Civil list
A civil list is a list of individuals to whom
United Kingdom
In the
History
9 Will. 3. c. 23 (Ruffhead: 9 & 10 Will. 3. c. 23) | |
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Territorial extent | England and Wales |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 5 July 1698 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Customs Law Repeal Act 1825 |
Status: Repealed | |
Text of statute as originally enacted |
Civil List Act 1714 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 21 August 1714 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Statute Law Revision Act 1867 |
Status: Repealed |
1 Geo. 2. St. 1. c. 1 | |
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Dates | |
Royal assent | 17 July 1727 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Statute Law Revision Act 1867 |
Status: Repealed |
1 Geo. 3. c. 1 | |
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Territorial extent | England and Wales; Scotland |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 9 December 1760 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Statute Law Revision Act 1867 |
Status: Repealed |
Civil List Act 1776 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 7 May 1777 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Statute Law Revision Act 1871 |
Status: Repealed |
Civil List Act 1785 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 20 July 1785 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Statute Law Revision Act 1871 |
Status: Repealed |
Civil List Act 1837 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Long title | An Act for the Support of Her Majesty's Household, and of the Honour and Dignity of the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. |
Citation | 1 & 2 Vict. c. 2 |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 23 December 1837 |
Other legislation | |
Amended by | Sovereign Grant Act 2011 |
Status: Amended | |
Text of the Civil list as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk. |
Civil List Act 1804 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 20 July 1804 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Statute Law Revision Act 1872 |
Status: Repealed |
Civil List (Ireland) Act 1805 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 2 July 1805 |
Civil List Audit Act 1816 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 20 June 1816 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Sovereign Grant Act 2011 |
Status: Repealed | |
Text of statute as originally enacted |
Civil List Act 1820 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 6 June 1820 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Statute Law Revision Act 1873 |
Status: Repealed |
Civil List Act 1831 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 22 April 1831 |
Civil List Act 1901 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 2 July 1901 |
Text of statute as originally enacted |
Civil List Act 1910 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1977 |
Status: Repealed | |
Text of statute as originally enacted |
Civil List Act 1937 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 10 June 1937 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Sovereign Grant Act 2011 |
Status: Repealed | |
Text of statute as originally enacted |
Following the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the expenses relating to the support of the monarch were largely separated from the ordinary expenses of the state managed by the Exchequer.
In 1697, Parliament under William III fixed the Crown's peacetime revenue at £1,200,000 per year; of this about £700,000 was appropriated towards the Civil List.[1][2] The sovereigns were expected to use this to defray some of the costs of running the civil government (such as the Civil Service, judges' and ambassadors' salaries) and the payment of pensions, as well as the expenses of the Royal Household and the sovereign's personal expenses. It was from this that the term "Civil List" arose, to distinguish it from the statement of military and naval expenses which were funded through special taxation.
The 1760 accession of
On the 1830 accession of
In 1931, George V decided to eschew the £50,000 due to him from the Civil List as a result of the Great Depression. As Keeper of the Privy Purse, Sir Frederick Ponsonby wrote to Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald to say that George had felt it was possible to reject the grant by "exercise of the most rigid economy" and that Queen Mary and other royal family members were "desirous that reductions in these grants should be made during this time of national crisis".[3]
Elizabeth II
Civil List Act 1952 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 1 August 1952 |
Other legislation | |
Amended by |
|
Status: Amended | |
Text of the Civil List Act 1952 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk. |
Civil List Act 1972 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Long title | An Act to make further provision for the honour and dignity of the Crown and the Royal Family, and for the payment of certain allowances and pensions. |
Citation | 1972 c. 7 |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 24 February 1972 |
Other legislation | |
Amends | Civil List Act 1952 |
Amended by | |
Status: Amended | |
Text of the Civil List Act 1972 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk. |
Civil List Act 1975 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Long title | An Act to provide for supplementing out of moneys provided by Parliament the sums payable under the enactments mentioned in section 6(1) of the Civil List Act 1972; and to repeal section 5(2)(b) of that Act. |
Citation | 1975 c. 82 |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 19 December 1975 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Sovereign Grant Act 2011 |
Status: Repealed | |
Text of statute as originally enacted | |
Text of the Civil List Act 1975 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk. |
The last British monarch to receive Civil List payments was Elizabeth II. The Civil List for her reign lasted from her accession in 1952 until its abolition in 2012. During this period the Queen, as head of state, used the Civil List to defray some of the official expenditure of the monarchy.
Only the Queen, the
The last two decades of the Civil List were marked by surpluses and deficits. Surpluses in the 1991–2000 Civil List caused by low inflation and the efforts of the Queen and her staff to make the Royal Household more efficient led to the accrual of a £35.3 million reserve by late 2000. Consequently, the Civil List was fixed at £7.9 million annually in 2001, the same amount as in 1991, and remained at that level until its abolition. The reserve was then used to make up the shortfall in the Civil List during the subsequent decade.[7] The Civil List Act 1972 allowed the Treasury to review the level of the payment every ten years, but only allowed for increases and not reductions.[8]
The abolition of the Civil List was announced in the spending review statement to the House of Commons on 20 October 2010 by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne. In its place, he said, "the Royal Household will receive a new Sovereign Support Grant linked to a portion of the revenue of the Crown Estate". The Crown Estate is a statutory corporation, run on commercial lines by the Crown Estate Commissioners and generates revenue for HM Treasury every year (an income surplus of £210.7 million for the year ended 31 March 2010).[9] This income is received by the Crown and given to the state as a result of the agreement reached in 1760 that has been renewed at the beginning of each subsequent reign. The Sovereign Grant Act 2011 received royal assent on 18 October 2011. Under this Act, the Sovereign Grant now funds all of the official expenditure of the monarchy, not just the expenditure previously borne by the Civil List.
