Convention Parliament (England)

Convention Parliament (England)

A Convention Parliament is a parliament in English history which, owing to an abeyance of the Crown, assembled without formal summons by the Sovereign.[1] Sir William Blackstone applied the term to only two English Parliaments those of 1660 and 1689,[2] but some sources have also applied the name to the parliament of 1399.[3]

Contents

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), Volume 3 p. 210

Blackstone points out that the 1689 parliament had to assemble without a kings writ, because the throne was vacant, and no legally summoned parliament could ever be assembled again unless a Convention Parliament met to settle the issue of government.[4]

Between 1660 and 1689 the meaning of the word Convention underwent a revision. In the 1650 the word was seen as pejorative with overtones of irregularity, but the convening of the 1689 parliament some started to see this as a virtue "a voice of liberty".[5]

Convention Parliament of 1399

The first example of a convention parliament is the parliament of 1399.[3][not in citation given] In 1399 a convention of estates of the realm assembled to offer the throne to Henry Bolingbroke as King Henry IV of England after the deposition of King Richard II of England.[6] The convention had been summoned as a parliament[dubious ] by a writ issued by Richard, but it had not been opened by his commission as he had been deposed and it was held that this had the same effect on the parliament as the death of a monarch. So once Henry was recognised as King he re-summoned the same parliament hence validating its previous recognition of him as king.[7]

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 Long Parliament that had finally voted for its own dissolution on 16 March that year.[8] Elected as a "free parliament",[9] i.e. with no oath of allegiance to the Commonwealth or to the monarchy, it was predominantly Royalist in its membership. It assembled for the first time on 25 April 1660.

After the Declaration of Breda had been received, Parliament proclaimed on 8 May that King Charles II had been the lawful monarch since the death of Charles I in January 1649. The Convention Parliament then proceeded to conduct the necessary preparation for the Restoration Settlement. These preparations included the necessary provisions to deal with land and funding such that the new régime could operate.

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 systematic dismantling of all the legislation and institutions which had been introduced during the Interregnum, and the confirming of the Acts of the Convention Parliament.

In legal statutes, the Convention parliament is cited as 12 Charles II (parliamentary session of the "12th regnal year of Charles II"). Among the legislation passed by it were:

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 Navigation Act of 1651) in new acts.

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 James II of England, was not summoned by the King, but arguably[who?] by lawful authority of the Regent appointed by the House of Lords.[citation needed] It decided that the King had abdicated by fleeing the capital and throwing the Great Seal of the Realm in the River Thames. It also offered the throne jointly to King William III and Queen Mary II, formally recognising Prince William of Orange as King by passing the Bill of Rights 1689.

See also

Notes

  1. ^  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. , volume 7 p. 45
  2. ^ Blackstone 1867, 109,110
  3. ^ a b Finkelman 2006, p.690
  4. ^ Blackstone 1867, p. 110
  5. ^ Caplan 1988, p. 5
  6. ^ wood 1998, 310
  7. ^ Freeman 2008, pp. 132,133
  8. ^ Pepys' Diary Entry for 16 March 1660 Entry for 26 Aril 1660
  9. ^ History of England, Thomas Babington Macaulay pp 109-110

References

  • Blackstone, William; et al (1867). Commentaries on the laws of England: In four books. 1. George W. Childs. 
  • Caplan, Russell L. (1988). Constitutional brinksmanship: amending the Constitution by national convention. Oxford University Press US. ISBN 9780195055733. 
  • Freeman, Edward Augustus (2008) [1872]. The Growth of the English Constitution from the Earliest Times. BiblioBazaar, LLC. ISBN 0559690770. 
  • Finkelman, Paul (2006). The Encyclopedia of American civil liberties. 1. CRC Press. ISBN 9780415943420. 
  • Wood, Gordon S. (1998). The creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787. UNC Press. ISBN 0807847232. 

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Convention Parliament — The term Convention Parliament has been used to describe the parliaments of: Convention Parliament (England), for the English parliaments of 1399, 1660 and 1689 Convention Parliament (1399), for the English Convention Parliament of 1399… …   Wikipedia

  • Convention Parliament (1689) — The English Convention (1689) was an irregular assembly of the Parliament of England which transferred the Crowns of England and Ireland from James II to William III. It differed from the English Convention (1660) in that it did not… …   Wikipedia

  • Parliament of England — c.1300.The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. Its roots can be traced back to the early medieval period. In a series of developments, it came increasingly to constrain the power of the monarch, and went on after… …   Wikipedia

  • Parliament Acts — The Parliament Acts are two Acts of Parliament of the United Kingdom, passed in 1911 and 1949, that form part of the Constitution of the United Kingdom. [An earlier Act of the Convention Parliament in 1660, entitled An Act for removing and… …   Wikipedia

  • Parliament of the United Kingdom — of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Type Type Bicameral …   Wikipedia

  • England [2] — England (Gesch.). I. Älteste Zeit bis zur Ankunft der Römer 55 v. Chr. Die ältesten Nachrichten über die Bewohner E s stammen von Pytheas (320–330 v. Chr.) her, dessen Landsleute, die Massilier, auf dem Landwege eine Handelsverbindung mit Ictis… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Parliament of Canada — Parlement du Canada 41st Canadian Parliament Type Type …   Wikipedia

  • Parliament of the Republic of Moldova — Parlamentul Republicii Moldova Type Type …   Wikipedia

  • Parliament House, Sydney — Parliament House in Sydney is a complex of buildings housing the Parliament of New South Wales, a state of Australia. It is located on the east side of Macquarie Street in Sydney, the state capital. The facade consists of a two storey Georgian… …   Wikipedia

  • Parliament of Scotland — This article is about pre 1707 legislature. For the devolved legislative body established in 1999, see Scottish Parliament. Estates of Parliament …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”