impeachment
impeachment was a trial by the House of Lords at the instigation of the House of Commons, which presented articles and arranged the management. The first clear example was the presentation in 1386 of Michael de la Pole, earl of Suffolk, but the practice became common in the 17th cent. with the struggle between crown and Parliament, when a number of royal ministers—Bacon, Middlesex (Cranfield), Strafford, and Danby—were impeached. In 1710 the Whig government attempted to use impeachment against its critics by prosecuting Dr Sacheverell, but it misfired badly. The impeachment of Warren Hastings, which went on for seven years and ended in acquittal, helped to discredit the process and the impeachment of Henry Dundas, Viscount Melville, in 1806 for peculation was the last. Impeachments were normally held in Westminster Hall with the lord high steward or the lord chancellor presiding
J. A. Cannon
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impeachment
