§ 2.35 p.m.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR (VISCOUNT JOWITT) rose to move to resolve:
§ That this House., while insisting on the constitutional duties of the House of Lords as the Supreme Court of Appeal, in order to facilitate the judicial work of the House during the emergency caused by the building operations now in progress, approves the adoption of the following procedure until such operations are concluded, vizt.:
§ That all Appeals shall, on being set down for hearing, be referred to an Appellate Committee, which shall include all Lords qualified under s. 5 of the Appellate Jurisdiction Act, 1876, as amended by any subsequent enactment, with an instruction to hear the Appeals when and where the Lord Chancellor may determine: That such Committee shall, after the hearing, report to the House, and that upon the motion for the consideration of the report, the Lords shall deliver their opinions to the House and the House shall thereupon give judgment.
§ The noble and learned Viscount said: My Lords, I rise to move the Motion which stands in my name on the Order Paper, and which I have moved on two previous occasions. The reason for the Motion at the earlier stage was the fact that building operations outside made it impossible, because of the noise of building work, to follow the old procedure, under which the House of Lords in its judicial capacity used to sit in the mornings and the House in its legislative capacity then used to sit in the afternoons. I regret to tell your Lordships that, whereas in the past we have been chastised with whips, in the near future we are likely to he chastised with scorpions, because the builders are 34 now undertaking the repair of the Royal Gallery, and I understand that that will mean their cutting through beams and doing work of other sort which is likely to make a great deal of noise. If we can induce them to stop working while we sit in our legislative capacity, we must concede that the House in its judicial capacity shall not sit the remainder of the day, otherwise they would never get on with the work at all. Consequently, I am forced once again to move this Motion.
§ I do not conceal from your Lordships that there is, lurking in the background, a big question which in due course will have to be discussed with the Leader of the House, the Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the Liberal Party, in order to determine what is the right course to continue. If and when, at long last, all these building operations are over, we shall have to face the question of whether the House is going to resume sitting, as it used to, at 4 o'clock, or continue the present system of sitting at half past two. I express no opinion about the matter, but merely remind your Lordships that this question will require consideration. The father of the noble Marquess the present Leader of the Opposition used to be most insistent that the Judges should he a part of our House; and I think we would all agree. I myself entirely agree with that point of view. I am not raising the question now, because circumstances prevent its being raised at the present moment, but I think it would be unrealistic not to point out that at some future time, after proper consultation, we shall have to consider this question. I express no opinion, and say merely that as things are to-day, in view of the noise which will he made in the Royal Gallery, it is inevitable that I should have to ask you to continue the procedure mentioned in my Motion. Accordingly, I beg to move.
§ Moved to resolve, That this House, while insisting on the contitutional duties of the House of Lords as the Supreme Court of Appeal, in order to facilitate the judicial work of the House during the emergency caused by the building operations now in progress, approves the adoption of the following procedure until such operations are concluded, vizt.:
§ That all Appeals shall, on being set down for hearing, be referred to an 35 Appellate Committee, which shall include all Lords qualified under s. 5 of the Appellate Jurisdiction Act, 1876, as amended by any subsequent enactment, with an instruction to hear the Appeals when and where the Lord Chancellor may determine: That such Committee shall, after the hearing, report to the House, and that upon the motion for the consideration of the report, the Lords shall deliver their opinions to the House and the House shall thereupon give judgment.—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ VISCOUNT SIMONMy Lords, perhaps I may be allowed to say, having considered this matter, that I think the House will agree with what the noble and learned Viscount the Lord Chancellor proposes, the more so because he has emphasised that the problem is of a temporary character. Obviously, if the builders are going to interfere with the beams in the Royal Gallery just outside, those who work on our Judicial Business must sit somewhere out of earshot. It may well be said that justice must be done, even though the ceiling fall.
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.