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. Volume 7 in the series Hart Studies in Constitutional Law
Parliament and the Law Horne, Alexander; Drewry, Gavin; King, Jeff
2018, 2018-02-22
eBook
Parliament and the Law (Second Edition) is an edited collection of essays, supported by the UK's Study of Parliament Group, including contributions by leading constitutional lawyers, political ...scientists and parliamentary officials. It provides a wide-ranging overview of the ways in which the law applies to, and impacts upon, the UK Parliament, and it considers how recent changes to the UK's constitutional arrangements have affected Parliament as an institution. It includes authoritative discussion of a number of issues of topical concern, such as: the operation of parliamentary privilege, the powers of Parliament's select committees, parliamentary scrutiny, devolution, English Votes for English Laws, Members' conduct and the governance of both Houses. It also contains chapters on financial scrutiny, parliamentary sovereignty, Parliament and human rights, and the administration of justice. Aimed mainly at legal academics, practitioners, and political scientists, it will also be of interest to anyone who is curious about the many fascinating ways in which the law interacts with and influences the work, the constitutional status and the procedural arrangements of the Westminster Parliament.
The Second Reform Act, passed in 1867, created a million new voters, doubling the electorate and propelling the British state into the age of mass politics. It marked the end of a twenty year ...struggle for the working class vote, in which seven different governments had promised change. Yet the standard works on 1867 are more than forty years old and no study has ever been published of reform in prior decades.
This study provides the first analysis of the subject from 1848 to 1867, ranging from the demise of Chartism to the passage of the Second Reform Act. Recapturing the vibrancy of the issue and its place at the heart of Victorian political culture, it focuses not only on the reform debate itself, but on a whole series of related controversies, including the growth of trade unionism, the impact of the 1848 revolutions and the discussion of French and American democracy.
Discusses how prorogation can be deployed by executive as either an offensive or a defensive tactic - discusses how defensive prorogation for the purpose of suspending proceedings has increased in ...frequency in Australian state parliaments - considers history and composition of Australian state parliaments showing why they are particularly useful sites for the exploration of devices to manage intercameral conflict.
With the European Parliament comprising politicians from many different countries, cultures, languages, national parties and institutional backgrounds, one might expect politics in the Parliament to ...be highly-fragmented and unpredictable. By studying more than 12,000 recorded votes between 1979 and 2004 this 2007 book establishes that the opposite is in fact true: transnational parties in the European Parliament are highly cohesive and the classic 'left-right' dimension dominates voting behaviour. Furthermore, the cohesion of parties in the European Parliament has increased as the powers of the Parliament have increased. The authors suggest that the main reason for these developments is that like-minded MEPs have incentives to form stable transnational party organizations and to use these organizations to compete over European Union policies. They suggest that this is a positive development for the future of democratic accountability in the European Union.
The Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Hon. Shri Om Birla inaugurated a program 'Panchayat Se Parliament Tak' (From Panchayat to Parliament) for Women Representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions and Urban ...Local Bodies, organized by the Institute of Constitutional and Parliament Studies in collaboration with the National Commission for Women (NCW) in the Central Hall on 5 January 2024. The Speaker interacted with more than 500 women representatives from Panchayats and Urban Local Bodies from different States.
A delegation from the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago visited the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in Canada from 6 to 9 May 2024. The two CPA Branches are twinned through a partnership agreement ...signed in May 2019. The agreement promotes collaboration, cooperation, and understanding for the mutual benefit of both Parliaments. There are historic and current links between the Caribbean islands and the Canadian Province, including Trinidadians serving as teachers in Canada, twinning of cities, and educational links between universities. The Trinidad and Tobago delegation was led by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and included other members of Parliament and the Director of Legal Services. They were welcomed by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives of Malaysia, Tan Sri Dato' Johari bin Abdul, met with the CPA Secretary-General, Stephen Twigg, to discuss various activities such as professional ...development for Parliamentarians and parliamentary staff, increasing women's representation in Parliament, the Commonwealth Youth Parliament, and the CPA's work on human rights. A delegation from the Parliament of Malaysia attended a three-day programme at the UK Parliament to learn about parliamentary practice and procedure. The Speaker of Malaysia also met with the Speaker of the UK House of Commons to discuss security and promoting women in the workplace.
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