same; and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place.-Const., 1, 6, 1, 5.

This privilege from arrest privileges, of course, against all process the disobedience to which is punishable by an attachment of the person: as a subpoena ad respondendum or testificandum, or a summous on a jury; and with reason, because a Member has superior duties to perform in another place.Manual, p. 110.

A Member of the House, Thirty-ninth Congress, having been arrested and detained on civil process, and the matter being referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, that committee reported a resolution directing that a warrant issue commanding the Sergeant-at-Arms to deliver the Member from the custody of the officer by whom he was detained. The motion was adopted, and the warrant was afterwards returned executed, and the Member restored to his seat in the House.—Journal, 2, 39, pp. 103, 105.

It was held, in a recent decision by Judge Dyer of the United States district court for the eastern district of Wisconsin, that the privilege of a Member extends to exemption from service of process even though.not accompanied with an arrest. held, that the time allowed for going to and returning from the Capitol must be construed as a reasonable time; and that a slight deviation from the usual route for rest, convenience, or because of sickness, did not terminate or suspend the exemption. Miner v. Markham, 28 Fed. Law Reporter, p. 387. Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly conduct, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a Member.-Const., 1, 5, 2, 5.

This power is evidently given to enable each House to exercise its constitutional functions of legislation unobstructed. It can not vest in Congress a jurisdiction to try a Member for an offense committed before.his election; for such offense a Member, like any other citizen, is amenable to the courts alone.Report 815, by Committee on the Judiciary, Forty-fourth Con

gress.

It is for the House to determine whether a Member has transgressed its rules and privileges in printing remarks in the Record.-Journal, 1, 49, pp. 1835, 1836.

It was held to be a breach of privilege for a Member to state

in debate, and have published in the Record, the names of Members voting, and how they voted, on a question upon which the yeas and nays had not been entered on the Journal.-Journal, 2, 53, p. 244.

In the maintenance of what are denominated its privileges, and of the privileges of its individual Members, the House, in former Congresses, has imposed various penalties.

In some cases it has directed its Speaker to reprimand the party offending.-Journals, 1, 4, p. 389; 1, 15, p. 154; 1, 22, pp. 730, 736.

In others it has committed the party to the custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms.-Journals, 1, 4, p. 407; 1, 12, p. 280; 1, 15, p. 119; 2, 34, pp. 277, 281, 284.

In others (where the parties were reporters of the House) it has excluded them from the Hall.-Journals, 1, 24, p. 1021; 2, 33, p. 315.

In the Forty-first Congress, Patrick Woods, having been held to answer for an assault upon a Member (outside of the city), was ordered to be punished by imprisonment in the jail of the District of Columbia, as other criminals are, for three months. Journal, 2, 41, pp. 1199, 1200. The session terminated within a week after the order, but the order was executed.

In one case where a witness refused to answer a question propounded to him by a select committee, it was ordered and adjudged by the House that he be committed to the common jail of the District of Columbia, to be kept in close custody until he should signify his willingness to purge himself of the contempt.-Journal, 1, 35, pp. 387 to 389. And after having been so imprisoned for more than three months, he was, by the further order of the House, on the 22d of March, released from jail and delivered over to the marshal of the said District to answer a presentment against him in the United States criminal court therein.-Ibid., pp. 535 to 539.

A witness, having refused to answer a question during an examination by an investigating committee of the House, was committed to the custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms, and, persisting in the refusal, was by the order of the House confined in the District jail for forty-five days. The imprisonment was afterwards decided by the courts to have been illegal, upon the ground that no general power is vested by the Constitution in

either House of Congress to punish for contempt; and a verdict was obtained for a large sum in damages in a suit by the witness against the Sergeant-at-Arms. (See proceedings in case of Hallett Kilbourne, First session, Forty-fourth Congress; also case of Kilbourne vs. Thompson, United States Supreme Court Reports, vol. 103, p. 168.)

(See witnesses.)

PRIVILEGE, QUESTIONS OF.

Questions of privilege shall be, first, those affecting the rights of the House collectively, its safety, dignity, and the integrity of its proceedings; second, the rights, reputation, and conduct of Members individually in their representative capacity only; and shall have precedence of all other questions, except motions to fix the day to which the House shall adjourn, to adjourn, and for a recess.-Rule IX.

"Questions of privilege" are sometimes confounded with what are known as "privileged questions." The latter designation applies to motions, legislative propositions, or other questions, which take precedence in different degrees over each other and over the ordinary business of the House; while "questions of privilege" as defined by the rule relate to the rights of the Members officially and individually, and of the House collectively.

A question of privilege is thus a privileged question of high rank, but a privileged question is not necessarily a "question of privilege."

