In an earlier post, I recounted the last occasion a member of the Lords had been tried by his peers (Lord de Clifford in 1935). I mentioned that 86 peers opted to serve in hearing the case, compared with 500 who had sat to hear the case against Earl Russell in 1901 when he was…
I was surprised to see a comment on another blog which appeared to suggest that peers enjoy immunity from prosecution. Some members of other legislatures do enjoy significant legal immunity, but parliamentarians in the UK do not. Parliamentary privilege exists to protect parliamentarians in the fulfilment of their parliamentary duties. Speeches made in the course of…
