breast, and are not defined and ascertained by any particular stated laws." 1 Blackst., 163, 164.

[It was probably from this view of the encroaching character of privilege that the framers of our constitution, in their care to provide that the law shall bind equally on all, and especially that those who make them shall not exempt themselves from their operation, have only privileged "Senators and Representatives" themselves from the single act of " arrest in all cases except treason, felony and breach of the peace, during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same, and from being questioned in any other place for any speech or debate in either House." Const., U. S., Art. 1, Sec. 6. Under the general authority" to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers given them,” Const. U. S., Art. 2, Sec, 8, they may provide by law the details which may be 1 Order of House of Commons 1663, July 16. 2 Elsynge, 217; 1 Hats., 21; Gray's Deb., 133.

necessary for giving full effect to the enjoyment of this privilege. No such law being yet made, it seems to stand at present on the following grounds: 1. The act of arrest is void, ab initio.* 2. The member arrested may be discharged on motion, 1 Bl., 166; 3 Stra., 993; or by habeas corpus under the Federal or State authority, as the case may be; or by a writ of privilege out of the Chancery, 2 Stra., 989, in those States which have adopted that part of the laws of England. Orders of the House of Commons, 1550, February 20. 3. The arrest being unlawful, is a trespass for which the officer and others concerned are liable to action and indictment in the ordinary courts of justice, as in other cases of unauthorized arrest. 4. The court before which the process is returnable is bound to act as in other cases of unauthorized proceeding, and liable also, as in other similar cases, to have their proceedings stayed or corrected by the superior courts.]

[The time necessary for going to, and returning from, Congress, not being defined, it will, of course, be judged of in every particular case by those who will have to decide the case.] While privilege was understood in England to extend, as it does here, only to exemption from arrest, eundo, moranda, et redeundo, the House of Commons themselves decided that "a convenient time was to be understood." (1580,) 1 Hats., 9, 100. Nor is the law so strict in point of time as to require the party to set out immediately on his return, but allows him time to settle his private affairs, and to prepare for his jour ney; and does not even scan his road very nicely, nor forfeit his protection for a little deviation from that which is most direct; some necessity perhaps constraining him to it. 2 Stra., 986, 987.

This privilege from arrest, privileges of course against all process, the disobedience to which is punishable by an attachment of the person; as a subpœna ad respondendum, or, testificandum, or a summons on a jury; and with reason, because a member has superior duty to perform in another place. [When a representative is withdrawn from his seat by summons, the 40,000 people whom he represents, lose their voice in debate and vote, as they do on his voluntary absence; when a Senator is withdrawn by summons, his State loses half its voice in debate and vote, as it does on his voluntary absence. The enormous disparity of evil admits no comparison.]

[So far there will probably be no difference of opinion as to the privileges of the two Houses of Congress; but in the following cases it is otherwise. In December, 1795, the House of Representatives committed two persons of the name of Randall and Whitney, for attempting to corrupt the integrity of certain members, which they considered as a contempt and breach of the privileges of the House; and the facts being proved, Whitney was detained in confinement a fortnight, and Randall three weeks, and was reprimanded by the Speaker. In March, 1796, the House of Representatives voted a challenge given to a member of their House to be a breach of the privileges of the House; but satisfactory apologies and acknowledgments being made, no further proceeding was had. The editor of the Aurora having, in his paper of February 19, 1800, inserted some paragraphs defamatory of the Senate, and •Stra., 989..