Septennial Act 1716


The Septennial Act 1716, also known as the Septennial Act 1715, was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. It was passed in May 1716. It increased the maximum length of a parliament 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 was amended on 18 August 1911 by of the Parliament Act 1911 to reduce the maximum term of parliament to five years.
The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 repealed the Septennial Act in its entirety.

Provisions

The text of the act is very short. As originally in force, it stated:
The act overturned the provisions of the Triennial Act 1694.

Aim and effects

The ostensible aim of the Septennial Act was, by reducing the frequency of elections, to reduce the cost during a given period of holding them. However, it may have had the effect of keeping the Whig party, which had won the 1715 general election, in power for a longer time. The Whigs won the following general election in 1722.

Prolongation of Parliament during the First World War and Second World War

During the First World War, a series of Acts was passed to prolong the life of the parliament elected in December 1910 until the end of the War in 1918. A series of annual Acts was also passed during the Second World War to prolong the parliament elected at the 1935 general election until the War in Europe had ended in mid-1945.
Short titleCitationDate of assentMaximum duration of the existing parliament
as extended by the act
Parliament and Registration Act 19165 & 6 Geo. 5 c. 10027 January 19165 years and 8 months
Parliament and Local Elections Act 19166 & 7 Geo. 5 c. 4423 August 19166 years and 3 months
Parliament and Local Elections Act 19177 & 8 Geo. 5 c. 1326 April 19176 years and 10 months
Parliament and Local Elections Act 19177 & 8 Geo. 5 c. 5029 November 19177 years and 6 months
Parliament and Local Elections Act 19188 & 9 Geo. 5 c. 2230 July 19188 years

Short titleCitationDate of assentMaximum duration of the existing parliament
as extended by the act
Prolongation of Parliament Act 19403 & 4 Geo. 6 c. 536 November 19406 years
Prolongation of Parliament Act 19414 & 5 Geo. 6 c. 4811 November 19417 years
Prolongation of Parliament Act 19425 & 6 Geo. 6 c. 3722 October 19428 years
Prolongation of Parliament Act 19436 & 7 Geo. 6 c. 4611 November 19439 years
Prolongation of Parliament Act 19447 & 8 Geo. 6 c. 4517 November 194410 years