HL Deb 13 March 1882 vol 267 cc727-30
THE EARL OF GALLOWAY

moved for Copies of the Scottish Acts of Parliament of 1567, entitled "Ratification of the Erledom of Mar," "Ratification of the Baronie of Blyth;" also for Copies of the Scottish Act of 1587 entitled "An Act in favour of the Erle of Mar," as well as all other Scottish Acts ratifying grants or re-grants of Peerages with lands under Royal Charter, with a view to their being translated into modern English for the use of the Select Committee appointed to inquire into the state of the law respecting the claims and assumptions of titles of Peerages in Scotland, &c.; and, secondly, that the Act 10th and 11th Vict., chap. 52 (passed 25th June, 1847) in reference to "dormant or extinct" Peerages in Scotland, be reprinted with a view to the correction of a misprint in line 10 of the preamble on the first page, which recites erroneously the words of intitulation of the Act 6th Anne, chap. 23. The noble Earl said, that with regard to the first Motion, he had only to remind the House that they had been pleased to re-appoint the Select Committee of last year to inquire into the state of the law in respect of claims and assumptions of titles of Peerage in Scotland; and it was therefore advisable that that Committee should have at their command all the documentary evidence that could be obtained to aid them in their inquiries. The Scottish Acts of Parliament, ratifying Peerages with grants or re-grants of land already gifted by Royal Charter, were framed, however, in language which he feared would be hardly intelligible to the greater number of Peers appointed to serve on the Select Committee; and it was on this account that he now moved that they should be translated for their use into modern English. He had alluded to three special Acts, for the reason that he happened to be familiar with them; but he wished all other Scotch Acts of a similar nature to be included in his 1st Motion. As to the 2nd Resolution which stood in his name, he might relieve their Lordships' minds of one fear at once—namely, of its having any reference whatever to the controversial question of the Mar Peerage, and for this simple reason—that the Modern Act of 1847 he referred to had no bearing whatever upon any but "dormant or extinct" Peerages, which, of course, could not apply to the Mar Peerage, which, since its restoration by Act of Parliament in 1824, had certainly become neither dormant nor extinct. He thought it important to mention this, because the fact had evidently been lost sight of by the Committee, of which the ex-Lord Chancellor (Lord Cairns) had been Chairman, appointed in 1877 to report upon the question of the precedency of the Earldom of Mars. In 1847 a Committee of the House was appointed, on the Report of which the Act was subsequently passed, and that Report stated that in reference to the particular evil there complained of, there was no power in their Lordships' House to remedy it by a Resolution, but that it was neces- sary to proceed by Act of Parliament. An Act was accordingly passed, containing various provisions. But, in the Preamble of this Act of 1847, there were quoted the titles or general bearing of several previous Acts having reference to Scotch Peerages, and, amongst others, that to which his Motion specially referred—namely, 6 Anne c. 23. In this Preamble the phrase ''regulating of votes" is cited as a part of the intitulation of this last-named Act. He had accordingly referred to this Act—6 Anne c. 23—to find out what "regulating of votes" its provisions enacted; and great was his astonishment to find that there was not a single provision of any kind whatsoever on the subject in any line from the beginning to the end of this Act. It was then that he looked carefully into the terms of intitulation of this Act, 6 Anne c. 23, and that he discovered that the phrase was "regulating of voters," instead of "regulating of votes," as cited in the Act of 1847. The "voters" thus referred to were the Peers assembled at Holyrood House to elect the 16 Representatives from their number; and the "regulating of voters" referred only to some enactments to guard against their each bringing beyond a certain number of retainers with them for fear of their being made use of to overawe the votes of any Peers present, for which the Peers guilty of such an offence were to be visited with the penalties of praemunire. This being the case, he thought it but right that the Act of 1847 should be reprinted, with the view of having the erroneous intitulation of 6 Anne c. 23 in the Preamble of the former properly corrected, which he begged now formally to move. Moved, That there be laid before this House, Copies of the Scottish Acts of Parliament of 1567, entitled "Ratification of the Erledom of Mar," "Ratification of the Baronie of Blyth;" also Copies of the Scottish Act of 1587 entitled "An Act in favor of the Erle of Mar," as well as all other Scottish Acts ratifying grants or re-grants of Peerages with lands under Royal Charter, with a view to their being translated into modern English for the use of the Select Committee appointed to inquire into the state of the law respecting the claims and assumptions of titles of Peerages in Scotland, &c. That the Act 10th and 11th Vict., chap. LII. (52.) (passed 25th June 1847), in reference to "dormant or extinct" Peerages in Scotland, be re-printed with a view to the correction of a misprint in line 10 of the preamble on the first page, which recites erroneously the words of intitulation of the Act 6th Anne, chap. 23.—(The Earl of Galloway.)

THE LORD CHANCELLOR

said, he had assented to the re-appointment of the Committee this Session; but he certainly did not anticipate, when he did so, that there would be interlocutory applications to the House as to matters which might or might not come under the consideration of the Committee. The Motion, in all its parts, seemed to him to be unprecedented and inexpedient. It was premature to judge what should be done to facilitate the working of the Committee before the Committee asked them to do so. The Committee could take cognizance of any Acts of Parliament, and it was inconsistent with their nature to lay them on the Table. If the Committee desired, it could multiply copies of the Scottish Acts, and if the noble Lords on the Committee were unable to translate any of the Acts into modern English, they could avail themselves of the services of an expert. That was quite within their competency. The latter part of the Motion was still more extraordinary. The noble Earl asked that an Act of 1847 should be laid on the Table with a view to the correction of a misprint, and the correction to be made was to put in "votes" instead of "voters." But the error—if it was an error—was in the original Parliament Bill of that Act, as it received the Royal Assent; if the Act were reprinted, it must be reprinted as it was passed, and not otherwise. An error could not be corrected by reproducing copies of it, and he was totally unable to understand what use there could be in doing so. For these reasons he could not advise their Lordships to accede to the Motion.

Motion (by leave of the House) withdrawn.

House adjourned at Seven o'clock till To-morrow, half past Ten o'clock.