HL Deb 20 May 1970 vol 310 cc1054-5
LORD SHACKLETON

My Lords, in rising to move this Motion, I would only say that these Standing Orders are consequential upon the First Report of the Procedure Committee which came before your Lordships and was agreed to on May 12. My Lords, I beg to move.

Moved,

1. That Standing Order No. 41 be amended as follows:— At end to insert ("or the order of commitment is discharged").

2. That Standing Order No. 42 be amended by the insertion of the following new paragraph:— 2. If, at the time appointed for the House to go into Committee on a Bill, no amendment has been set down and it appears that no Lord wishes to speak to the Bill or to table a manuscript amendment, the Lord in charge of the Bill may, have given notice, move 'That the order of commitment be discharged'; provided that the question shall not be put on any such Motion if a single Lord objects.

3. That the following new Standing Order be inserted after Standing Order No. 75:— Appellate and Appeal Committees. 1. For the purposes of its appellate jurisdiction, the House shall have Appellate and Appeal Committees, of which all Lords qualified under the Appellate Jurisdiction Acts 1876 and 1887 shall be members. 2. These Committees shall be:—

  1. (a) two Appellate Committees, which shall hear any cause or matter referred to them and shall report thereon to the House;
  2. (b) two Appeal Committees, which shall consider any petition or application for leave to appeal that may be referred to them and any matter relating thereto, or to causes depending, or formerly depending, in this House, and shall report thereon to the House.
3. In any criminal matter, or in any matter concerning extradition, an Appeal Committee may take decisions and give directions on behalf of the House. 4. The Lord Chancellor, if present, or in his absence the senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary present, shall take the chair in any Appellate or Appeal Committee. 5. For the purposes of the preceding paragraph, seniority shall be determined by reference to the date of the first appointment to the office of Lord of Appeal in Ordinary without regard to rank in the Peerage. 6. For the purposes of section 8 of the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876, any Appellate Committee may sit and act while Parliament is prorogued.

4. That the following new Standing Order be inserted after Standing Order No. 15:— Recall of the House. 1. If, during any adjournment of the House the Lord chancellor is satisfied that the public interest requires that the House should meet at a time earlier than that appointed, he may signify that he is so satisfied and notice shall be given and thereupon the House shall meet at the time stated in the notice, as if it had been duly adjourned to that time. 2. If the Lord Chancellor is unable to act for the purposes of this Standing Order, the Chairman of the Committees, after consultation with Her Majesty's Government, may act in his stead.—(Lord Shackleton.)

On Question, Motion agreed to.