Note 16 — Chapter I
Reading edition
Even in Edward the Third’s time, the Commons seem to have been allowed to debate on many things concerning the king’s prerogative; and Henry IV. promised to take no notice of any reports made to him of their proceedings before such matters were brought before him by the advice and assent of all the Commons. A Parliament, or “speaking-house,” would be a poor guardian of liberties without itself having liberty of utterance. The principle was well stated nearly half a century after this (1667): “No man can doubt but whatever is once enacted is lawful; but nothing can come into an Act of Parliament but it must be first affirmed or propounded by somebody; so that if the Act can wrong nobody, no more can the first propounding. The members must be as free as the Houses; an Act of Parliament cannot disturb the State; therefore the debate that tends to it cannot; for it must be propounded and debated before it can be enacted.”—May’s Parl. Practice, 102.
Besides freedom of speech on subjects of Parliamentary debate, the principal privileges of Parliament were:
The right of both Houses of judging and punishing their own members for any misdemeanour committed in Parliament.
The right of the Commons of determining any disputed election.
The right of members of both Houses to enjoy freedom from arrest, and exemption from all legal process, while Parliament was sitting, except on charges of treason, felony, and breach of the peace.