Peerage Act 1963
The
Peerage Act 1963 (1963 c. 48) is a significant act in the history of the British
Peerage. It allowed the disclaiming of peerages, and permitted female and Scottish hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords.
The Act resulted largely from the protests of one man, the
Labour politician
Tony Benn, then second
Viscount Stansgate. Under British law at the time, peers (meeting certain qualifications, such as age) were automatically members of the
House of Lords and could not sit in, or even vote in elections for, the other chamber, the
House of Commons. When
William Wedgwood Benn, Tony Benn's father, agreed to accept the Viscountcy, he ensured that the would-be heir, his eldest son Michael, did not plan to enter the House of Commons. Within a few years of Benn's acceptance of the title, however, Michael Benn predeceased his father, so the younger son, Tony Benn, became the heir to the peerage. The younger Benn then became a member of the House of Commons, and did not intend to leave it for the other House, so he campaigned through the
1950s for a change in the law.
In 1960, the first Viscount died and Tony Benn inherited the title, losing his seat in the House of Commons for the constituency of Bristol South East. In the ensuing by-election, however, Benn was re-elected to the House despite being disqualified. A court ruled that he could not take his seat, instead giving it to the runner-up, the Conservative Malcolm St Clair. In 1963, the Conservative Government agreed to introduce the Peerage Bill allowing individuals to disclaim peerages. Tony Benn was the first peer to make use of the act. Mr St Clair then accepted the office of
Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, thereby disqualifying himself from the House (outright resignation is prohibited), and Benn was then re-elected at the ensuing by-election.
To disclaim an hereditary peerage, the peer must deliver an instrument of disclaimer to the Lord Chancellor within twelve months of succeeding to the peerage, or within twelve months of passage of the Act, or, if under the age of twenty-one at the time of succession, within twelve months of becoming twenty-one years old. If, at the time of succession, the peer is a member of the House of Commons, then the instrument must be delivered within one month of succession, and until such an instrument is delivered, the peer may neither sit nor vote in the lower House. Prior to the
House of Lords Act 1999, an hereditary peer could not disclaim a peerage after having applied for a writ of summons to Parliament; now, however, hereditary peers do not have the automatic right to a writ of summons to the House. Irish peerages may not be disclaimed. A peer who disclaims the peerage loses all titles, rights and privileges associated with the peerage; if he is a married man, so does his wife. No further hereditary peerages may be conferred upon the person, but life peerages may be. The peerage remains without a holder until the death of the peer making the disclaimer, when it descends as if it were never renounced.
The timing of the Act had a significant influence on British politics, with the resignation of
Harold Macmillan as
Prime Minister in 1963. Two hereditary peers wished to be considered to replace him,
Quintin Hogg and
Alec Douglas-Home, and were able to disclaim their titles in the twelve months following passage of the Act. Douglas-Home was chosen. Both later returned to the House of Lords as life peers.
Since the abolition of the general right of hereditary peers to sit in the
House of Lords, it is no longer necessary for hereditary peers to renounce their peerages in order to sit in the House of Commons. In
2001 John Thurso became the first British hereditary peer to be elected to the Commons and take his seat. Later that year
Douglas Hogg inherited his father's peerage (the Viscountcy of Hailsham) and did not have to disclaim the title but continued to sit in the Commons.
The Act granted Peers of Scotland the same right to sit in the House of Lords as Peers of England, Great Britain or the United Kingdom, thereby ending the election of
representative peers. Hereditary peeresses were also allowed to sit in the House of Lords. An amendment that would have allowed Irish peers to sit in the House as well was defeated by ninety votes to eight.
The Act also granted
suo jure hereditary peeresses the right to sit in the House of Lords, which introduced twelve new women to the House. This was not the first time that women were members of the House of Lords; the
Life Peerages Act 1958 allowed all life peers (men and women) to sit in the House. The women who took their seats in the House when the Act was passed were:
#
The Countess of Erroll#
The Countess of Sutherland#
The Countess of Loudoun#
The Countess of Dysart#
The Countess of Seafield#
The Lady de Ros#
The Lady Zouche#
The Lady Darcy de Knayth#
The Lady Berkeley#
The Lady Berners#
The Lady Lucas of Crudwell#
The Lady Kinloss*
Baron Altrincham, by
John Grigg, from
1963 to
2001*
Baron Archibald, by
Christopher Archibald from
1975 to
1996*
Baron Beaverbrook, by
Sir Max Aitken, 2nd Baronet, from
1964 to
1985*
Viscount Camrose and
Baron Camrose, by
William Berry, Baron Hartwell, from
1995 to
2001*
Earl of Durham,
Viscount Lambton and
Baron Durham, by
Anthony Lambton, since
1970*
Baron Fraser of Allander, by
Sir Hugh Fraser, 2nd Baronet, from
1966 to
1987*
Viscount Hailsham and
Baron Hailsham, by
Quintin Hogg (later Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone) from
1963 to
2001*
Earl of Home,
Lord Home,
Lord Dunglass and
Baron Douglas, by
Alec Douglas-Home (later Baron Home of the Hirsel) from
1963 to
1995*
Baron Merthyr, by
Trevor Lewis, since
1977*
Baron Monkswell, by
William Collier, from
1964 to
1984*
Baron Reith, by
Christopher Reith, since
1972*
Baron Sanderson of Ayot, by
Alan Sanderson, since
1971*
Earl of Sandwich,
Viscount Hinchingbrooke and
Baron Montagu of St Neots, by
Victor Montagu, from
1964 to
1995*
Earl of Selkirk and
Lord Daer and Shortcleuch, by
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton (later Baron Selkirk of Douglas), since
1994*
Baron Silkin, by
Arthur Silkin, from
1972 to
2001*
Baron Silkin, by
Christopher Silkin, since
2002*
Baron Southampton, by
Charles FitzRoy, from
1964 to
1989*
Viscount Stansgate, by
Tony Benn since
1963*
Peerage Act 1963 (Wikisource)
*
Cox, Noel. "The Legal Standing of the Peerage and Baronetage." New Zealand Universities Law Review.*
Peerage Act 1963.
