An act of Parliament is a law or statute proceeding from the parliament of the United Kingdom passed in both houses, and having received the royal assent. Before it is passed it is a bill and not an act. Acts are either public or private, the former affecting the whole community, the latter only special persons and private concerns. The whole body of public acts constitutes the statute law. An act of Parliament can only be altered or repealed by the authority of parliament. Acts are usually cited in this way, '13 and 14 Vict. c. (or chap.) 21,' which means the 21st act in succession passed in year 13th-14th of the queen's reign (for example 1850). Short titles, such as 'the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854', are also used. Up to the time of Edward I acts of parliament were in Latin; then French was introduced, and for some time was exclusively employed. It was not tillHenry VII. that all acts were in English. Research Act of Parliament
The act of Settlement was an act passed by the English parliament in 1700, by which the succession to the throne of the three kingdoms, in the event of King William and Queen Anne dying without issue, was settled on the PrincessSophia, Electress of Hanover, and the heirs of her body being Protestants. The PrincessSophia was the youngest daughter of Elizabeth, queen of Bohemia, daughter of James I. By this act George I, son of the PrincessSophia, succeeded to the crown on the death of Queen Anne.
Another act of Settlement was, that by which, under Oliver Cromwell's government, a new allotment was made of almost all landed property in Ireland, in 1652. Research Act of Settlement
The act of Toleration was an act of parliament passed in 1689, by which Protestant dissenters from the Church of England, on condition of their taking the oaths of supremacy and allegiance, and repudiating the doctrine of transubstantiation, were relieved from the restrictions under which they had formerly lain with regard to the exercise of their religion according to their own forms. Research Act of Toleration
The Addlea Parliament lasted from April 1614 until June 1615 and was so called because it remonstrated with the king on his levying 'benevolences' but passed no acts. Research Addlea Parliament
The addled Parliament was a parliament called on April the 5th, 1614, in order to legalize the customs duties imposed by James I, but which, proceeding to the redress of grievances instead of granting supply, was dissolved on June the 7th, without passing a single bill. Research Addled Parliament
Allegiance (from the Latin alligare, to bind), according to Blackstone, is 'the tie or ligamen which binds the subject to the sovereign in return for that protection which the sovereign affords the subject,' or, generally, the obedience which every subject or citizen owes to the government of his country. It used to be the doctrine of the English law that natural-born subjects owe an allegiance which is intrinsic and perpetual, and which cannot be divested by any act of their own; but since at least the end of the 19th century this was no longer the case. Aliens owe a temporary or local allegiance to the government under which they for the time reside. A usurper in undisturbed possession of the crown is entitled to allegiance; and thus treasons against Henry VI were punished in the reign of Edward IV, though the former had, by act of Parliament, been declared a usurper. Research Allegiance
The Althing is the parliament of Iceland, it was created in 928 on the lines of the previously existing Norse Thing and is the oldest parliamentary assembly in the world. It was dissolved in 1800, revived in 1843 as an advisory body and it's modern form was constituted in 1874 as a legislative body. Research Althing
An amendment is a proposal brought forward in a meeting of some public or other body, either in order to get an alteration introduced on some proposal already before the meeting, or entirely to overturn such proposal. In parliament an amendment denotes an alteration made in the original draught of a bill whilst it is passing through the houses. Amendments may be made so as totally to alter the nature of the proposition; and this is a way of getting rid of a proposition, by making it bear a sense different from what was intended by the movers, who are thus compelled to abandon it. Research Amendment
The first elected representative legislature in America was that which met at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619. The colonies of Southern New England started with primary assemblies, from which representative assemblies were soon developed. In New York the first true legislature was assembled in 1683. In general the colonial legislatures were modelled on the British Parliament, the procedure of which they followed closely. To king, lords and commons corresponded the governor, the council appointed by him, and the representatives of the people, variously called house of burgesses, house of delegates, assembly, or house of representatives. These last were elected by voters having a property qualification, two members or more for each county in the Middle and Southern States, one or two from each town in New England.
The American Revolution broke up the upper houses or councils, and the new constitutions substituted what in Virginia (1776) and then in the other States was called a senate. Pennsylvania and Georgia had at first legislatures of but one house. The legislatures of the Southern States were generally given the power to choose the governor. The Constitution of 1787 gave the State Legislatures the right to choose US Senators. All the amendments to the Federal Constitution have been ratified by them. During the later half of the 19th century it was generally felt that State Legislatures had been declining in excellence during the last two generations, state constitutions having imposed more and more restrictions upon their action. Research American Legislature
Aristocracy (from the Greek meaning best rule) is a form of government in which the sovereign power is vested in a small number of citizens who are theoretically the best qualified to rule, as opposed to monarchy, in which the supreme authority is vested in one person, and to democracy, in which the ultimate authority is exercised by the entire body of citizens or their representatives. In an aristocracy, although the power of government is wielded by a few, theoretically the administration of government is carried on for the welfare of the many. Whenever the interests of the people as a whole are made subservient to the selfish interests of the rulers, aristocracy becomes a form of government known as oligarchy. Athens, before the period of the Persian wars of the 5th century BC, and Sparta, during practically its entirehistory, were aristocracies. The same was true of Rome during the period of the Republic, lasting from the 6th to the 1st century BC.
During the Middle Ages no true aristocracy existed, for although political power reposed in the hands of a few, each feudallord was sole master in his own domain. In England, the government from the accession of the house of Hanover in 1714 through the 19th century, although parliamentary in form, was in fact an aristocracy, since king and Parliament alike were under the control of a few great Whig families. Research Aristocracy
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Act of Parliament
