Freedom of Speech

The most important privilege is that of freedom of speech. When a member is speaking to his fellow members, he enjoys a complete right of free speech, subject only to the rules of order administered by the Speaker. A member cannot be prosecuted for sedition, or sued for libel or slander in respect of anything said during proceedings in the House or published on its Order Paper. This means that it is possible to raise in the House questions affecting the public good which might be difficult to raise outside owing to a possible threat of the law of defamation. Such privilege is not a personal favour to the individual member, but a necessary protection and a guarantee that he should be able to defend to the full the interests of the electors. Thus the-privilege of members is to be regarded as the privilege of every citizen.

Breach of Privilege

Parliament has the right to punish anybody, either inside or outside the House, who is guilty of a breach of privilege—that is, of offending against the rights of the House. If an alleged breach occurs, the matter may be raised in the House by any member; if this is done at the earliest opportunity it may take precedence over all other business. The Speaker is then asked to consider whether the matter raised is serious enough to be given precedence over the planned business. If, after taking 24 hours to consider the precedents, he decides that it is, then no other business can be transacted until the House has either dealt with the alleged breach itself, or referred it to the Committee of Privileges, which investigates the matter and reports to the House after due inquiry both into the facts and into the law of privilege applicable to them. If on being summoned an offender admits the offence, but offers a full apology, the committee not infrequently recommends that it be accepted. The House then considers the committee's report and decides whether or not the offender should be punished.

Punishment for Contempt

Parliament claims the right to punish not only breaches of its privileges, but “contempt”, which is any offence or libel against its dignity or authority. An offender may be detained within the precincts of the House, though this punishment has not been employed since 1880. Nowadays the House would probably direct offenders to be reprimanded. An offender who is not a member of the House is brought to the Bar by the Serjeant at Arms, and is there reprimanded by the Speaker in the name, and by the authority, of the House. If the offender is a member, he receives the Speaker's admonition or reprimand standing in his place. An offending member may also be suspended or, in extreme cases, expelled from the House. Offenders, other than members, may be ordered to attend at the Bar of the House; all may be heard in extenuation of their offences, or in mitigation of their punishment, before the House decides what action to take.

Privileges of the House of Lords

The privileges of the House of Lords include: freedom of speech in debate; freedom of access to the Sovereign for each peer individually; and the right to commit for contempt. These privileges are not formally claimed by the Speaker as in the House of Commons, but are equally recognised in law.

NOTES TO THE TEXT.

To lay claim - to say that you have a right to own something.

Sedition - the publication of a statement about a person to lower his reputation.

Defamation -an act of writing or printing untrue statements in permanent form (libel); a false spoken statement (slander) .

The Bar - a rail near the entrance to each House of Parliament, to which nonmembers may be summoned for reprimand.

LANGUAGE PRACTICE AND COMPREHENSION CHECK

TASK I Complete the table below with the missing nouns and adjectives; explain their meanings:

Verb	Adjective	Noun
Precede
Interpret
Acknowledge
Prosecute
Protect
Inquire
Offend
Mitigate

TASK II a) Insert the missing nouns from the list below into the combinations parliamentary+...: 1) commissioner; 2) privilege; 3) committee; 4) privilege; 5) control; 6) majority; 7) procedure; 8) business; 9) timetable.

b) Translate the sentences:

1. The forms of parliamentary ... include passing laws, scrutinizing government spending, authorising the raising of taxes, and debating government decisions.

2. The Government’s parliamentary ... means that Government Bills are eventually passed and become part of the law of the land.

3. A parliamentary ... is a special right or immunity available either to the House collectively or to individual members.

4. Contempt includes, for example, abuses by MPs of parliamentary ... , disruption in the House, improper or dishonest behaviours by MPs, and even harassment of, or allegations against, MP in newspapers.

