Deb 07 July 1927 vol 68 cc285-6

Ordered, That an humble Address be presented to His Majesty by the Lords with White Staves submitting to His Majesty that if it is His gracious pleasure to place some limitation on claims to Peerages in abeyance, such limitation might be effected if His Majesty would be graciously pleased to issue an instruction to the Attorney-General that if it should appear to him that a claim to a Peerage in abeyance is affected by either of the following considerations:—(i) That the commencement of the existing abeyance occurred more than one hundred years before the presentation of the Petition; or (ii) that the Petitioner (not being a child of the last holder of the dignity or a descendant of a parent of the last holder) represents less than one third of the entire dignity, he should in his report to the Crown on such claim call attention to these circumstances, and that in such cases His Majesty should be advised that no further proceedings should be taken except in the cases of Petitions which have already been presented and in the absence of special circumstances or special reasons to the contrary; and that the attention of the Crown should also be called to any Petitions for the introduction of Bills into the House of Lords for restoration in blood to qualify a claimant to the termination of an abeyance to enjoy the Peerage, where such claims are affected by the above-mentioned considerations; further submitting to His Majesty that where the Committee for Privileges of this House is satisfied that any arrangement, entered into between a Petitioner for a Peerage in abeyance and any co-heir, is tainted with any impropriety, it would be desirable that the Committee should make no report to the House except that such arrangement is not shown to have been a proper one; and further submitting to His Majesty that in considering whether or not His Majesty should be advised to extend His grace to the Petitioner for a termination of an abeyance regard should be had to the character, position, and fitness of the Petitioner.