Impeachment

Impeachment, proceedings by a legislature for the removal from office of a public official charged with misconduct in office. Impeachment comprises both the act of formulating the accusation and the resulting trial of the charges; it is frequently but erroneously taken to mean only the removal from office of an accused public official. An impeachment trial may result either in an acquittal or in a verdict of guilty. In the latter case the impeached official is removed from office; if the charges warrant such action, the official is also remanded to the proper authorities for trial before a court.

In England, the House of Lords (see United Kingdom: House of Lords) exercised the exclusive right of impeachment of public officials from the earliest days of Parliament until 1376. In that year the House of Commons (see United Kingdom: House of Commons) began to initiate by resolution impeachment proceedings that were then tried by the House of Lords. Among notable instances of impeachment in English history was that involving the colonial administrator Warren Hastings in 1788. The jurisdiction was last exercised in the United Kingdom in 1806, in the case of Viscount Melville, First Lord of the Admiralty, for alleged corruption in office.

The United States constitution provides for the impeachment of government officials and elected politicians. To impeach the president of the United States a majority vote in the House of Representatives and a two-thirds vote in the Senate is required. Only two US presidents have undergone impeachment—Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998. Johnson's impeachment was politically motivated by his disagreements with Congress over the pace and extent of the Reconstruction programme that followed the American Civil War. He was acquitted by one vote. Clinton faced impeachment in 1998 on two charges of perjury and one of obstruction of justice relating to an extra-marital affair, but was acquitted of all charges in February 1999.