claration, in the court of Ch. K. B. C. B. or Exc. in England, which being certified by writ to the peers in Scotland at their meeting, under the seal of such court, shall entitle such peer to make his proxy and to send a signed list as aforesaid, and in case any peer who shall before the issuing of such proclamation have taken said oath (to be certified as aforesaid, or if taken in parliament to be certified under the great seal of Great-Britain) shall at the time of issuing such proclamation, be absent in the service of the crown, such peer may make his proxy or send his signed list. By s. 5. & 6. such peers of s. 5.& 6 Scotland as are also peers of England, shall sign their proxies and lists by the title of their peerage in Scotland, and no peer shall be capable of having more than two proxies at one time; and by s. 7. at such meeting of the peers they shall all give in the names of the persons by them nominated, and the lord-clerk-register, or two Names of 16 of the principal clerks of the session appointed by him peers to be certified. to officiate in his name, shall after the election is duly made and examined, certify the names of the sixteen Peers so elected, and sign and attest the same in the presence of the peers, which certificate shall, by the lord-clerk-register, or two of the principal clerks, be returned into the court of chancery of England before the time appointed for the meeting of parliament.

S. 7.

Ireland.

40 Geo. 3. c. 38.

40 Geo. 3. c.67. Eng.

By the act for the union of Great Britain and Ireland, 40 Geo. 3. c. 38. Ir. and 40 Geo. 3. c. 67. Eng: it is 32 Peers for provided, article 4. that four lords spiritual of Ireland by rotation of sessions, and twenty-eight lords temporal of Ir. Ireland, elected for life by the peers of Ireland, shall be the number to sit and vote on the part of Ireland in the house of lords of the parliament of the united king- 40 Geo. 3. c. 29. dom; and by the 40 Geo. 3. c. 29. Ir. which is recited Ir. and incorporated in the 8th article of the act of union, it is provided, s. 1. that the said four lords spiritual shall be taken from among the lords spiritual of Ireland in the manner following, viz. that one of the

s. 1.

four archbishops, and three of the eighteen suffragan & spiritual peers bishops, shall sit in the house of lords of the united par- by rotation. liament in each session thereof, the said right of sitting

being

84.

28 temporal peers for life.

being regulated as between the said archbishops respectively, by a rotation among the archiepiscopal sees from session to session; and in like manner that of the bishops, by a like rotation among the episcopal sees, according to the order of priority therein specified, such rotation to proceed regularly and without interruption from session to session, notwithstanding any dissolution or expiration of parliament, and this act, s. 4. further prescribes the mode in which the twenty-eight temporal peers were to be elected to sit in the first session of the imperial parliament, and during their lives, as representatives of the peers of Ireland, in the house of lords of the united kingdom, who are accordingly to be entitled to receive writs of summons to that and every succeeding parliament --and provides for this purpose, that whenever the seat of any of the twenty-eight lords so elected shall be vacated by demise or forfeiture, the chancellor of the united kingdom for the time being, upon receiving a certificate under the hand and seal of any two lords temporal of the parliament of the united kingdom, certiWrits to elect a fying the decease of such peer, or on view of the record of attainder of such peer, shall direct a writ to be issued under the great seal of the united kingdom, to the chancellor of Ireland, directing him to cause writs to be issued by the clerk of the crown in Ireland, to every temporal peer of Ireland, who shall have sat and voted in the house of lords of Ireland before the union, or whose right to sit and vote therein, or to vote at such elections, shall, on claim made in his behalf, have been admitted by the house of lords of Ireland before the union, or after the union by the house of lords of the united king, dom. And notice shall forthwith be published by the clerk of the crown in the London and Dublin Gazettes of the issuing of such writs, and of the names and titles of all the peers to whom the same are directed; and to said writs shall be annexed a form of return thereof, in which a blank shall be left for the name of the peer to be elected; and said writs shall enjoin such peer within 52 days from the teste of the writ to return the same into the crown office of Ireland, with the blank filled up

new representative peer.

Notice thereof.

by

writs.

