Such being the constitution of the Irish House of Lords, some matters of procedure in which it differed from the English House of Peers are noteworthy. The members of both the English and Irish Upper Houses had the privilege of voting by proxy. In England, however, no peer who was not present was empowered to enter a protest on the Journals of the House. In Ireland peers could not only vote but protest by proxy.
In Strafford's Parliament, in 1634, the lords who had proxies were severally introduced, personating those whose proxies they had, and taking their seats according to their relative precedency. "This," says Lord Mountmorres, "is particularly mentioned because the right of protesting by proxy, which is a custom peculiar to the House of Lords of Ireland, seems to depend upon this circumstance, for as they personated those lords, so it seemed to follow that they should act in every respect for their proxies as if they were present, and, among other privileges, had a right to protest.[1]
A very interesting controversy arose a few years ago between the late Earl Cairns, when Lord Chancellor of England, and the Duke of St. Albans, as to whether the Lord Chancellor of England is ex officio
- ↑ "Mountmorres's "Irish Parliament," vol. i. pp. 321, 322. In 1865 Mr. Bagehot wrote, with respect to the House of Lords, "The abolition of proxies would have made the House of Lords a real house." "English Constitution," p. 125. In 1868 proxies were abolished by resolution.
