he House of Lords is the Lord Chancellor, who
is the highest judicial officer in the kingdom. A simple majority vote
secures conviction, and then it is left for the House of Commons to
say whether judgment shall be pronounced or not.

[Sidenote: Impeachment in the United States.]
In the United States the House of Representatives has the sole
power of impeachment, and the Senate has the sole power to try all
impeachments. When the president of the United States is tried,
the chief-justice must preside. As a precaution against the use of
impeachment for party purposes, a two thirds vote is required for
conviction; and this precaution proved effectual (fortunately, as most
persons now admit) in the famous case of President Johnson in 1868. In
case of conviction the judgment cannot extend further than "to removal
from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of
honour, trust, or profit under the United States;" but the person
convicted is liable afterward to be tried and punished by the ordinary
process of law.

[Sidenote: Veto power of the president]
The provisions of the Constitution for legislation are admirably
simple. All bills for raising revenue must originate in the lower
house, but the upper house may propose or concur with amendments, as
on other bills. This provision was inherited from Parliament, through
the colonial legislatures. After a bill has passed both houses it must
be sent to the president for approval. If he approves it, he signs
it; if not, he returns it to the house in which it originated, with
a written statement of his objections, and this statement must be
entered in full upon the journal of the house. The bill is then
reconsidered, and if it obtains a two thirds vote, it is sent,
together with the objections, to the other house. If it there
likewise obtains a two thirds vote, it becomes a law, in spite of the
objections. Otherwise it fails. If the president keeps a bill longer
than ten days (Sundays excepted) without signing it, it becomes a law
without his signature; unless Congress adjourns before the expiration
of the ten days, in which case it fails to become a law, just as if
it had been vetoed. This method of vetoing a bill just before the
expiration of a Congress, by keeping it in one's pocket, so to speak,
was dubbed a "pocket veto," and was first employed by President
Jackson in 1829. The president's veto power is a qualified form of
that which formerly belonged to th