Strode's Case 3 '' Howell's State Trials'' 294 is one of the earliest and most important English cases dealing with

parliamentary privilege Parliamentary privilege is a legal immunity enjoyed by members of certain legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made in the course of their legislative duties ...

Facts

Richard Strode was a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

from

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, England. In 1512, he introduced a bill to alleviate the harsh working conditions of tin miners on Dartmoor. However, the local stannary court had jurisdiction to enforce a law against the obstruction of

tin mining Tin mining began early in the Bronze Age, as bronze is a copper-tin alloy. Tin is a relatively rare element in the Earth's crust, with approximately 2 ppm (parts per million), compared to iron with 50,000 ppm. History Tin extraction and use ca ...

and Strode was prosecuted and imprisoned before he could travel to

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buck ...

to present his bill.

Strode's Act

In response, Parliament passed Strode's Act, now named the

Privilege of Parliament Act 1512 The Privilege of Parliament Act 1512 or the Parliamentary Privilege Act 1512The citation of this Act by this short title is authorised for the Republic of Ireland bsection 4(a)of, anof Schedule 1 to, the Statute Law Revision Act 2007. ( 4 Hen. 8. ...

(4 Hen. 8 c. 8):

Constitutional implications

In 1629, in the prosecution of Sir John Eliot (''

R v. Eliot, Hollis and Valentine R, or r, is the eighteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ar'' (pronounced ), plural ''ars'', or in Irelan ...

''), the court held that Strode's Act was a

private act Proposed bills are often categorized into public bills and private bills. A public bill is a proposed law which would apply to everyone within its jurisdiction. This is unlike a private bill which is a proposal for a law affecting only a single ...

and applied to Strode only and not to other MPs. However, in 1667, both the

Commons The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth. These resources are held in common even when owned privately or publicly. Commons c ...

and the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster ...

carried resolutions declaring Strode's Act a general law: This establishes the common law that privilege extends beyond mere protection against action for

defamation Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defi ...

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

. The law was subsequently codified as Art. 9 of the

Bill of Rights 1689 The Bill of Rights 1689 is an Act of the Parliament of England, which sets out certain basic civil rights and clarifies who would be next to inherit the Crown, and is seen as a crucial landmark in English constitutional law. It received Roy ...

References

Bibliography

* Tanner, J.R. (1930) ''Tudor Constitutional Documents, AD1485-1603'' * Taswell-Langmead, T.P. (1997) ''English Constitutional History: From the Teutonic Conquest to the Present Time'' {{UK legislation English case law 1512 in law 1512 in England Tin mining Legal immunity