The Procedure on the Report

In one line

A finding of not guilty ends everything and the motion is not proceeded with; a finding of guilty puts the motion before the House; and if both Houses adopt it on the special majorities the misbehaviour is deemed to have been proved and the address is presented.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: section 6(1) of the Judges (Inquiry) Act 1968 provides that if the report of the Committee contains a finding that the Judge is not guilty of any misbehaviour or does not suffer from any incapacity, no further steps shall be taken in either House in relation to the report and the motion pending shall not be proceeded with; section 6(2) provides that if the report contains a finding of guilt or incapacity, the motion shall, together with the report, be taken up for consideration by the House or Houses in which it is pending; and section 6(3) provides that if the motion is adopted by each House in accordance with article 124(4), or that clause read with article 218, then the misbehaviour or incapacity of the Judge shall be deemed to have been proved and an address praying for his removal shall be presented in the prescribed manner to the President by each House in the same session in which the motion has been adopted.

Section 6(1): the finding of not guilty ends it

"If the report of the Committee contains a finding that the Judge is not guilty of any misbehaviour or does not suffer from any incapacity, then no further steps shall be taken in either House of Parliament in relation to the report and the motion pending in the House or the Houses of Parliament shall not be proceeded with."

Read that twice, because it is the most protective provision in the whole procedure.

"No further steps shall be taken." Not may not; shall not.

"In either House." Even the House in which the motion is not pending.

"The motion ... shall not be proceeded with." The House cannot vote on it at all.

So an acquittal by the Committee is FINAL, and Parliament has no power to disagree with it. That is a remarkable allocation, and it is the strongest evidence that the first stage is judicial: a body of two judges and a jurist can stop a motion which a hundred members signed and the Speaker admitted, and the House has no remedy.

And note the asymmetry, because it is the design. A finding of not guilty binds the House. A finding of guilty does not: it merely lets the motion be taken up. The Committee can acquit conclusively and cannot convict at all.