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ims or practices, which though they regulate the ordinary conduct of the Crown, of Ministers, and of other persons under the constitution, are not in strictness laws at all."

First, let us consider the framework of the English Constitution. As in all free governments, there is an executive, a legislative and a judicial department.

If the King is not the executive of the British Government he is at least its symbol. He does not hold his throne by Divine Right. It is sufficiently accurate to say that the Parliament-that is, the Lords and Commons-settled the Crown on Mary, daughter of James II, and her husband William, jointly; remainder to the survivor; remainder to their right heirs; in default of such, to Anne, another daughter of James, and to her right heirs; and in default, remainder to Sophia, electress of Hanover, daughter of a younger daughter of James I, and her right heirs, being Protestants.

Parliament is composed of the King, Lords and Commons. In the House of Lords there are 26 Spiritual Peers --archbishops and bishops. All the archbishops are mem'bers of the House of Lords, and enough bishops to make up the above number, in the order of the seniority of their appointment. These peerages are not hereditary. There are 561 Temporal or Hereditary Peers. These are peers of England coming down by descent from peerages created prior to 1707-the date of the union of England and Scotland; peers of Great Britain created between 1707 and 1801 -the date of the union with Ireland; and peers of the United Kingdom created since the union with Ireland. Of the (approximately) 561 peers constituting the Hereditary Peerage, only 74 peerages antedate the reign of George III. Besides these there are 16 Scotch peers. These are elected for each Parliament by the total number of the Scottish peers. There are at present 86 Scottish peers, but of these 50 have been made peers of Great Britain or the United Kindom. As no new Scottish peers can be created it will only be a short time until all the Scottish peers are mem

bers of the House of Lords. There are 38 Irish peers, members of the House of Lords, elected by 172 Irish peers.

The Irish peers who sit in the House of Lords are elected for life as vacancies occur. New Irish peerages can be created at the ratio of one for every three vacancies. There are now 81 Irish peers who sit in the House of Lords under an Imperial title. After a while, if things go on as they now do, all the Irish peers will have a seat in the House of Lords, either under their Imperial title or by election.

A Scottish peer is not eligible to the House of Commons. even though he has not been designated to sit in the House of Lords. An Irish peer not designated to sit in the House of Lords can be elected to the House of Commons from an English constituency. In this way Lord Palmerston had a long career in the House of Commons although an Irish peer. And in this way titles, viz, Irish peerage, can be conferred without disqualifying the persons holding them from sitting in the House of Commons.

Although the members of the House of Commons from Ireland are overwhelmingly Nationalist (approximately 80 out of 100) and although the members of the House of Commons from Scotland are overwhelmingly Liberal, yet as the House of Lords is overwhelmingly Conservative all the elected peers from Scotland and Ireland are Conservative.

A member of the House of Lords is not only disqualified from sitting in the House of Commons (as are also the Scottish peers) but he is also debarred from voting. A peer upon whom descent has cast the peerage cannot renounce it. Hence it has happened that ambitious politicians have been deprived of seats in the House of Commons by having a peerage cast upon them by descent.

The Lord Chancellor presides in the House of Lords. He is nearly always a peer, and if such, can take part in the proceedings; but it is not necessary that he should be a peer. The woolsack upon which he sits is supposed not to be within the House of Lords. He can decide nothing-not even who is entitled to the floor, and is not addressed by the

persons who speak there, the speech always beginning "My Lords."

The Lords elect a deputy speaker from among their number, who presides in the absence of the Lord Chancellor. The power of the House of Lords in legislation, down to recent times, was the same as that of the Commons, except that, since the middle of the Seventeenth Century the House of Lords has had no right to propose or amend any bill which imposes a tax. By custom the Lords were for a long time deprived of the right to reject a money bill, but in the year 1909 the House of Lords rejected a budget proposed by the Liberal Chancellor of the Exchequer-Lloyd-George, with the result that their powers have been greatly curtailed, as will be hereafter explained.

