Pro-hunting campaigners stand in a mall near Lancaster House in London

A law ending the centuries-old pursuit was only passed with the use of a rarely invoked law overruling the wishes of the upper chamber, the House of Lords.

The Parliament Act -- used Nov. 18 for only the fourth time since it was introduced in 1949 -- allows the lower chamber, the House of Commons, to force a law onto the statute books single-handedly if the two houses cannot agree.

The ban had been approved 10 times during the past six years by directly elected MPs in the Commons, only for it to be rejected by the Lords, formerly the preserve of the landed aristocracy, and now largely made up of members appointed for life.

The Japan Times Weekly: Nov. 27, 2004
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