Essays on the History of Parliamentary Procedure: In Honour of Thomas Erskine May

by Paul Evans

Overview

8 February 2015 marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Erskine May. May is the most famous of the fifty holders of the office of Clerk of the House of Commons. His continued renown arises from his Treatise upon the Law, Privileges, Proceedings and Usage of Parliament, first published in 1844 and with its 25th edition currently in preparation. It is known throughout those parts of the world that model their constitutional arrangements on Westminster as the 'Bible of Parliamentary Procedure'. This volume celebrates both the man and his book. Bringing together current and former Clerks in the House of Commons and outside experts, the contributors analyse May's profound contribution to the shaping of the modern House of Commons, as it made the transition from the pre-Reform Act House to the modern core of the UK's constitutional democracy in his lifetime. This is perhaps best symbolised by its enforced transition between 1834 and 1851 from a mediaeval slum to the World Heritage Palace of Westminster, which is the most iconic building in the UK.

The book also considers the wider context of parliamentary law and procedure, both before and after May's time. It constitutes the first sustained analysis of the development of parliamentary procedure in over half a century, attempting to situate the reforms in the way the central institution of our democracy conducts itself in the political contexts which drove those changes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781509937523
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	04/30/2020
Series:	Hart Studies in Constitutional Law
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.69(w) x 9.61(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Paul Evans is Clerk of Committees in the House of Commons in Westminster.

Table of Contents

Preface v

Notes on Contributors xiii

Introduction: The Growth of Many Centuries Paul Evans 1

Purpose 1

Thomas Erskine May and the Treatise 1

The Age of Precedent 2

The Age of Codification 6

After May 12

Modernists and Methuselas 13

Part I The Man and his Milieu

1 A Sycophant of Real Ability: The Career of Thomas Erskine May William McKay 21

1850: Not the Fittest Man for the Post 21

1856: Clerk Assistant 24

1870: Clerk of the House 26

May the Liberal 27

1886: Elevation and Demise 29

Succession 30

Afterword: May's origins 30

2 Slumber and Success: The House of Commons Library after May Oonagh Gay 33

The Beginnings of the Commons Library 1831-1914 33

Slumber and Frustration: The Early Twentieth-Century Library 35

Towards a Professional Service: The 1940s to the 1970s 36

The House of Commons (Administration) Act 1978: A House Service 40

The Library in the 1980s and 1990s 41

Department of Information Services: The 1990s to 2015 42

3 Magi or Mandarins?: Contemporary Clerkly Culture Emma Crewe 45

Clerks as a Professional Group 45

Knowledge and Words: Magi of the Sacred Rules? 49

Power and Innovation: Mandarins Managing Members? 56

Clerking: Practical Judgement Misrecognised as Tradition 62

Part II The Book

4 Persuading the House: The Use of the Commons Journals as a Source of Precedent Martyn Atkins 69

Introduction 69

The 'Clerk's Book' and the Beginnings of the Commons Journal 70

A Published Record of Proceedings: The Vote 76

Summoning Precedents: The Indexing of the Journals 78

The Journals after May's Treatise 83

5 Manuals before May: From the Fourteenth to the Seventeenth Century David Natzler 87

Modus 87

Hooker 89

Hakewill 91

Lambarde 92

Elsynge 93

Scobell 94

Petyt 95

6 Parliamentary Law in the Eighteenth Century: From Commonplace to Treatise Paul Seaward 97

Unintelligible and Confused Stuff 97

Commonplace Books 98

Indexes 104

Hatsell and Beyond 107

The Treatise on Parliamentary Procedure 112

7 From Manual to Authority: The Life and Times of the Treatise Paul Evans Andrej Ninkovic 115

Genesis 115

Wisdom 116

Chronicles 117

Revelation 122

8 Controversy at the Antipodes (and Elsewhere): The International Cousins of the Treatise David Natzler David Bagnall Jean-Phillipe Brochu Peter Fowler 129

