PRIVILEGES INDEFINITE
QUESTION OF IMMUNITY OF M.P. S FROM PROSECUTION OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT COMMITTEE'S FINDINGS LONDON, April 25. I The select committee set up to examine the Official Secrets Acts reports that it is inadvisable to attempt precisely to define the extent of immunity from prosecution Members of the House of Commons enjoy. The dignity and independence of Parliament would be best served by keeping the privileges indefinite. If they were precisely defined the executive could devise means outside the privileges to harass members of the House of Commons. Parliament had disciplinary powers over its own members, but the committee relied not so much thereon as the good sense of members. The inquiry had brought home to members a need for discretion where the safety of the realm was affected and had impressed that a Minister must not use his executive powers to impede Members of the House of Commons in discharging their proper duties. The committee suggests that the House pass a resolution declaratory of Parliament's privileges which, though not binding on the courts, would doubtless be respected by them. It adds that Members of the House of Commons are not entitled to claim privileges when addressing constituents.
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Bibliographic details
Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 97, 27 April 1939, Page 7
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199PRIVILEGES INDEFINITE Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 97, 27 April 1939, Page 7
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