Note 38 — Chapter III

In 1667, only seven years after the Restoration, the Commons resolved that the judgment now given against Eliot, Hollis, and Valentine, though right as regarded the imputed riot, was illegal in extending to words spoken in Parliament; the Lords concurred in the vote and reversed the judgment. This decision established, once for all, the privilege of freedom of speech in Parliament, unlimited by any authority except that of the House itself.