Note 23 — ROBERT LOWE, VISCOUNT SHERBROOKE AGAINST THE REFORM ACT: HOUSE OF COMMONS, MAY 31, 1866.

Note 23, p. 233.—The “committing” of a Bill followed its second reading. The House constituted itself as a Committee to consider the details of a Bill: the Speaker temporarily abandoned the Chair to another member; and the Bill was then discussed clause by clause. The House failing to agree on any point, a Division, or poll of the members, was taken. The majority vote decided. Mr. Sheldon Amos (“Primer of the English Constitution and Government,” London, 1877, p. 46) conveniently summarizes the Parliamentary history of a successful Bill: