tutes 5 Hen. IV. c. 6. and 11 Hen. VI. c. 11. Neither can any
member of either house be arrested and taken into custody, nor served
with any process of the courts of law; nor can his menial servants be
arrested; nor can any entry be made on his lands; nor can his goods be
distrained or seised; without a breach of the privilege of parliament.
These privileges however, which derogate from the common law, being
only indulged to prevent the member's being diverted from the public
business, endure no longer than the session of parliament, save only
as to the freedom of his person: which in a peer is for ever sacred
and inviolable; and in a commoner for forty days after every
prorogation, and forty days before the next appointed meeting[n];
which is now in effect as long as the parliament subsists, it seldom
being prorogued for more than fourscore days at a time. But this
privilege of person does not hold in crimes of such public malignity
as treason, felony, or breach of the peace[o]; or rather perhaps in
such crimes for which surety of the peace may be required. As to all
other privileges which obstruct the ordinary course of justice, they
cease by the statutes 12 W. III. c. 3. and 11 Geo. II. c. 24.
immediately after the dissolution or prorogation of the parliament, or
adjournment of the houses for above a fortnight; and during these
recesses a peer, or member of the house of commons, may be sued like
an ordinary subject, and in consequence of such suits may be
dispossessed of his lands and goods. In these cases the king has also
his prerogative: he may sue for his debts, though not arrest the
person of a member, during the sitting of parliament; and by statute 2
& 3 Ann. c. 18. a member may be sued during the sitting of parliament
for any misdemesnor or breach of trust in a public office. Likewise,
for the benefit of commerce, it is provided by statute 4 Geo. III. c.
33, that any trader, having privilege of parliament, may be served
with legal process for any just debt, (to the amount of 100_l._) and
unless he makes satisfaction within two months, it shall be deemed an
act of bankruptcy; and that commissions of bankrupt may be issued
against such privileged traders, in like manner as against any other.

[Footnote k: Seld. Baronage. part. 1. c. 4.]

[Footnote l: _cap._ 3.]

[Footnote m: Stiernh. _de jure Goth._ _l._ 3. _c._ 3.]

[Footnote n: 2 Lev. 72.]

[Footnote o: 4 Inst. 25.]

THESE are the general heads of the