Lord Campbelllaid a bill on the Table of the House, the object of which was, that the time for swearing in Peers as Members of the House should be extended. He did not expect that any opposition would be given to the bill, though it went to alter on a particular point the proceedings of that House. At present Peers who were to be sworn in must take the oaths before four o'clock. The consequence was, that if an argument on an appeal case were going on when a Peer came up to be sworn, counsel was interrupted—his address, and the legal proceedings of the House, were terminated for the day. He proposed that in future the oaths might be taken at any time between nine o'clock in the morning and five o'clock in the afternoon. He did not intend that the bill should refer to the other House of Parliament, because the reason which induced him to introduce it with regard to the House of Lords, namely, 695 that their Lordships were sitting in the day time as a Court of Judicature, did not apply to the other House.
§ Bill read a first time.