Lex Parliamentaria

The title page of the first edition of Lex Parliamentaria (1690)^[1]

Lex Parliamentaria; or, A treatise of the law and custom of the Parliaments of England, was a pocket manual for members of the Parliament of England. It was originally attributed to George Petyt. However, an attribution to Irishman George Philips seems now to be widely accepted, including by the historians Sir James Ware and Walter Harris. Thomas Jefferson praised the book in a letter to his son-in-law, opining, "For parliamentary knowledge the Lex parliamentaria is the best book."^[2] Its American counterparts are Jefferson's own 1801 Manual of Parliamentary Practice and Lex Parliamentaria Americana by Luther Stearns Cushing. The term lex parliamentaria is also sometimes used to describe parliamentary law in general.

See also

• House of Commons of England
• House of Lords

References

1. G. P. (1690), Lex parliamentaria: or, A treatise of the law and custom of the Parliaments of England. By G.P. Esq; with an appendix of a case in Parliament between Sir Francis Goodwyn and Sir John Fortescue, for the knights place for the county of Bucks, I Jac. I. From an original French manuscript, translated into English. Licenced Decemb. 6. 1689, London: Printed for Tim. Goodwin at the Maiden-head over against St. Dunstans Church in Fleet-street, OCLC 265542561.
2. Lyman Howard Legters; John P. Burke; Arthur DiQuattro, eds. (1994), Critical Perspectives on Democracy, Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, p. 11, ISBN 978-0-8476-7888-4.