UK Parliamentary Archives

• Held At: Parliamentary Archives: GB-061
• Catalogue Reference: HL/PO/DC/CP/20
• Ref No: HL/PO/DC/CP/20
• Date: 1812 - 1906
• Level: Series
• Extent: 4 volumes
• Creator Name: House of Lords; Committee for Privileges; 1621-2019
• Administrative or Biographical History: Representative Peers were elected for Ireland and Scotland in accordance with the Union with Ireland Act, 1800, 39 and; 40 Geo III, c67, and the Union with Scotland Act, 1706, 6 Anne. c. 11 and the Scottish Representative Peers Act, 1707, 6 Anne, c. 78. Distinct systems were in place for each of the countries but both resulted in the peers who were eligible for elections putting their names forward when a vacancy to sit arose. The manuscript evidence contained here was given in support of each claim.
  
  Procedure for Ireland
  In accordance with the Union with Ireland Act, 1800, 39 and; 40 Geo III, c67, 4 Lords Spiritual in rotation and 28 Lords Temporal elected for life, sat in the United Kingdom House of Lords. The bishops were withdrawn after 1 January 1871 on the disestablishment of the Irish Church (Irish Church Act, 1869, 32 and; 33, Vict, c42). The Lords Temporal were elected by the peers of Ireland, who delivered in to the Clerk of the Crown in Ireland or his deputy, lists of their choice, from which the Clerk made a return of the peers elected to the House of Lords. Elections took place on the death or forfeiture of a previously elected Representative peer. As a result of the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act, 1922, 12 7 13, Geo V, elections of Representative Peers ceased. A Petition of Irish Peers that the House should provide means for the representation of the Peers of Ireland by 28 peers in the House of Lords, presented to the House in 1965, after being considered by the Committee for Privileges, was rejected.
  
  Claims to vote at elections of peers were submitted to House of Lords Standing Order 160 of 2 April 1802 provided that the claim should be made in a petition to the House, stating the derivation of the peerage claimed. The practice of the House until 1857 was to refer the Petition directly to the Committee for Privileges; after 1857 the procedure was similar to that on ordinary applications for a Writ of Summons. In 1969 the House, revising its Standing Order 68, ceased to receive claims of rights to vote but continued to accept claims "to any peerage of Ireland".
  
  Claims as coheirs to Irish peerages in abeyance were also to be submitted to the House, under SOs 162-63, but in addition, they needed the commendation of the Crown before being referred to the Committee for Privileges.
  
  Elections for representative peers ceased with the creation of The Irish Free State in December 1921 and the last peer elected, the 4th Earl of Kilmorey, died in 1961. Irish peers are no longer represented in the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Irish peers may attend Parliament as observers, sitting on the steps of the throne in the Upper House, along with the eldest sons of peers.
  
  Procedure for Scotland
  In accordance with the provisions of the Union with Scotland Act, 1706, 6 Anne. c. 11 and the Scottish Representative Peers Act, 1707, 6 Anne, c. 78, the Scottish Peers elected for each Parliament 16 representatives from amongst themselves. When one of the Representative Peers died or became legally incapable, another was elected in his place. On 12 February 1708 an 'authentic' list of the Scottish peerage was enrolled (known as "The Long Roll"), to which other names were added by Order of the House when claims were established. The Representative Peers (Scotland) Act, 1847, 10 and; 11 Vict., c. 52 provided that no title standing in that roll, in right of which no vote had been given since 1800, should be called over at an election without an Order by the House, and the Representative Peers (Scotland) Act, 1851, 14 and; 15 Vict., c. 87 provided that where votes had not been received or counted for 50 years titles should not be called if the House so ordered. The Peerage Act, 1963, c. 48, gave all holders of a Scottish peerage the right to receive a Writ of Summons to the House of Lords, and the legislation relating to Representative Peers thereby ceased to have effect.
  The electoral procedure required the peers of Scotland to assemble, attended by the Lord Clerk Register or two of the Clerks of Session. At the election each peer present made out and signed a List of 16 peers of his choice. To these were added Lists sent in by absent peers. The final list of 16 peers chosen was certified by the Clerk Register or Clerks of Session to the clerk of the Privy Council of Scotland, and this certificate was forwarded to House of Lords Standing Order 112 of 27 November 1710 ordered that this Return was to be read at the beginning of every Parliament.
  
  Claims to vote at the elections which were not accepted there, i.e. which did not seem to be of a peer whose title was on the Union Roll, were decided by the House of Lords in somewhat similar manner to claims to English, British, or United Kingdom peerages. The claimant's Petition was submitted to the House, which then normally referred it to the Committee for Privileges. Petitions concerning the proceedings at any election, alleging a breach of privilege or a refusal to accept a peer's vote, were likewise made to the House and referred to its Committee for Privileges. The final Resolution of the House concerning the election of Representative Peers sought declare that a certain individual had or had not the right to vote, or was or was not rightly elected; the House on occasion ordered the Return of Election to be produced for amendment.
  
  Between 1709 and 1964 many questions dealing with the Scottish Peerage were brought before the House and referred either to the Committee for Privileges or to a Select Committee, the latest in that series being the consideration in 1964 of matters connected with the issue of Writs of Summons to all peers of Scotland. The collected Indexes to the Lords Journals provide the most convenient form of reference to these proceedings.
• Acquisition: Transferred from the Judicial Office.
• Description: HL/PO/DC/CP/20/1 contains printed cases and petitions whilst the remainder of the series contains printed Minutes of Evidence taken before the Committee.
• Terms:
  • Ireland,
  • Scotland,
• Accruals: No further accruals expected.
• Related Record:
  • HL/PO/DC/CP/19,
  • HL/PO/DC/CP/21,
  • HL/PO/DC/CP/22,
  • HL/PO/DC/CP/23,
  • HL/PO/DC/CP/24,
  • HL/PO/DC/CP/25,
  • HL/PO/DC/CP/26,
  • HL/PO/DC/CP/27,
• Access Status: Open
• Publication Notes: M F Bond, "Guide to the Records of Parliament" (London, 1971), p165-9.

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