The Procedure of the House of Commons, Vol. 1: A Study of Its Histort and Present Form (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Josef Redlich

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1331434343 ISBN 13: 9781331434344

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2018

Synopsis

Excerpt from The Procedure of the House of Commons, Vol. 1: A Study of Its Histort and Present Form

It has been left to an Austrian scholar to accomplish a piece of work which some competent Englishman ought to have undertaken long ago. Dr. Redlich's book on the history and development of English parliamentary procedure fills a conspicuous gap in English constitutional literature. I welcome heartily an English translation of his book.

Sir Erskine May is, of course, the standard authority on English parliamentary practice. His great treatise is recognised as a classic, not only in his own country, but in every country which enjoys any form of parliamentary government. His unrivalled practical experience of parliamentary life and work, his intimate knowledge of the journals of both Houses, his extensive acquaintance with the English political and constitutional literature of his day, fully entitle him to that position. But May's object in writing his treatise was purely practical. He wished to give, and, by the volume of less than 500 pages which he published in 1844, he succeeded in giving, for the first time, a clear and comprehensive description of English parliamentary procedure as it then existed. He was compelled, as he tells us in the preface to his first edition, to exclude or pass over rapidly such points of constitutional law and history as were not essential to the explanation of proceedings in Parliament. In short, he wrote, not as an historian, but as an expert in parliamentary procedure. The introduction of historical matter was, of course, inevitable; the English Parliament strikes its roots so deep into the past that scarcely a single feature of its proceedings can be made intelligible without reference to history. But the historical portions of Mays book are incidental and subsidiary, and though his historical knowledge was fully up to the level of his time, much of it now has an antiquated appearance.

Edition details

• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1331434343
• ISBN 13: 9781331434344
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 258