Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/57

 CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT J

THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND

IRELAND.

Constitution and Government.

I. Impekial and Central.

The supreme legislative power of the British Empire is vested in Parlia- ment. Parliament is summoned by the writ of the sovereign issued out of Chancery, by advice of the Privy Council, at least twenty days previous to its assembling.

The annual session used to extend from the middle of February to about the middle of August, and only occasionally later, but since 1914 the sittings of Parliament have been interrupted only by comparatively short intervals. Every session must end with a prorogation, and all Bills which have not been passed during the session then lapse. A dissolution may occur by the will of the sovereign, or, as is most usual, during the by proclamation, or finally by lapse of time, the statutory limit of the duration of any Parliament being rive years. The life ol the last Parliament, ning in November 1910, should have ended in January, 1916, but wis, owing to the war, extended by successive Acts to November, 1918, nearly eight years' duration.

Under the Parliament Act, 1911 (1 and 2 Geo. V, ch. 13), all Money Bill* (so certified by the Speaker of the House of Commons), if not passed by the House of Lords without amendment, may become law without their con- currence on the royal assent being signified. Public Bills, other than Money Bills or a Bill extending the maximum duration of Parlian; passed by the House of Commons in three successive sessions, whether of the same Parliament or not, and rejected each time, or not passed, by the House of Lords, may become law without their concurrence on the royal assent being signified, provided that two years have elapsed between the second reading in the first session of the House of Commons, and the third reading in the third session. All Bills coming under this Act must reach the House of Lords at least one month before the end of the session. Finally, the Parliament Act limited the maximum duration of Parliament to five years instead of seven (but the duration of the last Parliament was specially extended, as stated above).

The present form of Parliament, as divided into two Houses of Legislature, the Lords and the Commons, dates from the middle of the fourteenth century.

The House of Lords consists of peers who hold their seats — (i) by hereditary right ; (ii) by creation of the sovereign ; (iii) by virtue of office — Law Lords, and English archbishops (2) and bishops (24) ; (iv) by election for life — Irish peers (28) ; (v) by election for duration of Parliament — Scottish peers (16). The full house would consist of about 726 members, but the voting strength (in January, 1921) was about 709.

The House of Commons consists of members representing County, Borough, and University constituencies in the three Divisions of the United Kingdom. No one under 21 years ot age can be a member of Parliament. Clergymen of the Church of England, ministers of the Church of Scotland, and Roman Catholic clergymen are disqualified from sitting as members ; Government contractors, and sheriffs, and returning officers for the localities for which they act, are also among those disqualified. No English or Scottish peer can be elected to the House of Commons, but non-representative Irish peers are eligible. Under the Parliament (Qualifi- cation of "Women) Act, 1918, women are also eligible, and the first woman member took her seat in December, 1919.