Expulsion

Expulsion (Lat. expulsio, from expellere), the act of driving out, or of removing a person from the membership of a body or the holding of an office, or of depriving him of the right of attending a meeting, &c. In the United Kingdom the House of Commons can by resolution expel a member. Such resolution cannot be questioned by any court of law. But expulsion is only resorted to in cases where members are guilty of offences rendering them unfit for a seat in the House, such as being in open rebellion, being guilty of forgery, perjury, fraud or breach of trust, misappropriation of public money, corruption, conduct unbecoming the character of an officer and a gentleman, &c. It is customary to order the member, if absent, to attend in his place, before an order is made for his expulsion (see May, Parliamentary Practice, 1906, p. 56 seq.). Municipal corporations or other local government bodies have no express power to expel a member, except in such cases where the law declares the member to have vacated his seat, or where power is given by statute to declare the member’s seat vacant. In the cases of officers and servants of the crown, tenure varies with the nature of the office. Some officials hold their offices ad vitam aut culpam or dum bene se gesserunt, others can be dismissed at any time and without reason assigned and without compensation. In the case of membership of a voluntary association (club, &c. ) the right of expulsion depends upon the rules, and must be exercised in good faith. Courts of justice have jurisdiction to prevent the improper expulsion of the member of a voluntary association where that member has a right of property in the association. In the case of meetings, where the meeting is one of a public body, any person not a member of the body is entitled to be present only on sufferance, and may be expelled on a resolution of the body. In the case of ordinary public meetings those who convene the meeting stand in the position of licensors to those attending and may revoke the licence and expel any person who creates disorder or makes himself otherwise objectionable.

Expulsion of Aliens.—Under the Naturalization Act of 1870, the last of the civil disqualifications affecting aliens in England was removed. The political disqualifications which remained only applied to electoral rights. In the very exceptional cases in which it was retained in the statute book, expulsion was considered to have fallen into desuetude, but it has been revived by the Aliens Act of 1905 (5 Edw. VII. c. 13). Under this act powers are given to the secretary of state to make an order requiring an alien to leave the United Kingdom within a time fixed by the order and thereafter to remain outside the United Kingdom, subject to certain conditions, provided it is certified to him that the alien has been convicted of any felony or misdemeanour or other offence for which the court has power to impose imprisonment without the option of a fine, &c. , or that he has been sentenced in a foreign country with which there is an extradition treaty, for a crime not being an offence of a political character. There are also provisions applicable within one year, after the alien has entered the United Kingdom in the case of pauper aliens. Precautions are taken to prevent, as far as possible, any abuse of the power of expulsion. Under the French law of expulsion (December 3, 1849) there are no such precautions, the minister of the interior having an absolute discretion to order any foreigner as a measure of public policy to leave French territory and in fact to have him taken immediately to the frontier.

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