| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act for enlarging the Time of Continuance of Parliaments, appointed by an Act made in the Sixth Year of the Reign of King William and Queen Mary, intituled, "An Act for the frequent meeting and calling of Parliaments." |
|---|---|
| Citation | 1 Geo. 1. St. 2. c. 38 |
| Introduced by | Duke of Devonshire[2] (Lords) |
| Territorial extent | |
| Dates | |
| Repealed | 15 September 2011 |
| Other legislation | |
| Amended by | Parliament Act 1911 |
| Repealed by | |
| Relates to | |
Status: Repealed | |
| Text of the Septennial Act 1715 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk. | |
The Septennial Act 1715 (1 Geo. 1. St. 2. c. 38), sometimes called the Septennial Act 1716,[3][4] was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. It was passed in May 1716.[5] It increased the maximum length of a parliament (and hence the maximum period between general elections) from three years to seven. This seven-year ceiling remained in law from 1716 until 1911. The previous limit of three years had been set by the Triennial Act 1694, enacted by the Parliament of England.
The act's ostensible aim was to reduce the expense caused by frequent elections. It did not require Parliament to last for a full term, but merely set a maximum length on its life. Most parliaments in the remainder of the eighteenth century did indeed last for six or seven years, with only two lasting for a shorter time. In the nineteenth century, the average length of a term of the Parliament of the United Kingdom was four years. One of the demands of the mid-nineteenth century Chartists—the only one that had not been achieved by the twentieth century—was for annually elected parliaments.
The Septennial Act 1715 was amended on 18 August 1911 by section 7 of the Parliament Act 1911 to reduce the maximum term of a parliament to five years.
The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 repealed the Septennial Act 1715 in its entirety. It has since been reenacted, with minor differences, as section 4 of the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022.
- ^ The citation of this Act by this short title was authorised by the Short Titles Act 1896, section 1 and the first schedule. Due to the repeal of those provisions it is now authorised by section 19(2) of the Interpretation Act 1978.
- ^ Noorthouck, John (1773). "Ch. 19: George I". A New History of London: Including Westminster and Southwark. Vol. Book 1. pp. 306–325. Retrieved 12 June 2008.
the bill originated in the house of peers, where it was introduced by the duke of Devonshire
- ^ Donald F Bur. Laws of the Constitution: Consolidated. University of Alberta Press. 2020. p xlvi.
- ^ As to the year of an Act, see Johnson, Privatised Law Reform, 2018, p 31; Johnson, Parliament, Inventions and Patents, 2018, note 1 to Introduction; Chitty's Statutes of Practical Utility, 6th Ed, 1911, vol 1, title "Act of Parliament", p 28.
- ^ Lease, Owen C. "The Septennial Act of 1716." The Journal of Modern History 22, No. 1 (1950): 42. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1875879 (retrieved 30 December 2013)