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Privileges of British Parliament
Parliamentary Privileges:
Erskine May has defined Parliamentary privileges as "the sum of the peculiar rights enjoyed by each House collectively as a constituent part of the High Court of Parliament, and by members of each House individually without which they could not discharge their functions, and which exceed those possessed by other bodies or individuals." Parliamentary privileges had their origin in the claim of monarchs that they would not be deprived of the services of their advisers and officials. Many of those advisers and officials sat in Parliament. If they could be harassed on their journey to the Parliament chamber or arrested by creditors, Crown and Parliament would have lost their services. To prevent this, a privilege of freedom from molestation and arrest was granted and enforced. Enforcement was initially by the Crown, but during the reign of Henry VIII, the Houses of Parliament began to assume jurisdiction themselves and took the opportunity that offered to lay claim to further rights, powers and immunities as customary.
The nature of parliamentary privilege:
Each House exercises some certain powers and privileges which are regarded as essential to the dignity and proper functioning of Parliament. The Members also have certain privileges, although these exist for the benefit of the House and not for personal benefit of the Members". Parliamentary privileges are the part of law and custom of parliament- to be collected out of the rolls of the Parliament and other records, and by precedent and continued experience. Some of it has the authority of statute, notably the provisions of the Bill of Rights of 1688 relating to freedom of speech and debates or proceedings of Parliament.
Parliamentary privileges consists of the rights and immunities which Parliament and its Members and officers possess to enable them to carry out their Parliamentary functions. Over the years some privileges have modified to reflect wider political and social changes.
The Privileges of the Commons
Freedom of Speech
This may be considered the most important privilege. Parliament is a deliberative and legislative assembly, and it may be regarded as an essential characteristic of a free legislature that its members are able to perform their duties without fear of penalty. But was not always respected. In R v. Eliot, Hollis and Valentine" three members were imprisoned and fined by the Court of King's Bench for "seditious words" spoken in the House. The Houses in 1641 and 1667 passed resolutions against this judgment, and it was reversed by the Lords on a writ of error in 1668. The Bill of Rights of 1688.declares that "the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in the Court or place out of Parliament".
Freedom from Arrest
The Houses claim the supreme to the unhampered attendance and continuous services of their members, and this is the justification for the freedom from molestation and arrest which members individually enjoy. Physical molestation of members is a breach of privilege. So, in certain circumstances, is their arrest, as part of legal process. The immunity was more important in the times when imprisonment was commonly remedy for debt. Immunity was claimed for members, their goods, and their servants, but abuse of the privilege in the seventeenth century, laid to the curtailment, in the Parliamentary Privilege Acts. By the Act of 1770 members' immunity from being impleaded was taken away.
Right of the House to regulate its own composition:
This privilege implies: (I) the filling of casual vacancies, (II) the determination of disputed elections returns, (III) the determination of legal disqualifications of persons returned to Parliament, and (IV) the expulsion of members who are unfit to sit. These powers are exercised within the limits set by statute.
Exclusive right to regulate its own proceedings:
Free speech in Parliament is one aspect of a wider principle that what happens within Parliament is controlled by Parliament and is not reviewable by the courts. The courts will not challenged or assault, by any order of their own, an assertion of authority issued by Parliament pursuant to Parliament's own procedures. This includes the right of the Parliament to determine its own procedures and to be sole judge of the lawfulness of those procedures. In Prebble v. Television New Zealand Lord Browne -Wilkinson states that "So far as the courts are concerned, they will not allow any challenge to be made to what is said or done within the walls of Parliament in performance of legislative functions and protection of its established privileges."
Parliament's disciplinary and penal powers:
Each House has power to enforce its privileges and to punish those- whether members or strangers-who infringe them. Each House has power to punish members or strangers for contempt. In 1978 the House of Commons resolved that it would exercise its penal jurisdiction as cautiously as possible.
The Privileges of the Lords
Privileges of the House:
The House of Lords has seldom come into conflict either with the Sovereign or with the courts in respect of privileges. The juridical nature of the privileges of the House of Lords is similar to that of the House of Commons, and strictly both are parts of the privileges of Parliament. The Lords passed a resolution in 1704 declaring that neither House has power to create for itself new privileges not warranted by the known laws and customs of the Parliament, and the Commons assented. The following are the privileges of the House:
The power to declare the law with regard to its own composition, to determine the validity of the creation of new peerages, and the succession to existing peerages. This power has now limited application by the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999.
The exclusive right to regulate its own internal proceedings though this power probably does not include a power to suspend a peer within the life of a single Parliament, the power to commit for breach of privilege or contempt for a definite period and to fine, the power to summon the judges for advice on points of law, the power to issue a warrant for the release of a peer who is improperly arrested.
Personal Privileges of Peers:
The Lords enjoy freedom from civil arrest, that is, except in cases of treason, felony or refusal to give security to keep the peace. They have freedom of speech in parliament. This privilege is similar to that of the Commons.