§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR (VISCOUNT SIMON)My Lords, I wish to invite your Lordships' attention to a question which has arisen in consequence of the lamentable death in an air raid of a former member of your Lordships' House, the first Lord Stamp. Lord Stamp's eldest son, Mr. Wilfrid Stamp, was with his father at the time and was also killed at practically the same moment. Mr. Wilfrid Stamp has left a widow and three daughters, but no son; there can be no doubt, therefore, that the succession to the Stamp Peerage has passed to the second son of the first Lord Stamp, who was formerly known as Mr. Trevor Stamp, and he is in course of being summoned to your Lordships' House accordingly. The question arises, however, whether Mrs. Wilfrid Stamp and the daughters should be recognised as holding the status and title which would be proper if the elder son, Mr. Wilfrid Stamp, momentarily succeeded to his father's Peerage.
The Law of Property Act, 1925, by Section 184, provides that where two persons have died in circumstances rendering it uncertain which of them survived the other, such deaths shall 24 (subject to any Order of the Court) for ail purposes affecting the title to property be presumed to have occurred in order of seniority, and accordingly the younger shall be deemed to have survived the elder. Whether this statutory provision actually applies to the devolution of title to a Peerage may be doubtful, and it is beyond question that your Lordships' House, acting if necessary in the first instance through the Committee for Privileges, retains the right to determine whether a claim to Peerage is made out. I feel confident, however, that, if need arose, the Committee for Privileges would be guided by the analogy to be found in the Law of Property Act, and, of course, as your Lordships will have observed, the only question at issue here is as to the proper status and designation of these ladies, and there is no possible doubt as to who is the present holder of the Peerage.
The view which I have formed, after careful reflection, is that it is not necessary to ask the Committee for Privileges to investigate the claim made on behalf of these ladies, for I feel confident that the Committee would recommend the House to concede it. But I have thought it proper to report the matter to the House in the hope that I may have general concurrence in the course which I propose. This would be that the present holder of the title should be called to your Lordships' House as the third Lord Stamp—a course which will impliedly recognize that his elder brother momentarily held the title—and it will follow that these ladies will enjoy the status, style and title which they derive from their relationship with the new Peer's immediate predecessor.
I have done my best to ascertain the view of a number of leading members of the House who were available, and I understand that they concur in this proposal. In particular, among legal members of the House, my predecessors, Lord Hailsham and Lord Maugham, agree, as do also Lord Atkin, Lord Russell and Lord Wright, whom I have had the opportunity of asking. Further, I am authorized by His Majesty the King to inform your Lordships that, assuming that my proposal finds favour with your Lordships' House, His Majesty agrees, in view of the circumstances in which Lord Stamp met his death, that the procedure proposed would be appropriate.
THE CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES (THE EARL OF ONSLOW)My Lords, as Chairman of the Committee for Privileges of your Lordships' House, perhaps I may say one word. I find myself in entire agreement with what has fallen from the noble and learned Viscount on the Woolsack. As he has said, the usual practice is that these matters should be referred to the Committee for Privileges, but in this case it seems obvious that the Committee would be in favour of the course which the noble and learned Viscount recommends your Lordships' House to pursue. A Report Tom the Committee is, of course, made to this House, and this, when the House accepts it, amounts to a Resolution of the House. I understand that it is proposed, in order to put matters quite in order—this is the first time that a case of this kind has occurred—that there should at a subsequent date be an official Resolution which would put the matter on the same footing as the acceptance of a Report from the Committee for Privileges; but for my own part, and as Chairman of that Committee, I find myself in entire agreement with what has fallen from the noble and learned Viscount.
§ LORD ADDISONMy Lords, on behalf of those with whom I am associated I take the opportunity of saying that we entirely agree with the course proposed by the noble and learned Lord Chancellor, and hope that it will commend itself to your Lordships' House.
THE MARQUESS OF CREWEMy Lords, on behalf of those who sit on these Benches with me I beg to express our concurrence with the course which the noble and learned Viscount has suggested. It seems to be the common-sense course to take, and I feel sure that your Lordships will agree to it.
§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYMy Lords, perhaps it may be appropriate for another of your Lordships, and one who does not belong to the legal profession or occupy any official position in the House, either in office or in opposition, to say a word of concurrence with what the noble and learned Viscount on the Woolsack has proposed We all share very acutely in the sympathy aroused in the whole country by the death of the late Lord Stamp and the position in which his relatives have been placed by that de- 26 plorable event, and we are satisfied—I am quite sure that your Lordships are satisfied—that the course suggested by the noble and learned Viscount is the right one. I am glad, however, that my noble friend the Chairman of Committees has suggested to your Lordships that the decision implied by the speech of the noble and learned Lord Chancellor should be formulated in a Resolution. I am not a lawyer, but I do not think that the Statute to which reference has been made, and which applies to property, would affect the holding of a Peerage. At any rate, it is much better that the matter should be put beyond doubt, and the statement of the noble and learned Lord Chancellor, even though it commends itself, as I am sure that it does, to the universal concurrence of your Lordships, is not quite sufficient as an absolute formulation of the situation in which these ladies stand. It would be far better, therefore, that there should be a Resolution.
As the Chairman of Committees has said, the usual procedure would be to send it to the Committee for Privileges, but even the decision of the Committee for Privileges would not be conclusive. That would have to be finally sanctioned by a Resolution of your Lordships' House, and it is really the act of the House which is important and not anything else. I am therefore very glad indeed to hear that it is proposed that there should be a Resolution. I would ask the Leader of the House whether that is the decision of the Government, and if he himself will propose such a Resolution.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (LORD MOYNE)My Lords, from what has fallen from various noble Lords, it is evident that the House is in full agreement with the course recommended by the Lord Chancellor. I am sure we are all very much indebted to the Lord Chancellor for the research and advice which he has been good enough to afford us. I certainly agree with the noble Marquess that the matter should be regularised by a Resolution of the House. I will therefore, before our next sitting, put on the Paper a recital of what the Lord Chancellor has suggested and move that that Resolution be adopted by the House, and that the Writ for the present Lord Stamp be issued to him as third holder of the Peerage.