5. Parliamentary ... often sit in private.

6. It is probable that speech even within the House which is unrelated to parliamentary ... enjoys no privilege.

7. It is apparently a contempt of Parliament even to begin legal proceedings against an MP in respect of a matter protected by full parliamentary ....

8. The parliamentary ... is determined by the government under standing order 13.

9. Since 1967 a special official, the parliamentary ... , popularly known as “ombudsman”, has existed to assist members of Parliament investigate complaints against the central government on behalf of citizens.

TASK III Match Parliament+... word combinations with their meanings: 1) Act of Parliament; 2) contempt of Parliament; 3) Member of Parliament (MP), 4) Mother of Parliaments; 5) the European Parliament; make up sentences with them:

1. = Person elected to represent a constituency in parliament;

2. = Decision which has been approved by Parliament and so becomes law.

3. = Parliament made up of delegates elected by each member state of the EC.

4. = Conduct which may bring the authority of Parliament into disrepute.

5. = The British Parliament at Westminster.

TASK IV Discuss “Parliamentary privilege” as it is understood in the UK and in your country.

TASK V 1) Explain the importance of the freedom of speech privilege enjoyed by members of Parliament.

2) Discuss breach of privilege and its consequences.

3) Compare the privileges of the Lords with those of the Commons.

4) Discuss the privileges enjoyed by the members of your national Parliament.

TASK VI Choose those events in the history of Parliament that predetermined the current constitutional developments and reforms;

b) Explain how the evolution of the legislature reflects the history of the nation;

1215: Magna Carta was sealed by King John. This set the founding principles for parliament and constitution. It defined rights, legal practices and ‘good lordship’ - what subjects could expect from their monarch and superiors.

1295: Model Parliament summoned by Edward I and generally regarded as the first representative assembly.

1341: Commons and Lords separated for the first time.

1407: Commons were given power over taxation

1414: Full equality of Commons and Lords on legislation

1512: Lords meet in the Parliament chamber

1523: First known request by the Speaker for free speech (Speaker Thomas More)

1536: Wales was represented in the House of Commons

1544: Term ‘House of Lords’ was used

1605: Gunpowder plot

1649: House of Lords abolished during Oliver Cromwell’s Commonwealth.

1660: Monarchy restored and House of Lords resumes.

1688-89: Glorious Revolution and Bill of Rights established the constitutional monarchy and limited the power of the sovereign over Parliament.

1707: Last Royal veto on a Bill. Queen Anne refuses to give Royal Assent to the Scottish Militia Bill.

1707: Union of England and Scotland. Scottish Parliament was abolished; first meeting of Parliament of Great Britain which then became the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

1716: Septennial Act extended the length of Parliaments to seven years.

1800: Act of Union (with Ireland). In 1801, 100 Irish MPs entered the House of Commons and Irish Peers elected representatives from among their number to sit in the Lords.

1803: Newspaper reporters were allocated seats in the public gallery for the first time

1832: Reform Act increased the electorate by almost 50 per cent and to 57 per cent overall.

1876: Appellate Jurisdiction Act. Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (Law Lords) were created as full-time, professional judges.

1911: Parliament Act removed the House of Lords’ right to refuse a Bill passed in the Commons - except those that proposed to extend the life of Parliament.

1918: Fourth Reform Act and Representation of the People Act gave the vote to men over 21 and women over 30 - increasing the electorate from 8 million to 21 million.

1919: First female MP. Viscountess Nancy Astor is the first woman to take her seat as an MP.

1920: Government of Ireland Act. Southern Irish MPs no longer attended UK Parliament.

1928: Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act reduced voting age for women to 21.

1949: Parliament Act reduced the Lords ability to delay a Bill passed in the Commons from two years to one year.

1958: Life Peerages Act permitted creation of peerages for life to persons of either sex, with no limit on numbers. First female life peer - Baroness Wootton of Abinger - is created.

1963: Peerage Act allowed hereditary peerages to be disowned for life, hereditary peeresses to be members of the House of Lords and all Scottish peers to sit. First female hereditary peer: Baroness Strange of Knokin.