A matter of privilege arising out of any question, or from a quarrel between two Members, or any other cause, supersedes the consideration of the original question, and must be first disposed of.-Manual, p. 155.

A question of privilege is in order and has precedence, though presented on a day previously set apart by special order for the consideration of other business.-Congressional Record, 1, 51, p. 8375.

Pending a call of the House no question of privilege can be presented, except such as may arise out of or in connection with the call in which the House is engaged.—Journal, 2, 52, p. 105.

Whenever a point of order is made that a matter presented is in violation of the honor, dignity, or privileges of the House,

it is not a question for the Chair but for the House itself to determine.-Congressional Record, 1, 49, p. 8032.

It is ordinarily impracticable for the Speaker to determine from a private inspection whether a paper submitted presents a question of privilege, it being necessary that the paper be read in order that the House may act advisedly in case of an appeal.-Journal, 1, 49, pp. 514, 515.

A Member having leave to make a personal explanation proceeds to read or have read a paper, when the point is made that the paper is disrespectful to the House, and its reading should therefore not be continued. Held, that it is the privi lege of the Member to read or have read the paper as a part of his remarks, but a point of order may be made against it as the reading proceeds, whereupon the House may determine whether the paper is in order.-Congressional Record, 1, 49, pp. 8031, 8032.

Questions of privilege may be based on communications received by telegraph bearing the usual evidences of authenticity, (e. g., a dispatch from the chairman of an investigat-` ing committee,) in like manner as if the same were received directly or by mail.—Journal, 2, 44, p. 133.

The right of a Member-elect to take the oath as a Member was held by the Clerk to present no higher question of priv ilege than the election of Speaker to fill a vacancy in that office, on the ground that one question of privilege could not be presented while another was pending.-Journal, 2, 44, p. 8. A better ground for the decision would have been that the Speaker is the only officer authorized by law to administer the oath. (See R. S., sec. 30.)

Whenever the Speaker is of the opinion that a question of privilege is involved in a proposition, he must entertain it in preference to any other business.-Journal, 1, 29, p. 724. [Such decision, of course, being subject to an appeal.] And when a proposition is submitted which relates to the privileges of the House, it is his.duty to entertain it, at least to the extent of submitting the question to the House as to whether or not it presents a question of privilege.-Journals, 3, 27, p. 46; 1, 29, p. 223; 1, 30, p. 712; 1, 31, p. 1079; 1, 35, pp. 376, 410; 1, 51,

Unparliamentary language used by a Member in Committee of the Whole, impeaching the character of another Member, having been reported to the House, it was held that a resolution of censure was in order, it not being essential that there should first be a formal decision by the Speaker or by the House that the remarks so reported were against order.-Congressional Record, 1, 51, pp. 4864-4866.

The previous question applies upon a question of privilege as well as in other cases.-Journals, 2, 27, pp. 573, 576; 1, 28, p. 882.

Prior to the Fifty-first Congress the limitation of debate to one hour was held not to apply to a question of privilege. Speaker Reed, however, held that a member is entitled to but one hour for debate on a question of privilege.-Journal, 1, 51, p. 1013.

EXAMPLES OF.

An enumeration of the various questions of privilege that may arise can not, of course, be given, but the following list embraces most of the important cases which have arisen, viz: Election of a Speaker.-Journal, 2, 44, p. 8;

Election of a Clerk.-Journal, 1, 31, p. 780;

Right of a Member to be seated.-Journal, 2, 44, p. 15; Election of President.-Journal, 2, 44, pp. 555, 556; Contested-election cases.-Journals, 1, 26, pp. 1283, 1300; 1,

29, p. 201; 1, 31, p. 1065; 2, 31, p. 119;

Assertion that the rights or privileges of the House had been invaded or violated.-Journal, 2, 48, pp. 316, 317;

Failure or refusal of a witness to appear before committees of the House, or refusal to testify.-Journals, 1, 12, p. 277; 2, 33, p. 315; 3, 34, pp. 241, 269; 1, 35, pp. 258, 371, 750, 821; 2, 35, pp. 411, 430, 451; 3, 40, pp. 226, 250, 392;

Offer to bribe a Member.-Journals, 1, 4, p. 389; 1, 15, pp. 119, 171;

Challenge of a Member by a Senator.-Journal, 1, 4, p. 471; Assault by one Member upon another.-Journals, 1, 5, p. 154; 1, 34, p. 1527;

Divulging the secrets of the House.-Journal, 1, 12, p. 276; Assault upon a Member.-Journals, 1, 22, p. 590; 2, 23, p. 485; 2, 41, pp. 1199, 1200;