railway where such use will not materially interfere with its enjoyment by the public; 76 Cal. 176; and compensation may not be demanded for the taking; 44 N. E. Rep. (Mass). 446; but it is also held that parks dedicated to the public use are not subject to a right of way for a street railway, and that neither the municipality nor the leg- islature can divert them for that purpose; 67 Ill. 540; Booth, St. Ry. L. § 11. A park or public square may be en- closed, notwithstanding it has remained open many years; 58 Tex. 183; 2 Ohio St. 107; contra, 3 Pa. 206, where it was held that a public square was as much a highway as though it were a street, and that neither the county nor the public could block it up, to the prejudice of the public or an in- dividual. See, also, 3 Ore. 226; 85 Mo. 674. A city is not bound to keep parks in safe condition; 148 Mass. 580; 128 id. 584; and is not liable for injuries caused by a horse frightened by the firing of a cannon there- in; 148 Mass. 580; but it must contribute to an assessment for the improvement of streets by which a park is bounded in common with private owners benefited thereby; 42 Ill. 192. As to the right of the municipality to make regulations for the preservation of order in a park or public square, see POLICE POWER; LIBERTY OF SPEECH. See, generally, DEDICATION: EMINENT DOMAIN; RAILROAD; PUBLIC PARK. PARLE HILL (also called Parling Hill). A hill where courts were held in olden times. Cowell. See MALBERGE. PARLIAMENT (said to be derived from parler la ment, to speak the mind, or parum lamentum). In English Law. The legislative branch of the government of Great Bri- tain, consisting of the house of lords and the house of commons. The parliament is usually considered to consist of the kings, lords, and commons. See 1 Bla. Com. 147, 167, Chitty's note; 2 Steph. Com., 11th ed. 841. In 1 Woodd. Lect. 30, the lords temporal, the lords spiritual, and the commons are called the three es- tates of the realm: yet the king is called a part of the parliament, in right of his prerogative of veto and the the necessity of his approval to the passage of a bill. That the connection between the king and the lords temporal, the lords spiritual, and the com- mons, who when assembled in parliament form the three estates of the realm, is the same as that which subsists between the king and those estates-the people at large-out of parliament, the king not being in either case a member, branch, or co-estate, but standing solely in the relation of sovereign or head. See Colton, Record 710; Rot. Parl. vol. ili. 623 a; 2 M. & G. 457. n. The House of Lords was the supreme court of judicature in the kingdom. It had no original jur- isdiction (except to a certain extent before the reign of Charles II.), but was the court of appeal in the last resort, with a few exceptions and under some limitations as to the right, from the inferior courts upon appeal or writ of error for mistakes of law. Appeals lay to this tribunal from Scotch and Irish courts, in some cases. See stat. 4 Geo. IV. c. 85, as to Scotch, and stat. 89 & 40 Geo. III. c. 67, art. 8, as to Irish, appeals. This body, when sitting as a court of law, was presided over by the lord chancellor, whose attend- ance alone was in any respect compulsory, and was composed of as many of its members abers who had filled judicial stations as chose to attend. Three laymen also attended in rotation, but did not vote upon judicial matters; 11 Cl. 1 Cl. & F. 421. In the absence nce of the chancellor, deputy speakers, who were mem- bers of the profession but not of the house, have been appointed; 8 Bla. Com. 56. By statute 39 & 40 Vict. ch. 59, an appeal, by peti- tion, lies to the House of Lords from the Court of Appeal in England and from Scotch and Irish courts from which an appeal or writ of error for- merly lay to the House of Lords. The appeal. is heard by the Lord Chancellor, two Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (whose appointment is provided for by the act), and such peers as are holders of or have held certain high judicial offices, The House of Lords sits also to try impeachments. Records of writs summoning knights, burgesses, and citizens to parliament are first found towards the end of the reign of Henry III., such writs hav- ing issued in the thirty-eighth and forty-ninth years of his reign. 4 Bla. Com. 425; Prynne, 4th Inst. 2. The earliest parliamentary roll is said to be 1290. 1 Poll. & Maitl. 178. In the reign of Edward III. it assumed its present form. Since the reign of Ed- ward III. the history of England shows an almost constant increase in the power of parliament. Anne was the last sovereign who exercised the royal prerogative of veto; and, as this prerogative no longer practically exists, the authority of parlia- ment is absolutely unrestrained. The parliament can only meet when convened by the sovereign, except on the demise of the sovereign with no par- liament in being, in which case the last parliament is to assemble; 6 Anne, c