Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am ar 27 Gorffennaf 1923.
Colonel Josiah Wedgwood
, Newcastle-under-Lyme
Although this Debate hitherto has been largely between the Liberal party and the Law Officers of the Crown, we ought to make it quite clear that, on this question of Judge versus jury, the Labour party are wholeheartedly with the Opposition brought forward to this Bill. The perpetual and never-ending conflict between the executive and the democracy is merely exhibiting itself in a new light to-day. If it is a question on the one side of the experts and on the other side of the man in the street, we on these benches have a prejudice in favour of the man in the street. More than that, we have here an example of Government short-sightedness. Here is a Bill the large Majority of the Clauses of which are excellent. There is just this one Clause, Clause 2, to which serious objection is being taken, and it is on account of this Clause that all the difficulty has arisen, in spite of the fact that, as I believe, all Members in this House, belonging to all three parties, are absolutely united in desiring to get back to pre-War conditions in this regard. It is perfectly well known that trial by jury was curtailed during the War. We all remember the reason, and it was well known at the time—there were not 12 men to get to sit on juries, and, therefore, we had to curtail the natural normal resort to trial by jury. For that reason only, during the War, the normal rights of British subjects were curtailed. Now, there is no sort of excuse. With the present unemployment, juries can easily be found. What is the reason against it? What is the argument that the Attorney- General and the Solicitor-General put forward for this particular Clause? They do not bring forward a single argument against the restoration of pre-War conditions, but they say that this Clause does restore them. That, surely, is a matter which the layman can decide as well as the lawyer, and any layman—
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.
The Opposition are the political parties in the House of Commons other than the largest or Government party. They are called the Opposition because they sit on the benches opposite the Government in the House of Commons Chamber. The largest of the Opposition parties is known as Her Majesty's Opposition. The role of the Official Opposition is to question and scrutinise the work of Government. The Opposition often votes against the Government. In a sense the Official Opposition is the "Government in waiting".
