In practically every country the right of the legislature to conduct investigations has been challenged. The legal power to compel witnesses to testify and to punish them for contempt has been assailed as a violation of civil liberties and the right to privacy and the administration has usually contended that it had the right to withhold information in the public interest. Against these contentions the legislature has usually argued that investigations are necessary to accumulate information so as to make it possible for the parliament to legislate intelligently, to keep the administration sensitive to public opinion, and to discover and present the facts so that the electorate can pass judgment upon the government and its policies.