Note (10) — Chapter II
Reading edition
The practice of summoning particular persons can be traced up to very early times. See Kemble, ii. 202, for instances in the reign of Æthelstan. On its use in later times, see Hallam, ii. 254-260; and on the irregularity in the way of summoning the spiritual peers, ii. 253.
The bearing of these precedents on the question of life peerages will be seen by any one who goes through Sir T. E. May’s summary, Constitutional History, i. 291-298.