Scottish Representative Peers Act 1707
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
(6 Ann.) C A P. XXIII. (78) Anno Regni A N N Regin sexto.
An Act to make further Provision for electing and summoning sixteen Peers ofScotland to sit in the House of Peers in the Parliament of Great Britain ; and for trying Peers for Offences committed in Scotland ; and for the further regulating of Voters in Elections of Members to serve in Parliament.
I Ann. c. 8.
'I. W H E R E A S by the two and twentieth Article of the Treaty of Union fur uniting the two Kingdoms ofEngland and Scotland , ratified and confirmed by the respective Parliaments of each Kingdom, it was, amongst other Things, provided, That when her Majesty, her Heirs or Successors, should declare their Pleasure for holding the first, or any subsequent Parliament of Great Britain , until the Parliament of Great Britain should make further Provision therein, Writs should issue under the Great Seal of the united Kingdom of Great Britain , directed to the Privy Council of Scotland , commanding them to cause sixteen Peers, who were to sit in the House of Lords, to be summoned to Parliament, in such Manner as by an Act of the then present Session of Parliament of Scotland was or should be settled; in which Session of the Parliament in Scotland , an Act was accordingly passed for that Purpose, intituled, An Act settling the Manner of electing the sixteen Peers and forty-five Members to represent Scotland in the Parliament of Great Britain; which Act was afterwards confirmed by the Parliament of England , and declared to be as valid as if the same had been Part of, and ingrossed in the said Articles of Union; by which Act it is, amongst other Things, provided and enacted, That the sixteen Peers, who should have a Right to sit in the House of Peers in the Parliament of Great Britain , on the Part of Scotland , by virtue of the said Treaty, should be named by the said Peers of Scotland , whom they represent, their Heirs or Successors to their Dignities and Honours, out of their own Number, and that by open Election and Plurality of Voices of the Peers present, and of the Proxies for such as should be absent, the said Proxies being Peers, and producing a Mandate in Writing, duly signed before Witnesses, and both the Constituent and Proxy being qualified according to Law; and that such Peers as were absent, being qualified as aforesaid, might send to all such Meetings a List of the Peers whom they judged fittest, validly signed by the said absent Peers, which should be reckoned in the same Manner, as if the Parties had been present, and given in the said List; and in case of the Death or legal Incapacity of any of the said sixteen Peers, that the aforesaid Peers of Scotland should nominate another of their own Number in Place of the said Peer or Peers, in Manner as therein is mentioned; and it was thereby further enacted, That until the Parliament of Great Britain should make further Provision therein, the said Writs so to be issued, should contain a Warrant and Command, to command the said Privy Council to issue out a Proclamation in her Majesty's Name, requiring the Peers of Scotland for the Time to meet and assemble at such Time and Place within Scotland , as her Majesty and her Royal Successors should think fit, to make Election of the said sixteen Peers, and requiring the Lord Clerk Register, or two of the Clerks of Session, to attend all such Meetings, and to administer the Oaths as were or should be by Law required, and to ask the Votes, and having made up the List in Presence of the Meeting, to return the Names of the sixteen Peers chosen, certified under the Subscription of the said Lord Clerk Register, Clerk or Clerks of Session attending, to the Clerk of the Privy Council of Scotland , to the End that the Names of the sixteen Peers being so returned to the Privy Council, might be returned to the Court from whence the Writ did issue, under the Great Seal of the united Kingdom, conform to the said twenty-second Article: And whereas by an Act of this present Session, intituled, , it is declared and enacted, That from and after the first Day ofMay one thousand seven hundred and eight, the Privy Council of Scotland shall cease and determine, whereby it is become necessary that some further Provision should be made for the electing and returning the said sixteen Peers, that are to sit in the House of Peers in the Parliament of Great Britain , pursuant to the said Treaty;' Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That at all Times hereafter when her Majesty, her heirs and Successors shall declare her or their Pleasure for summoning and holding any Parliament of Great Britain , that in order to the electing and summoning the sixteen PeersofScotland , a Proclamation shall be issued under the Great Seal of Great Britain , commanding all the Peers of Scotland to assemble and meet at Edinburgh , or in such other Place in Scotland , and at such Time as shall be appointed in the said Proclamation, to elect by open Election the sixteen Peers to sit and vote in the House of Peers in the Parliament of Great Britain , in such Manner as by the before recited Act and herein after is appointed.
II And published at Edinburgh, &c. 25 Days before Election.
II. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That every Proclamation issued for the Purpose aforesaid, shall be duly published at the Market Cross atEdinburgh , and in all the County Towns of Scotland , five and twenty Days at the least before the Time thereby appointed for the Meeting of the Peers to proceed to such Election.
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