Members of Parliament (MPs) sitting in the House of Commons in the United Kingdom are technically not permitted to resign their seats. To circumvent this prohibition, a legal fiction is used. Appointment to an "office of profit under the Crown" disqualifies an individual from sitting as an MP. Hence an MP who wishes to give up his or her seat will ask to be appointed to such an office – one which no longer has any duties associated with it – thus causing disqualification and vacation of the seat. The two offices currently used for this purpose are those of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds and of the Manor of Northstead.