HC Deb 25 March 1836 vol 32 c650
Sir James Graham

said, that in order to fix the practice of Parliament with respect to the power of the Chairman of a Select Committee to vote, he thought an uniform rule should be laid down, and established by a declaratory resolution of the House. It was not necessary to argue the point, because it must rest on the analogy to the practice of the House itself, and the equity and justice of the case demanded, that in a Select Committee, where the numbers were so small, the Chairman should not exercise so very preponderating an influence as the power of voting, except where the votes on each side were equal. He should therefore now move, according to the notice he had given, the following resolution:—"That, according to the established rules of Parliament, the Chairman of a Select Committee can only vote when there is an equality of voices."

The motion was agreed to.