Convention Parliament
Encyclopedia
A Convention Parliament is a parliament in English history which, owing to an abeyance of the Crown, assembled without formal summons by the Sovereign. Sir William Blackstone
applied the term to only two English Parliaments those of 1660 and 1689, but some sources have also applied the name to the parliament of 1399.
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".
after the deposition of King Richard II of England
. The convention had been summoned as a parliament 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.
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. Elected as a "free parliament", 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.
' 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 by lawful authority of the Regent
appointed by the House of Lords
. 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
.
William Blackstone
Sir William Blackstone KC SL was an English jurist, judge and Tory politician of the eighteenth century. He is most noted for writing the Commentaries on the Laws of England. Born into a middle class family in London, Blackstone was educated at Charterhouse School before matriculating at Pembroke...
applied the term to only two English Parliaments those of 1660 and 1689, but some sources have also applied the name to the parliament of 1399.
Features of the convention parliaments
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.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".
Convention Parliament of 1399
The first example of a convention parliament is the parliament of 1399. In 1399 a convention of estates of the realm assembled to offer the throne to Henry Bolingbroke as King Henry IV of EnglandHenry IV of England
Henry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...
after the deposition of King Richard II of England
Richard II of England
Richard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...
. The convention had been summoned as a parliament 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.
Convention Parliament of 1660
-
-
- G. M. TrevelyanG. M. TrevelyanGeorge Macaulay Trevelyan, OM, CBE, FRS, FBA , was a British historian. Trevelyan was the third son of Sir George Otto Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet, and great-nephew of Thomas Babington Macaulay, whose staunch liberal Whig principles he espoused in accessible works of literate narrative avoiding a...
England under the Stuarts 1946 edition p 298
- G. M. Trevelyan
-
The Convention Parliament (25 April 1660 – 29 December 1660) followed the Long Parliament
Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...
that had finally voted for its own dissolution on 16 March that year. Elected as a "free parliament", i.e. with no oath of allegiance to the Commonwealth
Commonwealth of England
The Commonwealth of England was the republic which ruled first England, and then Ireland and Scotland from 1649 to 1660. Between 1653–1659 it was known as the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland...
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
Declaration of Breda
The Declaration of Breda was a proclamation by Charles II of England in which he promised a general pardon for crimes committed during the English Civil War and the Interregnum for all those who recognised Charles as the lawful king; the retention by the current owners of property purchased during...
had been received, Parliament proclaimed on 8 May that King Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
had been the lawful monarch
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
since the death of Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
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
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
were constrained under the terms of the Indemnity and Oblivion Act
Indemnity and Oblivion Act
The Indemnity and Oblivion Act 1660 is an Act of the Parliament of England , the long title of which is "An Act of Free and General Pardon, Indemnity, and Oblivion"....
which became law on 29 August 1660. Nonetheless there were prosecutions against those accused of regicide
Regicide
The broad definition of regicide is the deliberate killing of a monarch, or the person responsible for the killing of a monarch. In a narrower sense, in the British tradition, it refers to the judicial execution of a king after a trial...
, 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
Cavalier Parliament
The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. It was the longest English Parliament, enduring for nearly 18 years of the quarter century reign of Charles II of England...
. 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
Regnal years of English monarchs
The following is a list of the official regnal years of the monarchs of the Kingdom of England , from 1066 to the present day...
of Charles II"). Among the legislation passed by it were:
- Tunnage and Poundage Act (c.4), with schedule of very high customs duties, which will remain largely unchanged until the 18th C.
- Establishment of a poll taxPoll taxA poll tax is a tax of a portioned, fixed amount per individual in accordance with the census . When a corvée is commuted for cash payment, in effect it becomes a poll tax...
(c.9) to pay off the disbanding of the New Model ArmyNew Model ArmyThe New Model Army of England was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, and was disbanded in 1660 after the Restoration... - Indemnity and Oblivion ActIndemnity and Oblivion ActThe Indemnity and Oblivion Act 1660 is an Act of the Parliament of England , the long title of which is "An Act of Free and General Pardon, Indemnity, and Oblivion"....
(c.11) - the Navigaton ActNavigation ActsThe English Navigation Acts were a series of laws that restricted the use of foreign shipping for trade between England and its colonies, a process which had started in 1651. Their goal was to force colonial development into lines favorable to England, and stop direct colonial trade with the...
(c.18) - Tenures Abolitions ActTenures Abolition Act 1660The Tenures Abolition Act 1660 was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of England passed in 1660. The long title of the Act was An act for taking away the Court of Wards and liveries, and tenures in capite, and by knights-service, and purveyance, and for settling a revenue upon his Majesty in...
(c.24) - Prohibition of woolWoolWool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
exports (c.32) - Prohibition of tobaccoTobaccoTobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
plantations in British Isles (c.34) - Establishment of the General Post OfficeGeneral Post OfficeGeneral Post Office is the name of the British postal system from 1660 until 1969.General Post Office may also refer to:* General Post Office, Perth* General Post Office, Sydney* General Post Office, Melbourne* General Post Office, Brisbane...
(c.35)
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 RevolutionGlorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...
' of 1688.
This parliament, which met in 1689 after the departure of King James II of England
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
, was not summoned by the King, but arguably by lawful authority of the Regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
appointed by the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. It decided that the King had abdicated by fleeing the capital and throwing the Great Seal of the Realm
Great Seal of the Realm
The Great Seal of the Realm or Great Seal of the United Kingdom is a seal that is used to symbolise the Sovereign's approval of important state documents...
in the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
. It also offered the throne jointly to King William III
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
and Queen Mary II
Mary II of England
Mary II was joint Sovereign of England, Scotland, and Ireland with her husband and first cousin, William III and II, from 1689 until her death. William and Mary, both Protestants, became king and queen regnant, respectively, following the Glorious Revolution, which resulted in the deposition of...
, formally recognising Prince William of Orange as King by passing the Bill of Rights 1689
Bill of Rights 1689
The Bill of Rights or the Bill of Rights 1688 is an Act of the Parliament of England.The Bill of Rights was passed by Parliament on 16 December 1689. It was a re-statement in statutory form of the Declaration of Right presented by the Convention Parliament to William and Mary in March 1689 ,...
.
See also
- Constituent AssemblyConstituent assemblyA constituent assembly is a body composed for the purpose of drafting or adopting a constitution...
- Constituent CortesConstituent CortesConstituent Cortes is the description of Spain's parliament, the Cortes, when convened as a constituent assembly.In the 20th century, only one Constituent Cortes was officially opened , and that was the Republican Cortes in 1931.The Cortes in 1977 enacted the new Spanish constitution...
- Constitutional convention (political meeting)Constitutional convention (political meeting)A constitutional convention is now a gathering for the purpose of writing a new constitution or revising an existing constitution. A general constitutional convention is called to create the first constitution of a political unit or to entirely replace an existing constitution...
- List of Parliaments of England
- Revolutionary breach of legal continuityRevolutionary breach of legal continuityRevolutionary breach of legal continuity is a concept in English constitutional law, which rationalises the historic English behaviour when one King was deposed and a de facto ruler was recognised as the new de jure monarch...