18.Under common law (see in particular the case of Re Parliamentary Election for Bristol South East [1964] 2QB 257), peers are prevented from voting in elections to the House of Commons and from standing as a candidate for, or being a member of, the House of Commons. Section 3 abolishes these disqualifications in respect of a hereditary peer, unless he is an excepted peer, and leaves the disqualifications in place in respect of hereditary peers who remain members of the House as excepted peers under section 2.