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Any claim that privilege has been infringed or a contempt committed is raised in the House by means of a “question of privilege”. Maingot explains: The purpose of raising matters of “privilege” in either House of Parliament is to maintain the respect and credibility due to and required of each House in respect of these privileges, to uphold its powers, and to enforce the enjoyment of the privileges of its Members. A genuine question of privilege is therefore a serious matter not to be reckoned with lightly and accordingly ought to be rare, and thus rarely raised in the House of Commons.[341] The procedure with respect to raising a question of privilege is governed by both the Standing Orders and practice. A question of privilege is a matter for the House to determine. The decision of the House on a question of privilege, like every other matter which the House has to decide, can be elicited only by a question put by the Speaker and resolved either in the affirmative or in the negative, and this question is necessarily founded on a motion made by a Member. This section will describe the manner in which such matters are dealt with by the House. (See Figure 3.1 at the end of this chapter depicting the path of a question of privilege from the time it is raised until it is disposed of.)
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