1978: Radio broadcasts of proceedings in Parliament began on a permanent basis.

1985: Proceedings in the Lords were televised for first time.

1989: Commons proceedings were televised for first time.

1997: Parliament website was launched

1999: UK devolution. Devolution of powers to Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales and Northern Ireland Assembly.

1999: House of Lords Act removed the right of all but 92 hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords.

2002: Webcasts of Parliament proceedings began.

2005: Constitutional Reform Act separated judiciary from the legislature with the creation of a Supreme Court (from 2009) when the judicial function of the House of Lords ceased.

2006: First Lord Speaker. Baroness Hayman elected as the first Lord Speaker.

2009: Judicial role of House of Lords ended. The final House of Lords hearings and judgments took place on 30 July 2009. The judicial function was transferred to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom from 1 October 2009.

TASK VII TEST your knowledge of the ACTIVE VOCABULARY:

executive - the part of a government that is responsible for making sure that new laws are done in the way they have been planned; a person in an executive position

legislate - to make law or laws

legislation - a law or set of laws; the act of making laws

legislature - a body of people who have the power to make and change laws

legalise - to make a law that allows people to do something that was not allowed before

succeed - to follow in a position, to be the next person to take a position

succession - the act of taking over an office or a position

successive - coming or following one after the other

body - a) a group of people working together, a governing body

b) the central part of some thing, body of information

c) a combination, of people or thing, a corporate body

d) a dead body, a corpse

authority - a) the ability, power or right to control and command;

b) (oft. pl) a group of people with this power, esp.

in public affairs;

c) a paper giving this power;

d) a judicial decision or other source of law, precedent

summon - to officially order someone to come to a meeting, a court of law etc.

summons - a court order to an individual to appear in court at a specified place and time

subject - a) someone who was born in a country that has a king or a queen (compare "citizen", "national")

b) a branch of knowledge;

c) the thing people are talking about or discussing

subject - governed by or dependent on

subject - to bring under firm control

void - having no legal effect, invalid

convention - a) a treaty, usually of a multinational nature;

b) constitutional c.-practices relating to the exercise of their functions by the Crown, the government, Parliament and the judiciary that are not legally enforceable but are followed as if they were;

c) US party c. or national c.-meetings of people with a shared purpose

binding - having the power to demand obedience to a law or fulfillment of a contract reverse,

bind - to change something completely, to alter to the opposite

veto - a refusal to give permission for something or to allow something to be done

veto - to prevent or forbid some action or a law

delay - to put off to a later time (a meeting or adoption of a bill)

object - a) a thing

b) an aim or a purpose

object - to protest to oppose

objection - a reason against doing something (to raise/voice an o.)

objective - not influenced by personal opinions or feelings

objective - an aim, a purpose

confer - a) to discuss something, to compare opinions;

b) to give a title, honour, etc.

surrender - to give up or give in to the power

defer - to delay something until a future time, to postpone

deference - behaviour that shows that you respect someone because of his higher position or greater power

suffrage - the right to vote in public elections

resign - to give up office or a job

resignation - official leaving of a job

elevate - to raise in rank or status

elevation - the act of raising someone's position

impartial - fair, not giving special favour or support to any one side

impartiality - the state of being fair, unbiased

second - to formally support a suggestion or a plan

initiate - to begin or set going; to introduce(a bill)

submit - a) to put forward for consideration b) to be (voluntarily) subjected to a process

The following issues will help you to answer the exam questions BRITISH PARLIAMENT: 1) COMPOSITION, POWERS AND REFORM; 2) LAW MAKING PROCEDURE IN PARLIAMENT and to write your essays:

1. British Parliament in historical perspective.

2. Is British Parliament a truly democratic representative body?

3. The relationships between the three elements constituting Parliament.

4. The legislative powers of each House.

5. The changing role of the House of Lords.

6. The future of the British Parliament.

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