Civil List pensions
These are pensions traditionally granted by the Sovereign from the Civil List upon the recommendation of the First Lord of the Treasury. The Civil List Act 1837 applied the condition that any new pensions should be "granted to such persons only as have just claims on the royal beneficence or who by their personal services to the Crown, or by the performance of duties to the public, or by their useful discoveries in science and attainments in literature and the arts, have merited the gracious consideration of their sovereign and the gratitude of their country."[10] Famous recipients include William Wordsworth,[11] William Barnes,[12] Geraldine Jewsbury,[13] Margaret Oliphant,[14] Christopher Logue,[15] and Molly Parkin.[16] (Lord Byron is often said to have received a civil list pension, but his mother was the actual recipient.[17]) As of 1911, a sum of £1,200 was allotted each year from the Civil List, in addition to the pensions already in force. From a Return issued in 1908, the total of Civil List pensions payable in that year amounted to £24,665. In the financial year 2012-13 the annual cost of Civil List pensions paid to 53 people was £126,293.[18] New Civil List pensions continue to be awarded occasionally.[16]
Canada
In
The term civil list is no longer commonly used to describe the payment of civil servants in Canada, who are covered in the budgets of executive agencies.
India
Civil Services of India civil servant bureaucrats, in a personal capacity, are paid from the Civil List. Senior civil servants may be called to account by Parliament. The civil service system in India is rank-based and does not follow the tenets of the position-based civil services.[19]
Morocco
Article 45 of the 2011 Amended
New Zealand
The
The Civil List Act 1979, succeeding the 1950 Act, was the final enactment of that name. It provided for a Higher Salaries Commission (now known as the Remuneration Authority), an independent salary-setting body for public offices including judges. A standalone Higher Salaries Commission Act 1977 extracted the commission from the Civil List Act. Some parts of the Act were also rehomed into the Constitution Act 1986. A review of the Civil List Act 1979 was undertaken by the Law Commission from 2007 to 2010; eventually the Act was repealed in two stages.[22][23] The provisions relating to the Governor-General were repealed and replaced by the Governor-General Act 2010 and the remaining provisions were repealed and replaced by the Members of Parliament (Remuneration and Services) Act 2013.
Singapore
The Civil List and Gratuity Act[24] provides a civil list and gratuity for the maintenance of the President of Singapore.
See also
References
Citations
- ^ "William III, 1697-8: An Act for granting to His Majesty a further Subsidy of Tunnage and Poundage towards raiseing the Yearly Su[m]m of Seven hundred thousand Pounds... [Chapter XXIII. Rot. Parl. 9 Gul. III. p. 4. n. 5.] | British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 2016-06-24.
- ^ "The Convention and Bill of Rights". UK Parliament. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
- ^ "Silence of the readers". The Times. 22 August 1992. p. 10.
- ^ Verkaik, Robert (30 May 2002). "Royal aides want to see abolition of Civil List". The Independent. Archived from the original on February 24, 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
- ^ "Sovereign Grant Act: main provisions". HM Treasury. Archived from the original on 3 January 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
- ^ "What Is The True Cost Of The Monarchy?". Royal Central. 17 February 2013. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
- ^ Elena Egawhary (23 June 2010). "How the Civil List is spent". BBC News. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
- ^ Travis, Alan (30 May 2002). "Secret deals that obscure the royal finances". The Guardian. Retrieved 2015-09-07.
- ^ "News Page - 2010 Annual Results". The Crown Estate. 15 July 2010. Archived from the original on 22 August 2010.
- ^ Civil List Act 1837 (c.2)
- OCLC 32394070.
- ^ Chris Wrigley, 'Barnes, William (1801–1886)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2006 accessed 7 Sept 2017
- ^ Joanne Wilkes, 'Jewsbury, Geraldine Endsor (1812–1880)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 7 Sept 2017
- ^ Elisabeth Jay, 'Oliphant, Margaret Oliphant Wilson (1828–1897)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 7 Sept 2017
- ^ Jeremy Noel-Tod, 'Logue, (John) Christopher (1926–2011)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Jan 2015 accessed 7 Sept 2017
- ^ a b Richard Eden (20 May 2012). "Erotic painter Molly Parkin is shocked to receive rare honour from the Queen". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
- ^ Jerome J. McGann, 'Byron, George Gordon Noel, sixth Baron Byron (1788–1824)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, May 2015 accessed 7 Sep 2017
- ^ "Written Answers to Questions". House of Commons Hansard. 17 June 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
- United Nations Public Administration Network. "National Civil Service System in India : A Critical View" (PDF). Government of India. Archived from the original(PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
- ^ "Constitution". Maroc.ma. 11 April 2013. Retrieved 2015-09-07.
- ^ "Morocco Constitution Adopted 13 September 1996" (PDF). United Nations Public Administration Network. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-06-05. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
- ^ "Civil List Act 1979 | Law Commission". www.lawcom.govt.nz. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
- ^ "PM welcomes review of Civil List Act". The Beehive. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
- ^ Cap. 44, 2002 Rev. Ed.
Further reading
- President of Singapore's Salary and Entitlements President of Singapore#Salary and entitlements
External links
- BBC Royal Accounts 2002
- The price of monarchy: two pints of milk (Stephen Bates, Guardian, 25 June 2004)
- Royal financial reports 2003/2004 (royal.gov.uk)
- Civil List (royal.gov.uk)