The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo
page 19 of 820 (02%)
page 19 of 820 (02%)
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legislature and court of justice. The Commons, who are the people, when
ordered to the bar of the Lords, humbly present themselves bareheaded before the peers, who remain covered. The Commons send up their bills by forty members, who present the bill with three low bows. The Lords send their bills to the Commons by a mere clerk. In case of disagreement, the two Houses confer in the Painted Chamber, the Peers seated and covered, the Commons standing and bareheaded. "Peers go to parliament in their coaches in file; the Commons do not. Some peers go to Westminster in open four-wheeled chariots. The use of these and of coaches emblazoned with coats of arms and coronets is allowed only to peers, and forms a portion of their dignity. "Barons have the same rank as bishops. To be a baron peer of England, it is necessary to be in possession of a tenure from the king _per Baroniam integram_, by full barony. The full barony consists of thirteen knights' fees and one third part, each knight's fee being of the value of £20 sterling, which makes in all 400 marks. The head of a barony (_Caput baroniæ_) is a castle disposed by inheritance, as England herself, that is to say, descending to daughters if there be no sons, and in that case going to the eldest daughter, _cæteris filiabus aliundè satisfactis_.[1] "Barons have the degree of lord: in Saxon, _laford_; _dominus_ in high Latin; _Lordus_ in low Latin. The eldest and younger sons of viscounts and barons are the first esquires in the kingdom. The eldest sons of peers take precedence of knights of the garter. The younger sons do not. The eldest son of a viscount comes after all barons, and precedes all baronets. Every daughter of a peer is a _Lady_. Other English girls are plain _Mistress_. |
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