ABSTRACT
In every one of the ten years between 1964 and 1973, the House of Commons appointed a select committee of its members to examine some aspect of parliamentary procedure and to recommend changes. In Britain, where some of the main constitutional principles are found in parliamentary standing orders or practices, parliamentary change is more significant, and the search for change in the ten years illustrates the vigour of a new quest for adaptation to changing circumstances. The Lords may have led the way to the new constitutional flexibility of the 1960s, and the political activity of the House in that period has not been concerned with attempts to impose restraint, but the changes of this recent period have left unchanged its formal functions and slightly modified the basis of its composition. The possibility of further change in this direction must await action on the report of the Crowther-Kilbrandon Constitutional Commission produced in 1973 after four years of study.
