House of Representatives (Powers and Privileges)
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
(POWERS AND PRIVILEGES) ACT
CHAPTER 2:02
LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
Act
3 of 1953
Amended by
97/1963
L.R.O.
Current Authorised Pages
Pages Authorised
(inclusive) by L.R.O.
1–11 .. 1/2006
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LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
House of Representatives
(Powers and Privileges)2 Chap. 2:02
Note on Subsidiary Legislation
This Chapter contains no subsidiary legislation.
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L.R.O.
LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
House of Representatives
(Powers and Privileges) 3Chap. 2:02
CHAPTER 2:02
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
(POWERS AND PRIVILEGES) ACT
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
SECTION
1. Short title and application.
2. Interpretation.
PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES
3. Immunity from legal proceedings.
4. Privileges.
REGULATION OF ADMITTANCE TO THE HOUSE
5. Right to enter House.
6. Power of Speaker to regulate admittance to House.
7. Power of Speaker to order withdrawal from House.
OFFENCES AND PENALTIES
8. Offences relating to admittance to the House.
9. Attempted intimidation of House or any committee.
10. Other offences.
11. Officers of House to have powers of constable.
12. Director of Public Prosecutions to sanction prosecutions.
13. Members not to receive compensation for promotion of or
opposition to Bills, etc.
14. Recovery of penalties.
MISCELLANEOUS
15. Commons Journals to be prima facie evidence in enquiries
touching privileges.
16. Journals printed by order of House to be admitted as evidence.
17. Penalty for printing false copy of Act, paper, etc.
18. Protection of persons responsible for publications authorised by House.
19. Publication of proceedings without malice.
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LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
House of Representatives
(Powers and Privileges)4 Chap. 2:02
20. Powers of Speaker to be supplementary to powers under
Constitution.
21. Courts not to exercise jurisdiction in respect of acts of Speaker and
officers of House.
22. Civil process not to be served within precincts of House.
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS—Continued
SECTION
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L.R.O.
LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
House of Representatives
(Powers and Privileges) 5Chap. 2:02
CHAPTER 2:02
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
(POWERS AND PRIVILEGES) ACT
An Act to declare and define certain powers, privileges
and immunities of the House and of the members of
such House, to secure freedom of speech in the House, to
regulate admittance to the precincts of the House, to give
protection to the persons employed in the publication of
the reports and other papers of the House and for purposes
incidental to or connected with the matters aforesaid.
[11TH MARCH 1953]
1. (1) This Act may be cited as the House of Representatives
(Powers and Privileges) Act.
(2) Until otherwise provided by Parliament, this Act shall
mutatis mutandis apply in relation to the Senate and to the President,
Deputy President and other members and officers of the Senate as
it applies in relation to the House and to the Speaker, Deputy
Speaker and other members and officers of the House.
2. In this Act—
“Clerk” means the Clerk or the Assistant Clerk of the House;
“committee” means a committee of the whole House or any
standing, select or other committee of the House;
“journals” means the minutes of the House or the official record
of the votes or proceedings thereof;
“House” means House of Representatives established by the
Constitution;
“member” means any member of the House;
“officer of the House” means the Clerk or any other officer or
person acting within the precincts of the House under the
orders of the Speaker, and includes any constable on duty
within the precincts of the House;
1951-53 Ed.
Ch. 2 No. 1.
3 of 1953.
Commencement.
Short title and
application.
[97/1963].
Interpretation.
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LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
House of Representatives
(Powers and Privileges)6 Chap. 2:02
“precincts of the House” means the room in which the House sits
in session for the transaction of business, and includes the
galleries adjacent thereto;
“Speaker” means the Speaker of the House, and includes the
Chairman of a committee of the whole House, and the
Deputy Speaker or other Member of the House, presiding
in the House or in a committee of the whole House or
otherwise performing the functions of the Speaker in place
of the Speaker;
“Standing Orders” means the Standing Orders of the House made
under the Constitution and for the time being in force;
“stranger” means any person other than a member or an officer
of the House.
PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES
3. No civil or criminal proceedings may be instituted against
any member for words, spoken before, or written in a report to, the
House or to a committee or by reason of any matter or thing brought
by him therein by petition, Bill, resolution, motion or otherwise.
4. No member shall be liable to arrest for any civil debt,
except a debt the contraction of which constitutes a criminal
offence, whilst going to, attending at, or returning from a sitting of
the House or any committee.
