Parliamentary Elections Act 1695

The Parliamentary Elections Act 1695 (7 & 8 Will. 3. c. 25) was an Act of the Parliament of England regulating elections to the English House of Commons.

Not to be confused with the Parliamentary Elections (Returns) Act 1695.

Parliamentary Elections Act 1695[n 1]
Act of Parliament
Parliament of England
Long titleAn Act for the further regulating Elections of Members to serve in Parliament and for the preventing irregular Proceedings of Sheriffs and other Officers in the electing and returning such Members.[n 2]
Citation7 & 8 Will. 3. c. 25
Dates
Royal assent10 April 1696
Other legislation
Amended by
Status: Partially repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted
Text of the Parliamentary Elections Act 1695 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

Provisions

Section 3 of the Act required that an election to a county constituency had to take place at the county court, and that the court had to be held at the place where it had most often been held in the preceding forty years (in effect, at the county town). This was to prevent an electoral abuse where the county sheriff held the election at a place more convenient for voters favourable to one of the candidates.

Section 6 sought to prevent faggot voters by requiring that the a voter's forty shilling freehold was a bona fide holding and not a temporary conveyance.

Section 7 established the minimum voting age and age of candidacy as 21, which was the age of majority under common law. Underage MPs were seldom unseated before the Reform Act 1832: Vicount Jocelyn was 18 in 1806.[1][2]

Section 8 provided that polling in Yorkshire, previously begun on a Monday, should instead begin on Wednesday. This was from a sabbatarian desire to prevent voters travelling on Sunday to the polling place.

Section 9 provided that the poll for Hampshire would be taken first at Winchester and then, after an adjournment, at Newport for the convenience of voters on the Isle of Wight.

Repeal

Some of the Act was implicitly repealed by the Reform Act 1832.

The whole Act except section 7 was, and in section 7 the words from the beginning of the section to "any future parliament" where those words first occurred were, repealed by section 80(7) of, and Schedule 13 to, the Representation of the People Act 1948.

Section 7 was repealed by sections 17(7)(a) and 74(2) of, and Schedule 2 to, the Electoral Administration Act 2006.

The whole Act was repealed for the Republic of Ireland by the Electoral Act 1963.[3]

Footnotes
  1. The citation of this Act by this short title was authorised by section 5 of, and Schedule 2 to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1948. Due to the repeal of those provisions, it is now authorised by section 19(2) of the Interpretation Act 1978.
  2. These words are printed against this Act in the second column of Schedule 2 to the Statute Law Revision Act 1948, which is headed "Title".

References
  • John Raithby, ed. (1820). "An Act for the further regulating Elections of Members to serve in Parliament and for the preventing irregular Proceedings of Sheriffs and other Officers in the electing and returning such Members.". William III, 1695-6: An Act for the further regulating Elections of Members to serve in Parliament and for the preventing irregular Proceedings of Sheriffs and other Officers... [Chapter XXV. Rot. Parl. 7 & 8 Gul. III. P. 5. N. 11.] | British History Online. Statutes of the Realm. Vol. 7: 1695-1701. History of Parliament Trust. pp. 109–111.
  • Halsbury's Statutes
  1. "House of Commons 1790-1820: III. The Members". History of Parliament Online. 1986. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  2. "The House of Commons 1754-1790: III. The Members". History of Parliament Online. 1964. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  3. "English Statutes Affected: 1695". Irish Statute Book. Retrieved 20 November 2013.


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