Peers are not allowed to address the people during an election. Up to the time an election is called, however, they take part in public speaking, and have a very large influence. Their social prestige also gives them great power, and the people-none more so than the working class constituencies -have for their favorite candidates sons or connections of members of the peerage.

Whitaker's Almanac of 1911 gives the rank and precedence of members of the House of Lords as follows: 3 Princes of the Royal Blood, 2 Archbishops, 22. Dukes, 23 Marquesses, 123 Earls, 42 Viscounts, 24 Bishops, 348 Barons and the 16 Scottish and 28 Irish Representative Peers-a total of 631.

The House of Commons consists of 670 members: England, 465; Wales, 30; Scotland, 72; Ireland, 103. These are divided among the constituencies of the three kingdoms, but besides these constituencies five members are elected from English Universities, two from Scotch Universities, and two from Irish Universities. All these five are Conservatives. These members from the Universities are elected. from the registered graduates, and voting can be by proxy or in writing; that is, a vote can be sent to the voting office by letter.

The number of Irish representatives and Scotch representatives was fixed by the respective acts of union. There have been some slight changes in this, however.

When we come to consider the size of the constituencies it appears that in the smallest the population is about 15,000; in the largest, 217,000. As Ireland has decreased and England has increased in population since the union of 1801, it is obvious that Ireland is greatly over-represented if we consider population as a determining factor.

The average of a constituency in the United Kingdom should be about 63,000. In England it is about 67,000; in Ireland, about 44,000. If there were a redistribution according to population Ireland would lose thirty seats; England would gain thirty; Scotland would gain one; and Wales would lose three.

Speaking with fair accuracy, suffrage in England now belongs to every adult male. It is based upon various qualifications-property qualifications or residence qualifications. One having one qualification in one constituency, and another qualification in another constituency, can vote in both. From this comes plural voting. Again, in England a man may have more than one residence, and in this way he can vote in more than one constituency. The result of this is to give Conservatives an increased representation, and for a long time the Liberals have struggled to pass a one man, one vote, rule. It is supposed that the rule of plural voting is worth to the Conservatives something like thirty seats.

If the election for all members of the House of Commons were held on the same day there would not be so much of this plural voting, but such is not the practice. When writs come out for an election they are all mailed the same day in London. They are sent to the sheriffs of the various counties or to the mayors of the various boroughs, and these officers have the right to fix the election day-within certain limits, of course. The result of this, as can be seen at once, is that plural voting can be readily accomplished, especially

now that the means of communication have become more rapid.

Again, in by-elections-that is to say, when there comes a vacancy in the House of Commons and the new member is to be elected, plural voting comes into play.

It should be noted that a new Parliament must be elected every five years and again a member need not reside in his district.

As a curious illustration of how elections can be influenced may be mentioned the fact that under the English law neither the candidate nor the agent of the candidate has the right to hire vehicles to bring the voters to the polls, but he is allowed to borrow vehicles. As the Conservatives mainly belong to the wealthier classes it is found that a very large number of motor cars belong to the Conservatives, which they readily lend to the candidate of their party not only to bring voters in the particular constituency to the polls but to bring plural voters to the polls. In constituencies which are close it can be readily seen how this is a considerable advantage. It is a discrimination of which the Liberals and the Labor Party bitterly complain.

There is a registry of voters every year. The town clerk or other officer of the county, prepares a list of persons eligible to vote, from those who make application to go on the register. This list is laid before a revising barrister. Before him appear the candidates or their agents, to make motions to add names to the register or to strike names off. This is a costly proceedings and the expense of it is borne by the candidates.

The method of election is about this: On the day fixed for the election the sheriff or mayor reads the writ at some public place, and calls for nominations. A candidate must be nominated by one voter and his nomination seconded by six voters. If only one candidate is nominated the sheriff or mayor declares him elected. If more than one is nominated the sheriff or mayor calls for a show of hands, but on this show of hands everybody votes, whether entitled to a

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