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COMMONS ferred two members on the University at Oxford and the same number on that of Cambridge. All along till the revolution of 1688, efforts were made insidiously to reduce, or, if not, then at least to damage, the burgh representation. But in 1694 the 6 and 7 William and Mary, c. 2, enacted that Parliaments in future should be triennial, an alteration which much tended to render the House of Commons independent of the royal authority. A similar act had been passed in 1641, but repealed in 1664. The Act 9 Queen Anne, c. 5, established a landed property qualification for members, whether for counties or boroughs, and by the first George I., passed in 1716, the Septennial Act was established which made the legal duration of a Parliament seven instead of three years. It is still in force. At the beginning of the 18th century, England and Wales had 513 members of Parliament. The union with Scotland in 1707 added 30 county and 15 borough members to the House of Commons, that with Ireland on Jan. 1, 1801, 64 for counties, 35 for cities, and one for Dublin University. This made up the entire representation of the United Kingdom to 658, a number which was nominally preserved until 1885, though the suspension of writs in individual constituencies for proven flagrant bribery occasionally slightly reduced the number. The Act of 1885 made radical reforms, placing the basis of representation at about one member for every 9,000+ electors. The number of members for the entire realm of Great Britain and Ireland is now (1920): England and Wales, 495; Ireland, 103; Scotland, 72. In 1917 women were enrolled in the Parliamentary franchise. Present state.-A Parliament cannot spring into life by any effort of its own; it requires to be summoned by the sovereign. During an interregnum a Convention Parliament, sometimes called simply a Convention, can do so, and has done it twice in English history, once in 1660, the other time in 1688. The House of Commons is presided over by a Speaker. The first one, called Peter de la Mere, was elected in A. D. 1377. Most of the important legislation which emanates from the Imperial Parliament has its origin in the House of Commons. By the Septennial Act a Parliament which has escaped what may be termed a violent end dies a natural death in seven years. A general election of representatives to serve in the new House of Commons then takes place, and when a new Parliament assembles, the House of Lords, as an essential part of the complex machinery, is also summoned to meet. Few Parliaments, however, die a natural death. When the Ministry is defeated on what they deem a vital point, and they are of opinion that the country agrees with them and not with their adversaries, the sovereign generally receives and acts upon the advice to dissolve Parliament, an act which formally submits to the judgment of the constituencies the disputed point which caused the ministerial crisis.

COMMON SCHOOLS, a term used in the United States as equivalent to primary or elementary schools. The term is officially used to include public schools of the elementary grades, the first eight years of the course of study, and the secondary grade, which includes the 9th to the 12th years of course of study. Following are the principal statistics of the public school system of the United States in 1918:

The system which has produced the foregoing results in the United States is now extended to Cuba, Porto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippine Islands.

COMMONWEALTH, the state or prosperity of a country without any reference to the form of government under which it may be at the time. Owing to the semi-independent position of the States of the American Union the term commonwealth is of frequent application to the various members of the great Federal Government, which itself is spoken of as the National or Federal Commonwealth in contradistinction from its constituent autonomies. In many of criminals, etc., are instituted in the name the States the legal proceedings against of the (e. g.) “Commonwealth of vs. John Doe."

in the history of England during which The word is also applied to the period the Parliamentary army and the Protector Oliver Cromwell exercised the power of government. See OLIVER CROMWELL.

COMMUNE, the unit or lowest division in the administration of France, corre-