REGULATION OF ADMITTANCE TO THE HOUSE
5. No stranger shall be entitled, as of right, to enter or to
remain within the precincts of the House.
6. (1) The Speaker is hereby authorised to issue such orders
as he may in his discretion consider necessary for the regulation of
the admittance of strangers to the precincts of the House.
(2) Copies of orders made by the Speaker under this
section shall be duly authenticated by the Clerk and exhibited in a
conspicuous position in the precincts of the House; and such copies,
when so authenticated and exhibited, shall be deemed to be
sufficient notice to all persons affected thereby.
Immunity from
legal
proceedings.
Privileges.
Right to enter
House.
Power of
Speaker to
regulate
admittance to
House.
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L.R.O.
LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
House of Representatives
(Powers and Privileges) 7Chap. 2:02
7. The Speaker may at any time order any stranger to
withdraw from the precincts of the House.
OFFENCES AND PENALTIES
8. Any person who being a stranger—
(a) enters or attempts to enter the precincts of the
House in contravention of any order of the Speaker;
(b) fails or refuses to withdraw from the precincts of
the House when ordered to withdraw therefrom
by the Speaker.
(c) contravenes any rule made by the Speaker under
the Standing Orders; or
(d) attends any sitting of the House or any committee
as the representative of any journal or newspaper
after the general permission granted under the
Standing Orders to the representative or
representatives of that journal or newspaper has
been revoked,
is liable on summary conviction to a fine of five hundred dollars
and to imprisonment for three months.
9. (1) Where any persons to the number of twelve or more
come in a riotous, tumultuous or disorderly manner to the precincts
of the House while the House or any committee is sitting in order
either to hinder or to promote the passing of any Bill, resolution,
or other matter pending before the House or such committee, they
are each liable on summary conviction to a fine of two thousand
dollars and to imprisonment for twelve months.
(2) Where any person incites any other persons to come
in a riotous, tumultuous or disorderly manner to the precincts of
the House while the House or any committee is sitting in order
either to hinder or to promote the passing of any Bill, resolution or
other matter pending before the House or such committee, he is
liable on summary conviction to a fine of two thousand dollars
and to imprisonment for twelve months.
Power of
Speaker to
order
withdrawal
from House.
Offences
relating to
admittance to
the House.
Attempted
intimidation of
House or any
committee.
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LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
House of Representatives
(Powers and Privileges)8 Chap. 2:02
10. Any person who—
(a) offers to any member or to any officer of the
House any bribe, fee, compensation, gift or
reward in order to influence him in his conduct
as such member or officer, or for or in respect of
the promotion of or opposition to any Bill,
resolution, matter, rules or thing submitted to or
intended to be submitted to the House or any
committee;
(b) assaults, obstructs, molests or insults any member
coming to, being within, or going from the
precincts of the House, or endeavours to compel
any member by force, insult or menace to declare
himself in favour of or against any proposition or
matter pending or expected to be brought before
the House or any committee;
(c) assaults, interferes with, molests, resists or
obstructs any officer of the House while in the
execution of his duty;
(d) creates or joins in any disturbance which
interrupts or is likely to interrupt the proceedings
of the House or any committee while the House
or such committee is sitting;
(e) presents to the House or a committee any false,
untrue, fabricated or falsified document with
intent to deceive the House or such committee;
(f) prints or publishes any libel, or publishes either
by words spoken or by writing any false,
scandalous or defamatory matter, reflecting on the
character or proceedings of the House or which
tends to bring the House into odium, contempt or
ridicule, provided that nothing in this paragraph
shall apply to a fair and accurate report of the
proceedings of the House published in any
newspaper, or fair comment thereon;
Other offences.
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L.R.O.
LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
House of Representatives
(Powers and Privileges) 9Chap. 2:02
(g) does any act which obstructs or impedes the
House or any committee in the performance of
its functions, or which obstructs or impedes any
member or officer of the House in the discharge
of his duty; or
(h) abstracts any record or other document from the
custody of the Clerk, or falsifies or improperly
alters any records of or documents presented to
the House or any committee,
is liable on summary conviction to a fine of two thousand
dollars and to imprisonment for twelve months.
11. Every officer of the House shall, for the purposes of this
Act and of the application of the provisions of the criminal law,
have all the powers and enjoy all the privileges of a constable.
