§ MR. JOHN CAMPBELLI beg to ask Mr. Attorney General if he can state to the House what effect the demise of the Crown has upon the representation of Irish and Scotch constituencies.
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir ROBERT FINLAY,) Inverness BurghsThe demise of the Crown has no effect on the representation of Irish and Scotch constituencies. The 51st section of the Representation of the People Act, 1867, provides that the Parliament in being at the demise of the Crown shall not be determined or dissolved by such demise, but shall continue so long as it would have continued but for such demise, unless sooner prorogued or dissolved by the Crown. As there is only one Parliament for the United Kingdom, this enactment applies in the case of Members for Scotch and Irish constituencies, as well as in the case of Members for English and Welsh constituencies, and the provision in Section 2, exempting Scot- 484 land and Ireland and the election of Members for the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge from the operation of the Act, can have no application to Section 51, the terms of which show that it applies to the Parliament of the United Kingdom as a whole. There is no such thing as a partial dissolution of Parliament. I may add that the Statute Law Revision Act, 1878, repeals the words in Section 4 and Section 5 of the Statute 6 Anne c. 7 (c. 41 Ruffhead's Edition), which, until the passing of the Representation of the People Act, 1867, restricted the duration of the existing. Parliament to six months from the demise of the Crown.
§ SIR ROBERT FINLAYThat depends on another statute altogether. I shall be happy to show it to my right hon. friend.