Octennial Act

The Octennial Act (7 George III c.3; long title An act for limiting the duration of parliaments[1]) was a 1768[n 1] act of the Parliament of Ireland which set a maximum duration of eight years for the Irish House of Commons.[2] Before this, a dissolution of parliament was not required except on the demise of the Crown, and the previous three general elections were held in 1715, 1727, and 1761, on the respective deaths of Anne, George I, and George II.[2][3] After the act, general elections were held in 1769, 76, 83, 90, and 98.[2]

Octennial Act
Long titleAn act for limiting the duration of parliaments
Citation7 George III c.3
Introduced byCharles Lucas
Territorial extentKingdom of Ireland
Dates
Royal assent16 February 1768
Repealed3 July 1879
Other legislation
Repealed byStatute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1879
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

Limiting the duration of parliament was a prime objective of the Patriot Party. Heads of bills were brought, by Charles Lucas in 1761[4] and 1763[5] and by Henry Flood in 1765,[6] to limit parliament to seven years as the Septennial Act 1716 did for the Parliament of Great Britain. The heads were rejected by the Privy Council of Great Britain, which, under Poynings' Law, had to pre-approve any bill before it was formally introduced in the Irish parliament.

Since the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763, the British government had wished to increase the size of Irish regiments, the part of the British Army charged on the Irish exchequer rather than the British.[7] In 1767, the Chatham Ministry appointed George Townshend, 4th Viscount Townshend as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and instructed him to secure the support of the Irish parliament for an Augmentation Bill to effect this increase. The British considered several possible concessions to win over the Patriot Party,[8] and at his speech from the throne, Townshend promised judicial tenure quamdiu se bene gesserint (on the model of the Act of Settlement 1701) and hinted at a Septennial Act.[9] Lucas again introduced heads of a Septennial Bill on 20 October 1767;[1] Barry Maxwell introduced heads of a judicial tenure bill the same day.[10] In November, the appointment of James Hewitt, 1st Baron Lifford as Lord Chancellor of Ireland alienated the Undertakers who had hoped for the post.[9] In addition, the British Privy Council added a wrecking clause to the judicial tenure bill, which caused the Irish parliament to reject the bill once returned to Dublin.[11] The council also made three amendments to Lucas' bill: to the preamble, to extend the limit from seven to eight years (thus an Octennial Bill) and to bring forward the date of the next general election from 1774 to 1768.[12] According to Francis Plowden, the Privy Council insisted on the modification to eight years as a wrecking amendment, expecting that the Irish parliament would reject the bill on principle once any amendment had been made to it, and was disappointed when its amended bill was passed.[13] W. E. H. Lecky calls this "without foundation", stating the actual reasons for eight years were that the Irish Parliament only met every second year, and to reduce the chance of Irish and British general elections coinciding.[14]

The Octennial Act reinvigorated the Commons, both with newly elected reformers and with MPs made more active by the prospect of imminent re-election. Changes included more assertiveness over supply bills and Poynings' Law,[15] easing the penal laws, and securing the Constitution of 1782. There were unsuccessful attempts to shorten the maximum duration, in 1773 by Sir William Parsons[16] and in 1777 by Sir Edward Newenham.[17]

The act was rendered moot when the Parliament of Ireland was abolished by the Act of Union 1800. It was formally repealed by the Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1879.[18]

Footnotes
  1. The act was passed in the 1767–68 session; the year may be quoted as the Octennial Act 1767 (start of session) or Octennial Act 1768 (when royal assent received).

Sources
  • "The Seventh Year of George III; Chap.III: An Act for limiting the Duration of Parliaments.". Statutes Passed in the Parliaments Held in Ireland. V: 1761–1772. George Grierson, printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty. 1795. p. 340. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  • "For limiting the duration of parliaments". Irish legislation database (ILD). Queen's University Belfast. No.2174. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  • Bartlett, Thomas (July 1981). "The Augmentation of the Army in Ireland 1767–1769". The English Historical Review. Oxford University Press. 96 (380): 540–559. doi:10.1093/ehr/xcvi.ccclxxx.540. JSTOR 568903.
  • Bartlett, Thomas (1979). "The Irish House of Commons' Rejection of the 'Privy Council' Money Bill in 1769: A Re-Assessment". Studia Hibernica. St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra (19): 63–77. JSTOR 20496137.
  • McGrath, Charles Ivar (2001). "Central Aspects of the Eighteenth-Century Constitutional Framework in Ireland: The Government Supply Bill and Biennial Parliamentary Sessions, 1715–82". Eighteenth-Century Ireland / Iris an dá chultúr. Eighteenth-Century Ireland Society. 16: 9–34. JSTOR 30071247.

References
  1. ILD No.2174
  2. Jones, Clyve (2012). A Short History of Parliament: England, Great Britain, the United Kingdom, Ireland & Scotland. Boydell Press. p. 334. ISBN 9781843837176. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  3. McGrath 2001, p.12
  4. "For limiting the duration of parliaments". Irish legislation database (ILD). Queen's University Belfast. No.2170. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  5. "For limiting the duration of parliaments". Irish legislation database (ILD). Queen's University Belfast. No.1321. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  6. "For limiting the duration of parliaments". Irish legislation database (ILD). Queen's University Belfast. No.2173. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  7. Bartlett 1981, p.541
  8. Bartlett 1981, p.547
  9. Bartlett 1981, p.546
  10. "For making judges commissions quam diu se bene gesserint". Irish legislation database (ILD). Queen's University Belfast. No.1595. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  11. Bartlett 1981, p.548
  12. Bartlett 1981, p.555
  13. Plowden, Francis (1809). "Book III, Chapter III: The Reign of George III". The history of Ireland from its invasion under Henry II to its union with Great Britain. Vol.2. London: Sold by Mr. Booker. pp. 155–156.
  14. Lecky, W. E. H. (1892). "Chapter III: 1760–1778; Viceroyalty of Townshend; The Octennial Bill carried". A history of Ireland in the eighteenth century. Vol.2. London: Longmans, Green. pp. 90–91.
  15. McGrath 2001, p.24; Bartlett 1979, p.76
  16. "For limiting the duration of parliaments". Irish legislation database (ILD). Queen's University Belfast. No.3109. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  17. "For limiting the duration of parliaments". Irish legislation database (ILD). Queen's University Belfast. No.3552. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  18. "Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act, 1879, Schedule". Irish Statute Book. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
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