Contents. Requirement of unanimity of juries Oral examination of prisoners. Injury to private rights from the expensiveness of law Legislative invasions of private liberty on behalf of public ANALYSIS. CHAPTER I. THE CONSTITUTION AND ITS MOVEMENTS. Nature and elements of the Inquiry. Necessity of studying institutions in their working, development, and mutual dependence. Moral as well as legal elements in the Constitution. Sources of information as to its variable elements: Acts of Parliament, Judicial decisions, Current interpretations of acknowledged principles, as shown in deliberate utterances of statesmen, comments of scientific writers, manifestations of popular feeling, reports of executive acts and their reception by Parliament and the public. Organic unity of the Constitution. Necessity of treating every part of it in its relation to all the other parts. CHAPTER II. THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT. SECTION I-COMPOSITION AND MUTUAL RELATIONS OF THE Parliament the organ of Constitutional change. THE HOUSE OF LORDS: as a Judicial Body: Appellate Jurisdiction Act of 1876. as a Legislative Body: Contest with the Commons on Paper Duties Repeal. THE HOUSE OF COMMONS: Notions of representation. Transition from class representation to individual representa tion. The Ballot Act. The Parliamentary Elections Act. Modern controversies as to the functions of Representatives : 1. Delegacy and Pledges. 2. Representation of Minorities. Political Associations. Party Government : 1. Its historic origin. 2. Its foundation in nature. 3. Its political expediency. SECTION. II.-PRIVILEGES AND ORDER OF Proceedings. Avenues of communication between the House and the public: Petitions. Publication of Proceedings. Exclusion of Strangers. Disciplinary powers of the House : Right of the House to sentence for contempt. Obstruction. General conduct of business in the House: Competing claims of Government and private members: The half-past twelve rule. Private Bills: Their scope and importance. Procedure as to private bills. 1 Analysis. Supply:-Four stages of procedure :- (2.) Committee of Ways and Means. (4.) Committee of Public Accounts. Procedure of the House of Lords. XXV SECTION III-HOME LEGISLATION. 1. Removal of religious disqualifications:- Emancipation of Catholics, Protestant Dissenters, and Jews. Abolition of Church-rates. Abolition of University Tests. Abolition of Ecclesiastical Courts of Probate and Divorce. 2. Readjustment of Endowments and Charters :- Dissenting sha (2.) Educational Institutions : { University Reform. Endowed Schools Reform. (3.) Endowed Charities. (4.) Municipal Corporations. 3. Economic Legislation, bearing on : (1.) The Bank of England and other Banks. (2.) Public Companies. (3.) Railways. (4.) Factories. (5.) Taxation and the National Debt. 4. Fresh delimitations of Central and Local Government : The Parish and the Union. Police. Public Health. County Administration. Municipal Corporations. Education. |