THE TWO HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT 133

the Parliament Act 1911. Its provisions are as follows:—

1. Any Bill dealing with taxes, borrowing of money, or similar
matters, and certified by the Speaker of the House of Commons
as a "Money Bill" can become law one month after the Commons
have passed it, whatever the Lords may have done.

2. Any other Public1 Bill, except one whose object is to extend
the life of Parliament beyond five years, which is passed by the
Commons and rejected by the Lords, can be passed again by
the Commons in the next Session; if it is rejected a second time,
and then passed by the Commons a third time in yet another
Session, it becomes law despite the Lords* opposition. The whole
process must take at least two years.

3. The maximum lifetime of a Parliament is fixed at five
years instead of the seven which had been required by law
since 1716.

This Act made the Commons supreme, but left much power
to the Lords. They could not bring the Government down by
the simple process of refusing money, nor could they delay
anything for more than two years. But many Acts lose much of
their usefulness if they are thus delayed, and a Government
which had to deal with a sudden emergency, such as a financial
panic, or a dangerous turn in international affairs, would be in
great difficulty if the Lords were determined to oppose it. The
Lords can also amend a Bill and so compel the Commons either
to accept amendments which they dislike or sacrifice the whole
Bill for two years. The Labour Government of 1929-31 was thus
obliged to accept amendments in many of its Acts, particularly
the Coal Mines Act, 1930. In 1932 the power of the courts to
order birching for boy offenders was preserved by. a Lords9
amendment on which they insisted, to the annoyance both of the
Government then in power, and the Commons. Finally, a House
of Lords which was determined to hamper a Government could
block all its Bills for the first two years and so wreck its plan of
.work. It is necessary to examine how the powers of the Lords

1 For explanation of this term see Ch. X.