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OFFICE (from See also: special duty cast upon a See also: person by his position; also a ceremonial duty, as in the See also: rites paid to the dead, the " last offices." The See also: term is thus especially used of a religious service, the " daily office " of the See also: English See also: Church or the " divine office " of the
See also: Roman Church (see BREVIARY)
.
It is also used in this sense of a service for a particular occasion, as the Office for the Visitation of the Sick, &c
.
From the sense of duty or See also: function, the word is transferred to the position or place which See also: lays on the holder or occupier the performance of such duties
.
This leads naturally to the use of the word for the buildings or the See also: separate rooms in which the duties are performed, and for the staff carrying on the See also: work or business in such offices
.
In the Roman See also: curia the department of the Inquisition is known as the See also: Holy Office, in full, the See also: Congregation of the Holy Office of the Inquisition (see INQUISITION and CURIA See also: ROMANA)
.
Offices of Profit.—The phrase " office of profit under the See also: crown " is used with a particular application in See also: British See also: parliamentary practice
.
The holders of such offices of profit have been subject in regard to the occupation of seats in the See also: House of See also: Commons to certain disabilities which were in their origin due to the fear of the undue influence exercised by the crown during the constitutional struggles of the 17th century
.
Attempts to See also: deal with the danger of the presence of " place-men " in the House of Commons were made by the Place Bills introduced in 1672-1673, 1694 and 1943
.
The See also: Act of See also: Settlement 1700 (§ 3) laid it down that no person who has an office or place of profit under the See also: king or receives a pension from the crown shall be capable of serving as a member of the House of Commons
.
This drastic clause, which would have had the disastrous effect of entirely separating the executive from the legislature, was repealed and the basis of the
See also: present See also: law was laid down in 1706 by 6 See also: Anne (c
.
41)
.
This first disqualifies (§ 24) from membership all holders of " new offices,"' i.e. those created after See also: October 1705; secondly (§ 25) it renders void the election of a member who shall accept any office of profit other than " new offices " but allows the member to stand for re-election
.
The disqualification attaching to many " new offices " has been removed by various statutes, and by § 52 of the Reform Act 1867 the See also: necessity of re-election is avoided when a member, having been elected subsequent to the acceptance of any office named in a See also: schedule of that act, is transferred to any other office in that schedule
.
The rules as to what offices disqualify from membership or render re-election necessary are exceedingly complicated, depending as they do on a large number of statutes (see See also: Erskine May, Parliamentary Practice, llth ed., pp
.
632-645, and See also: Rogers, On Elections, vol. ii., 19(36)
.
The old established See also: rule that a member, once duly elected, cannot resign his seat is evaded by the acceptance of certain minor offices (see CHILTERN HUNDREDS)
.
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