§ LORD REDESDALErose to move—
That until the House do make further Orders in accordance with the Report of the Select Committee on Parliamentary Agency, agreed to by the House on the 28th July last, the following Rules be observed by the Officers of the House and by all Parliamentary Agents and Solicitors engaged in prosecuting Proceedings in the House of Lords upon any Petition or Bill.(Declaration of recognizance.)1. No person shall be allowed to act as a Parliamentary Agent until he shall have subscribed a declaration before one of the Clerks in the Private Bill Office, engaging to observe and obey the Rules, Regulations, Orders, and Practice of the House of Lords, and also to pay and discharge from time to time, when the same shall be demanded, all fees and charges due and payable upon any Petition or Bill upon which such Agent may appear; and after having subscribed such declaration and entered into a recognizance or bond (if hereafter required) in the penal sum of 500l. conditioned to observe the said declaration, such person shall be registered in a book to be kept in the Private Bill Office, and shall then be entitled to act as a Parliamentary Agent; provided that upon the said declaration, recognizance, or bond and registry, no fee shall be payable.(Form.)2. The declaration before mentioned, and the recognizance and bond, if hereafter required, shall be in such form as the Chairman of Committees may from time to time direct.3. One member of a firm of Parliamentary Agents may subscribe the required declaration on behalf of his firm, but the names of all the partners of such firm shall be registered with such declaration, and notice shall be given from time to time to the Clerks of the Private Bill Office of any addition thereto or change therein.4. No person shall be allowed to be registered as a Parliamentary Agent unless he 1062 is actually employed in promoting or opposing some Private Bill or Petition pending in Parliament.5. When any person (not being a Solicitor or Writer to the Signet) applies to qualify himself for the first time to act as a Parliamentary Agent, he shall produce to one of the Clerks of the Private Bill Office a certificate of his respectability from a Member of Parliament, or a Justice of the Peace, or a Barrister-at-Law, or an Attorney or Solicitor.(Appearance to be entered upon Bills.)6. No notice shall be received in the Private Bill Office for any proceeding upon a Petition or Bill until an Appearance to act as the Parliamentary Agent upon the same shall have been entered in the Private Bill Office, in which Appearance shall also be specified the name of the Solicitor (if any) for such Petition or Bill.(Appearance to be entered on Petitions against Bills.)7. Before any party shall be allowed to appear or be heard upon any Petition against a Bill, an Appearance to act as the Parliamentary Agent upon the same shall be entered in the Private Bill Office, in which Appearance shall also be specified the name of the Solicitor and of the Counsel who appear in support of any such Petition (if any Counsel or Solicitor are then engaged), and a certificate of such Appearance shall be delivered to the Parliamentary Agent to be produced to the Committee Clerk.(A fresh Appearance on change of Parliamentary Agent.)8. In case the Parliamentary Agent for any Petition or Bill shall be displaced by the Solicitor thereof, or such Parliamentary Agent shall decline to act, the responsibility of such Agent shall cease upon a notice being given in the Private Bill Office, and a fresh Appearance shall be entered upon such Petition or Bill.(Agents personally responsible.)9. Every Parliamentary Agent and Solicitor conducting Proceedings in Parliament before the House of Lords shall be personally responsible to the House and to the Chairman of Committees for the observance of the Rules, Orders, and Practice of Parliament, as well as of any Rules which may from time to time be prescribed by the Chairman of Committees, and also for the payment of the fees and charges due and payable under the Standing Orders.(Chairman of Committees may, on misconduct, prohibit Agent from practising.)10. Any Parliamentary Agent who shall wilfully act in violation of the Rules and Practice of Parliament, or of any Rules to be prescribed by the Chairman of Committees, or who shall wilfully misconduct himself in prosecuting any Proceedings before Parliament, shall be liable to an absolute or temporary prohibition to practise as a Parliamentary Agent at the pleasure of the Chairman of Committees; provided that upon the application of such Parliamentary Agent the Chairman of Committees shall state in writing the grounds for such prohibition.106311. No person who has been suspended or prohibited from practising as a Parliamentary Agent, or struck off the Roll of Solicitors, or disbarred by any of the Inns of Court, shall be allowed to be registered as a Parliamentary Agent without the express authority of the Chairman of Committees.12. No written or printed statement relating to any Private Bill shall he circulated within the precincts of the House of Lords without the name of a Parliamentary Agent attached to it, who will be held responsible for its accuracy.13 The sanction of the Chairman of Committees in writing is required to every Notice of a Motion prepared by a Parliamentary Agent for dispensing with any Sessional or Standing Order of the House.