Septennial Act 1715
|
|
| Long title | An Act for enlarging the Time of Continuance of Parliaments, appointed by an Act made in the Sixth Year of the Reign of King William and Queen Mary, intituled An Act for the frequent meeting and calling of Parliaments |
|---|---|
| Citation | 1 Geo 1 St 2 c 38 |
| Introduced by | Duke of Devonshire |
| Territorial extent | England and Wales and Scotland |
| Dates | |
| Repealed | 15 September 2011 |
| Other legislation | |
| Amended by | Parliament Act 1911 |
| Repealed by | Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 |
|
Status: Repealed
|
|
| Text of the Septennial Act 1716 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk | |
The Septennial Act 1716 (1 Geo 1 St 2 c 38), also known as the Septennial Act 1715, was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. It was passed in May 1716. It increased the maximum length of a parliament (and hence the maximum period between general elections) from three years to seven. This seven-year ceiling remained in law from 1716 until 1911.
The previous limit of three years had been set by the Triennial Act 1694, enacted by the Parliament of England. The ostensible aim of the Septennial Act was to reduce election expenses, but it also had the effect of keeping the Whig party, which had won the 1715 general election, in power for a longer time – the Whigs won the eventual 1722 general election.
The Act did not require parliament to last for a full term, but merely set a maximum length on its life. Most parliaments in the remainder of the eighteenth century did indeed last for six or seven years, with only two lasting for less time. In the nineteenth century the average length of a term of the Parliament of the United Kingdom was four years. One of the demands of the mid-nineteenth-century Chartists (the only one which had not been achieved by the twentieth century) was for annually-elected parliaments.
The Septennial Act was amended on 18 August 1911 by section 7 of the Parliament Act 1911 to reduce the maximum term of parliament to five years. During the First World War a series of Acts was passed to prolong the life of the parliament elected in December 1910 until the end of the European war in 1918; a series of annual Acts was also passed during the Second World War to prolong the parliament elected at the 1935 general election until the European war had ended in early 1945.
...
Wikipedia