Introduction 129

France: Romilly and Bentham 130

Jefferson and the USA 133

New Zealand House of Representatives 134

Fast Pace of Constitutional Developments 134

General Adoption of House of Commons Procedures 135

'Controversy at the Antipodes' 136

Laid Down in 'M' 139

A Home-Grown Treatise 140

The Canadian House of Commons 142

May's Influence on Canadian Parliamentary Procedure 142

The Development of Canadian References 145

The Australian House of Representatives 148

May and Parliamentary Privilege in Australia 152

Part III Procedural Development

9 The Principle of Progress: May and Procedural Reform William McKay 157

Introduction 157

The 1847-48 Committee on Public Business and May's 1849 Pamphlet 158

The Edinburgh Review 1854 160

Select Committee on the Business of the House 1854 162

Select Committee on the Business of the House 1861 164

Joint Committee on the Despatch of Business 1869 165

Select Committee on the Business of the House 1871 165

Select Committee on Public Business 1878 166

Disciplinary Rules 1877-78 167

May and the Development of Statute Law 169

10 May on Money: Supply Proceedings and the Functions of a Legislature Colin Lee 171

Introduction 171

Irresponsible Eagerness: Supply versus Representation 171

Repulsive Labour: The Gladstonian Paradox and the Business of Supply 175

May's Hollow Victory 179

Conclusions 185

11 A History of the Standing Orders Simon Patrick 189

Introduction 189

The House of Commons in 1832 192

Clearing the Ground (1833-55) 193

The Government versus Private Members (1856-80) 195

Collapse of the Old Procedure and Foundation of the New (1881-88) 196

The Government Gain Control of the Time of the House (1889-1919) 198

Tidying up (1920-35) 201

Conclusion in 1935 201

Changes since 1935 202

Conclusion 205

12 Pursuing the Efficient Despatch of Business: The Role of Committees in Procedural Reform since 1900 Mark Egan 207

Introduction 207

Legislation and Sitting Hours 210

Questions 214

Financial Procedure 216

The Development of Scrutiny 218

Divisions 219

Conclusion 221

13 Finding Time: Legislative Procedure since May Jacqy Sharpe Paul Evans 227

Introduction 227

Stirrings of Reform 228

Private Members' Bills 230

Committees on Public Bills 232

Carry-over 234

Allocation of Time and Programming 235

Power of the Lords 237

Delegated Legislation 240

Making Legislative Processes more Transparent 247

Part IV Select Committees

14 Where Did It All Go Right: Developments in Select Committees, 1913-1960 Mark Hutton 251

Introduction 251

The Doldrums 251

'Open' or 'Closed' 253

Publishing Evidence 254

Specialist Support 255

Travel 259

Staff Support 262

Conclusion 266

15 A Road not Taken: Select Committees and the Estimates, 1880-1904 Colin Lee 269

Introduction 269

Select Committees and the Estimates Prior to 1880 269

Select Committees and 'the Champion of Economy', 1884-88 273

Committees and the Reform of Supply Proceedings, 1880-96 277

A Churchillian Revival, 1901-04 280

Conclusions 283

Part V The Lex Parliamentaria Revisited

16 Privilege: The Unfolding Debate with the Courts Eve Samson 287

Introduction: Why privilege? 287

May and Privilege 287

The Debate 288

The Beginnings: Stockdale v Hansard 289

Parliamentary Privilege: The Commons Committees 292

The 1967 and 1977 Committees 293

Comity and Mutual Self-restraint 296

The Two Joint Committees on Parliamentary Privilege 299

Privilege Now 303

Disciplinary Powers 304

Comity and Impeaching and Questioning 306

Conclusion 308

17 Is the Lex Parliamentaria Really Law?: The House of Commons as a Legal System David Howarth 311

Introduction 311

A Legal System 312

Differences from the Common Law 314

Too Different to Count as a Legal System? 315

Deficiency of Reasons and its Cures 317

An Example 318

Consequences 321

Index 323

Editorial Reviews

... of interest to all parliamentary historians, those specialising in legislative studies, and to anyone wanting to understand the Westminster parliament ... scholarly and deeply informative ... a significant contribution to parliamentary history.
Parliamentary History

The book exemplifies the clerkly culture that it discusses: antiquarian interest, independence of thought, calm open-mindedness, readiness to exercise judgment... a pleasing addition to the series of Hart Studies in Constitutional Law. Essays on theHistory of Parliamentary Procedure whets the appetite for work on procedure and its implications with contributions from a wider field.
Cambridge Law Journal

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