by inserting the name of the peer for whom lie shall vote to succeed to such vacancy; and said writs and returns shall be bipartite, so that the name of the peer to be chosen shall be written twice, that is, once on each part of such writ and return, and so as that each part Return of such may also be subscribed by the peer to whom the same shall be directed, and likewise be sealed with his seal of arms; and one part thereof shall remain of record in the crown office of Ireland, and the other part be certified by the clerk of the crown to the clerk of the parliament of the united kingdom; but this clause provides that no peer of Ireland except such as shall be so elected as a representative peer in the house of lords of the united kingdom, and shall have there taken the oaths and sub- Oaths of elesscribed the declaration prescribed by law, shall, under fors. pain of suffering such punishment as the house of lords of the united kingdom may award and adjudge, make a return to such writ, unless he shall, after the issuing thereof, and before the day on which the writ is returnable, have taken the oaths, and signed the declaration by law required to be taken and signed by the lords of the united kingdom before they can sit and vote in the parliament thereof; which oaths, &c. shall be taken and subscribed in the court of chancery, in Ireland, or before a justice of the peace of Ireland, a certificate whereof, signed by such justice, or by the register of the court of chancery, shall be transmitted by such peer with the return, and shall be annexed to the part thereof remaining of record in the crown office of Ireland; and the clerk of the crown is thereby required forthwith, after the return day of the writ, to publish in the London and Name of peer elect published. Dublin Gazettes, a notice of the name of the person having the majority of votes, who shall accordingly during his life be one of the peers to sit and vote on the part of Ireland in the house of lords, &c. In case of an equality of votes, the names of such persons who have Lots drawn in an equal number of votes are hereby directed to be writ- case of equal ty ten on pieces of paper of a similar form, and to be put into a glass by the clerk of the parliament of the united kingdom, at the table of the house of lords whilst the

VOL. I.

C

house

of votes.

S. 6.

house is sitting, and the peer whose name shall be first drawn out by such clerk, shall be deemed the peer elected; and this act further provides, s. 6. that in case any lord spiritual being a temporal peer of the united king, peer becoming a dom, or being a temporal peer of Ireland, shall be temporal peer. chosen by the lords temporal, the rotation of representation of the spiritual lords shall, during the life of such spiritual peer, proceed to the next spiritual lord, that is to say, if such spiritual lord so chosen a temporal peer shall be an archbishop, then the rotation shall proceed to the archbishop whose see is next in rotation; and so if such spiritual lord shall be a suffragan bishop, then the rotation shall proceed to the next suffragan bishop.

§ 4.

House of Com

mons.

43 members for Scotland.

5 Ann. c. 8,

Eng.

IV. I shall postpone for the present the statutes which respect the privileges of Parliament, till these acts are stated which regard the commons as the third constituent part of parliament:-and first, as to their number.-The 22d article of the treaty for the union of England and Scotland provides that forty-five shall be the number of the representatives of Scotland in the house of commons of the parliament of Great-Britain, to be elected in such manner as by an act of the then present session of the parliament of Scotland was or should be settled. And by the 5 Ann c. 8. Eng. (which incorporates an act passed in the parliament of Scotland, 5th Feb. 1707,) thirty of the said representatives of Scotland in the house of commons, shall be chosen by the shires or stewartries, and fifteen by the royal boroughs, viz.-one for every shire and stewartry, excepting the shires of Bute and Caithness, which shall choose one by turns;-the shires of Nairn and Cromarty, which shall also choose by turns, and in like manner the shires of Clackmannan and Kinross shall choose by turns. And in case of the death or incapacity of any of the members from the respective shires or stewartries, the shire or stewartry which elected the said member shall elect another in his place.-And the fifteen representatives for the royal boroughs shall be chosen as follows, viz. the town of Edinburgh shall send one member to the parliament of Great-Britain, and each of the other boroughs shall elect a commissioner in

the

the same manner as they use to elect commissioners to the parliament of Scotland; which commissioners and boroughs being divided in fourteen districts, shall meet and elect one for each district (and the several boroughs are hereby accordingly enumerated and distributed into districts). And where the votes of the commissioners for the boroughs met to choose representatives shall be équal, the president of the meeting shall have a casting vote, according to his vote as a commissioner from the borough, the commissioner from the eldest borough presiding in the first meeting, and the commissioners from the other boroughs by turns, in the order as they are called in the rolls of the parliament of Scotland: and in case any of the fifteen commissioners from boroughs shall decease or become legally incapable, the town of Edinburgh, or the district which chose the said member, shall elect a member in his place. And the 6 Ann. c. 6. s. 5. Eng. provides, that when any parliament shall 6 Ann c. 6. s. 5. Eng. be summoned, the forty-five representatives of Scotland shall be elected by writs under the great seal of GreatBritain, directed to the several sheriffs and stewarts of the respective shires and stewartries; and the said sheriffs and stewarts shall on receipt of such writs forthwith give notice of the time of election for the knights or commissioners for their shires or stewartries, and at such time the freeholders shall meet at the head burghs of their shires and stewartries, and proceed to such election :—and the clerks of the said meetings, immediately after the elections, shall return the names of the persons elected to the sheriff or stewart, who shall annex it to his writ and return it into the court out of which the writ issued. And as to the manner of election of the fifteen representatives of the royal boroughs, the sheriff of the shire of Edinburgh shall, on receipt of the writ directed to him, forthwith direct his precept to the lord provost of Edinburgh, to cause a burgess to be elected for that city, and on receipt of such precept the city of Edinburgh shall elect their member, and their common clerk shall certify his name to the sheriff of Edinburgh, who shall annex it to his writ and return it; and as to the

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