12. No prosecution for an offence under this Act shall be
instituted except with the written sanction of the Director of Public
Prosecutions.
13. (1) No member shall accept or receive either directly or
indirectly any bribe, fee, compensation, gift or reward for or in
respect of or in connection with the promotion of or opposition to
any Bill, resolution, matter or thing submitted or intended to be
submitted for the consideration of the House or any committee.
(2) Any person who contravenes this section is liable to a
fine of ten thousand dollars and, in addition, shall forfeit the amount
or the value of the bribe, fee, compensation, gift, or reward,
accepted or received by him.
14. (1) The Attorney General may sue for and recover any
fine incurred or sum forfeited by any person under this Act as
though the fine or sum were a debt due to the State; and no person
other than the Attorney General shall sue for or recover any such
fine or sum.
(2) Any such fine or sum shall, when recovered, be paid
into public funds.
Officers of
House to have
powers of
constable.
Director of
Public
Prosecutions to
sanction
prosecutions.
Members not to
receive
compensation
for promotion
of or opposition
to Bills, etc.
Recovery of
penalties.
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LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
House of Representatives
(Powers and Privileges)10 Chap. 2:02
MISCELLANEOUS
15. Subject to this Act, a copy of the Journals of the Commons
House of Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland printed or purporting to be printed by the order
or by the printer of the Commons House aforesaid shall be received
as prima facie evidence without proof of its being such copy upon
any enquiry touching the privileges, immunities and powers of the
House or of any member.
16. Upon any enquiry touching the privileges, immunities and
powers of the House or of any member, any copy of the journals
printed or purporting to be printed by the Government Printer shall
be admitted as evidence of such journals in all Courts and places
without any proof being given that such copy was so printed.
17. Any person who prints or causes to be printed a copy of
any Act now or hereafter in force, or a copy of any report, paper,
minutes or votes and proceedings of the House as purporting to
have been printed by the Government Printer or by or under the
authority of the House or by the Speaker, and the same is not so
printed, or tenders in evidence any such copy as purporting to be
so printed knowing that the same was not so printed, is liable on
conviction on indictment to imprisonment for three years.
18. Any person, being a defendant in any civil or criminal
proceedings instituted for or on account or in respect of the
publication by such person or by his servant, by order or under the
authority of the House, of any reports, papers, minutes, votes or
proceedings, may, on giving to the plaintiff or prosecutor, as the
case may be, twenty-four hours’ written notice of his intention,
bring before the Court in which such civil or criminal proceedings
are being held a certificate under the hand of the Speaker stating
that the reports, papers, minutes, votes or proceedings in respect
whereof such civil or criminal proceedings have been instituted
were published by such person or by his servant by order or under
the authority of the House together with an affidavit verifying such
Commons
Journals to be
prima facie
evidence in
enquiries
touching
privileges.
Journals printed
by order of
House to be
admitted as
evidence.
Penalty for
printing false
copy of Act,
paper, etc.
Protection of
persons
responsible for
publications
authorised by
House.
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L.R.O.
LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
House of Representatives
(Powers and Privileges) 11Chap. 2:02
certificate, and such Court shall thereupon immediately stay such
civil or criminal proceedings and the same and every process issued
therein shall be deemed to be finally determined.
19. In any civil or criminal proceedings instituted for
publishing any extract from or abstract of any report, paper,
minutes, votes or proceedings referred to in section 17, if the Court
or jury, as the case may be, is satisfied that such extract or abstract
was published bona fide and without malice, judgment or verdict,
as the case may be, shall be entered for the defendant or accused.
20. The powers of the Speaker under this Act shall be
supplementary to any powers conferred on him by the Constitution
or the Standing Orders.
21. Neither the Speaker nor any officer of the House shall be
subject to the jurisdiction of any Court in respect of the exercise of
any power conferred on or vested in the Speaker or such officer by
or under this Act.
22. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, no process
issued by any Court in the exercise of its civil jurisdiction shall be
served or executed within the precincts of the House while the
House is sitting or through the Speaker, the Clerk or any officer of
the House.
Publication of
proceedings
without malice.
Powers of
Speaker to be
supplementary
to powers under
Constitution.
Courts not to
exercise
jurisdiction in
respect of acts
of Speaker and
officers of
House.
Civil process
not to be served
within precincts
of House.
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