POWERS AND PRIVILEGES OF PARLIAMENT 195
(2) He cannot decide points of order as is done by the Speaker of the House of Commons. If he is a Peer he may address the House on any point of order raised. But the decision on it is the decision of the Majority of the House.
(3) Owing to the limited authority of the Speaker in the Lords in directing the proceedings of the House, the right of a Peer to address the House depends not upon him as it does in the House of Commons but depends solely upon the will of the House. When two Peers rise at the same time, unless one immediately gives way to the other, the House calls upon one of them to speak and if each is supported by a party, there is no alternative but division. The issue is not decided by the Speaker, as is done in the House of Commons.
The result of his imperfect powers is that a Peer who is disorderly is called to order by another Peer perhaps of an opposite party and that an irregular argument is liable to ensue in which case, each last Speaker imputes disorder to his predecessor and recrimination takes the place of an orderly debate with the Lord Chancellor sitting but powerless to intervene, as his power is limited to the putting of questions and carrying on other formal business.
OTHER OFFICERS
There are three other officers under the Lord Chancellor as Speaker of the House of Lords.
(1) The clerk of the Parliament. —His duties are similar to those of the clerk of the House of Commons, namely, to keep the record of the proceedings and judgments of the House of Lords in a journal.
(2) The Gentleman Usher of the Black rod, whose duties are analogous to those of the Sergeant at arms in the House of Commons. He does the policing of the House.
(3) The Sergeant at arms is the attendant on the Lord Chancellor.
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