Lord Campbellrose to present a petition from the congregation of Whitburn, in the county of Linlithgow, praying that the House would take measures to restore peace to the Church of Scotland; but having been informed by the Clerk that the petition was informal, in consequence of the signatures being on a different paper from the prayer of the petition the noble Lord said, that he could vouch for the petition being genuine and authentic, the sheets were united in the usual way, and he could not see the advantage of a rule such as had just been described to him.
The Lord Chancellorsaid, that if one name only was on the same sheet as the prayer of the petition, it had been the rule of the House to receive it; but where not a single name was on the same piece of paper, it had never been customary to receive it.
§ The Earl of Devonsaid such had always been the rule of the House, and it had been found useful as a protection against fraud.
Lord Broughamadmitted there was no standing order on the point, but his noble and learned Friend knew very well that there was a common law as well as a written law, and so it was in that House too. During the thirteen years that he (Lord Brougham) had been a Member of the House, he had never heard the rule objected to.
Lord Campbellstill thought it would be more reasonable to allow the character of the petition to rest upon the responsibility of the peer who presented it. Still, if such was the rule, he would of course withdraw the petition.
§ Petition withdrawn.