Convention Parliament (England)
The Convention Parliament was a
Features of the convention parliaments
It is a branch of the royal prerogative, that no parliament shall be convened by its own authority, or by any other authority than that of the sovereign. Where the crown is in abeyance, this prerogative cannot of course be exercised, and the expedient of Convention Parliaments has been resorted to, the enactments of which shall afterwards be ratified by a parliament summoned in accordance with the provisions of the constitution. ... a Convention Parliament [is] the constitutional mode in which the general will of England expresses itself on such questions as cannot be constitutionally discussed in parliament—e.g., a change of the reigning dynasty.
— Chambers's Encyclopaedia (1870)[5]
Blackstone points out that the 1689 parliament had to assemble without a royal writ, because the throne was vacant, and no legally summoned parliament could ever be assembled unless a Convention Parliament met to settle the issue of government.[6]
Between 1660 and 1689 the meaning of the word Convention underwent a revision. In 1660 the word was seen as pejorative with overtones of irregularity, but after the convening of the 1689 parliament some started to see this as a virtue, "a voice of liberty".[7]
The Succession to the Crown Act 1707 and the Meeting of Parliament Act 1797 has made it extremely unlikely that there will be need of another Westminster Convention Parliament:
There is only one occasion on which Parliament meets without a Royal summons, and that is when the Sovereign has died. In such circumstances, the Succession to the Crown Act 1707 provides that, if Parliament is not already sitting, it must immediately meet and sit.
The Meeting of Parliament Act 1797 provides that, if the Sovereign dies after Parliament has been dissolved, the immediately preceding Parliament sits for up to six months, if not prorogued or dissolved before then.
— The official website of the British Monarchy (2016).[8]
Convention Parliament of 1399
The first example of a convention parliament is the parliament of 1399.
Convention Parliament of 1660
It was by the letter of the law no true Parliament, because the king did not summon it, on the contrary, it summoned the king. Hence, it is known as the Convention Parliament.
- G. M. Trevelyan England under the Stuarts 1946 edition p 298
The Convention Parliament (25 April 1660 – 29 December 1660) followed the
After the
Reprisals against the establishment which had developed under Oliver Cromwell were constrained under the terms of the Indemnity and Oblivion Act which became law on 29 August 1660. Nonetheless there were prosecutions against those accused of regicide, the direct participation in the trial and execution of Charles I.
The Convention Parliament was dissolved by Charles II on 29 December 1660. The succeeding parliament was elected in May 1661, and was called the Cavalier Parliament. It set about both systematically dismantling of all the legislation and institutions which had been introduced during the Interregnum, and the confirming of the Acts of the Convention Parliament.
As all the acts of the Commonwealth parliaments were obliterated from the legal record, the Convention Parliament replicated some of the legislation they wanted to keep (e.g. the
See also
List of MPs elected to the English Parliament in 1660
Convention Parliament of 1689
The Convention Parliament (29 December – 22 January 1689) was the first parliament of the 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688.
This parliament, which met in 1689 after the departure of King
See also
- Constituent Assembly
- Constituent Cortes
- Constitutional convention (political meeting)
- List of parliaments of England
- Revolutionary breach of legal continuity
- List of MPs elected to the English Parliament in 1660
- List of MPs elected to the English Parliament in 1689
Notes
- ^ public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Convention". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 45. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ Blackstone 1867, pp. 109–110
- ^ a b Richardson & Sayles 1981, p. 23.
- ^ a b Finkelman 2006, p. 690
- ^ Chambers's Encyclopaedia (1870), Volume 3 p. 210
- ^ Blackstone 1867, p. 110
- ^ Caplan 1988, p. 5
- ^ "Home: The Queen and the UK: Queen and Government". The official website of the British Monarchy. February 2016.
- ^ Wood 1998, p. 310
- ^ Freeman 2008, pp. 132–133
- Pepys' Diary Entry for 16 March 1660 Entry for 26 April 1660
- Thomas Babington Macaulaypp 109-110
References
- Blackstone, William; et al. (1867). Commentaries on the laws of England: In four books. Vol. 1. George W. Childs.
- Caplan, Russell L. (1988). Constitutional brinksmanship: amending the Constitution by national convention. Oxford University Press US. ISBN 978-0-19-505573-3.
- ISBN 978-0-559-69077-8.
- ISBN 978-0-415-94342-0.
- Richardson, H.G.; Sayles, G.O. (1981). English Parliament Middle Ages (e). Continuum. p. 23. ISBN 9780826442697.
- Wood, Gordon S. (1998). The creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787. UNC Press. ISBN 0-8078-4723-2.