United Kingdom Until 1998 in the British House of Commons, it was required that a member raising a point of order while the House is voting must speak "seated and covered", i.e. wearing a hat. Two opera hats were maintained in the House for this purpose, with members of parliament sometimes covering their head with an Order Paper while the hat was retrieved. This practice was abolished in accordance with the findings of the Select Committee on the Modernisation of the House of Commons, who said that the practice "has almost certainly brought the House into greater ridicule than almost any other, particularly since the advent of television".
United Kingdom Until 1998 in the British House of Commons, it was required that a member raising a point of order while the House is voting must speak "seated and covered", i.e. wearing a hat. Two opera hats were maintained in the House for this purpose, with members of parliament sometimes covering their head with an Order Paper while the hat was retrieved. This practice was abolished in accordance with the findings of the Select Committee on the Modernisation of the House of Commons, who said that the practice "has almost certainly brought the House into greater ridicule than almost any other, particularly since the advent of television".