I.  Europa.  607  35.  Großbritannien  und  Irland.

”The  Lords’  amendements  on  a  House  of  Commons  Bill,  and  vice  versa,  may  be  accepted,
rejected,  or  modified  by  the  other  House.  If  the  two  Houses  cannot  agree,  a  Conference  may
be  held  between  members  on  both  sides...  .  If  both  parties  persist  in  disagreement  the  measure
  is  dropped’’!.

(b.)  The  House  of  Commons.

"It  is  agreed  by  many  writers  of  learning  and  authority,  that  the  Commons  formed  part
of  the  great  synods  or  councils  before  the  Conquest;  but  how  they  were  summoned  or  selected,
and  what  degree  of  power  they  possessed,  is  a  matter  of  doubt,  and  obscurity.  The  shire-gemöt
was  a  kind  of  county  Parliament,  over  which  the  ealdorman,  or  earl  of  the  shire,  presided,  with
the  bishop,  the  shiregereeve,  or  sheriff,  and  the  assessors  appointed  to  assist  their  deliberations
upon  points  of  law.  A  shire-gemöt  was  held  at  least  twice  a  year  in  every  county,  when  the
magistrates,  thanes  and  abbots  with  all  the  clergy  and  landholders  were  required  to  be  present;
and  a  variety  of  business  was  transacted:  but  the  proceedings  of  these  assemblies  generally  partook
more  of  the  character  of  a  court  of  justice,  than  of  a  legislative  body’’®.  In  the  22nd  year  of
Henry  II.  (1176)  we  have  the  first  chronicle  of  the  Commons  being  part  of  the  national  council
“the  king  held  a  great  council  .  .  .  with  the  advice  of  his  knights  and  men’’  (May  quoting  Benedict
Abbas).  And  in  1265,  in  the  49th  Henry  III.  writs  are  issued  summoning  citizens  or  burgesses,
from  this  time  the  recognition  of  the  Commons  as  an  estate  of  the  realm  in  Parliament  may  be
clearly  dated?®.

It  is  not  possible  to  give  any  date  for  the  formal  separation  of  the  House  of  Lords  and
Commons,  statements  of  Constitutional  writers  fluctuate  between  the  49th  Hen.  III.  and  the
17th  Edward  III.

The  Commons,  says  Blackstone,  (I,  p.  158)  consist  of  all  such  men  of  property  in  the  kingdom
  as  have  not  seats  in  the  House  of  Lords;  every  one  of  which  has  a  voice  in  Parliament,  either
personally  or  by  his  representatives.  They  are  summoned  to  advise  His  Majesty  de  communi
consilio  super  negotiis  quibusdam  arduis  et  urgentibus,  regem,  statum,  et  defensionem  regni
Anglise  et  eccliesiae  Anglicanse  concernentibus’*®,

Six  hundred  and  seventy  members  go  to  make  up  the  House  of  Commons:

England  465
Wales  30
Scotland  72
Ireland  103
670°.

i  «Constitutional  Year  Book’.  See  further  for  information  on  the  House  of  Lords:  Blackstone
  I,  155,  157,  168;  III,  57;  IV,  259,  260,  440;  Stephen  vol.  II,  p.  318—332;  Thomas
Fielding:  “The  House  of  Lords’  (Lond.  1907);  De  Lolme,  ‘“Constitutional  History”;
Sir  E.  Creasy,  “History  of  Eng.  Constitution”;  Professor  Stubbs,  +““Constitutional
History  of  England’;  Burke’s  Peerage;  Hallam,  “Constitutional  History”  and  May’s
“Constitutional  History’”.

3  May  ‚  „  Parliamentary  Practice”,  Book  I,  p.  16  (Lond.  1893  ed.).

®  Id.  p.  21.

«  Sir  award  Coke  writes  in  his  “Institutions  of  the  Laws  of  England’”’.  (Part  IV  p.  36).  “The
power  and  jurisdietion  of  parliament  is  so  transcendent  and  absolute,  that  it  cannot  be  confined,
either  for  causes  or  persons,  within  any  bounds.  And  of  this  high  ceurt  it  may  be  truly  said,
“si  antiquitaterm  spectes,  est  vetustissima;  si  dignitatem,  est  honoratissima;  si  Jurisdietionem,
est  capacissime.‘‘  It  hath  sovereign  and  uncontrollable  authority  in  the  making,  confirming,
enlarging,  restraining,  abrogating,  repealing,  reviving,  and  expounding  of  laws,  concerning  matters
of  all  possible  denominations,  ecclesiastical  or  temporal,  civil,  military,  maritime  or  criminal:
this  being  the  place  where  that  absolute  despotic  power,  which  must  in  all  governments  reside
somewhere,  is  intrusted  by  the  constitutions  of  these  kingdoms.”

s  The  Universities  of  Oxford,  Cambridge,  London  and  Dublin  each  send  a  representative;
Edinburgh  and  St.  Andrews  one;  and  Glasgow  and  Aberdeen  one.  The  number  670  was  established
by  the  Redistribution  of  Seatse  Act,  1885.