The practice of wearing hats during the sessions of the House of
Commons was an expression of the early feeling of the English
Commons on this subject. They would not uncover before speaker
or king. In some of the early American legislatures the same
thing was done. Hats were occasionally worn in the House of
Representatives at Washington as late as the second quarter of
the nineteenth century.[Footnote: Hunt, "Life of Edward
Livingston," 301. They were worn in the Continental Congress on
occasions of ceremony. McMaster, "History of the People of the
United States," I, 105.]

On the other hand, American courts interfere more readily than
the English to protect a citizen from arrest by legislative
authority. Each house of the British parliament has large
inherited powers over those who may treat it with contempt. Each
house of an American legislature has some powers of this
description, but they are far narrower ones.[Footnote: Kilbourn
_v._ Thompson, 103 U. S. Reports, 168.]

* * * * *



CHAPTER III


THE RELATIONS OF THE JUDICIARY TO THE POLITICAL
DEPARTMENTS OF GOVERNMENT