Hansard

Hansard is the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official printer to the Parliament at Westminster.

The UK's Hansard is not verbatim; it omits repetitions and redundancies and corrects obvious and grammatical mistakes, while attempting to maintain the meaning of all speeches. As MPs refer to each other by the name of their constituency, Hansard identifies MPs by name. Canada's Hansard is published in both English and French, noting the original language a member used.

For centuries, unauthorized reporting of proceedings at Westminster was prohibited by Parliament, which could punish reporters and publishers with fines or imprisonment. Enforcement of the prohibition effectively ended in 1771 following a dispute over attempts to arrest newspaper printers who had published parliamentary debates. From 1809, Hansard ran as independently published reports, although it was not comprehensive, first employing reporters in 1878. The Parliamentary Papers Act 1840, extended parliamentary privilege, including against English defamation law, to publications under Parliament's authority. In 1909, Parliament took over Hansard publication, beginning comprehensive accounting of all speeches with an official reporter staff.

Other Hansard transcripts are published for the legislatures of Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, as well as for the legislatures of the states of Australia and provinces of Canada.