Equality (Titles) Bill

Equality (Titles) Bill
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleA Bill to make provision for the succession of female heirs to hereditary titles; for husbands and civil partners of those receiving honours to be allowed to use equivalent honorary titles to those available to wives; and for connected purposes.
Introduced byThe Lord Lucas and Dingwall
Status: Not passed

The Equality (Titles) Bill, known colloquially as the "Downton Law" and "Downton Abbey Law",[1] was a Bill of the Parliament of the United Kingdom introduced in 2013 that would have ended a measure of gender discrimination and allowed for equal succession of female heirs to hereditary titles and peerages.[2] The primogeniture legislation, in conjunction with the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, would align hereditary titles in accordance with the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act.

  1. ^ Collins, Lauren (9 December 2013). "Ladies First!". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Telegraph was invoked but never defined (see the help page).