The Convention Parliament was a

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in English history which, owing to an

abeyance Abeyance (from the Old French ' meaning "gaping") describes a state of temporary dormancy or suspension. In law, it can refer to a situation where the ownership of property, titles, or office is not currently Vesting, vested in any specific perso ...

of the Crown, assembled without formal summons by the Sovereign. Sir William Blackstone applied the term to only two English Parliaments, those of 1660 and 1689, but some sources have also applied the name to the parliament of 1399.

Features of the convention parliaments

Blackstone points out that the 1689 parliament had to assemble without a royal writ, because the throne was vacant, and no legally summoned parliament could ever be assembled unless a Convention Parliament met to settle the issue of government. Between 1660 and 1689 the meaning of the word Convention underwent a revision. In 1660 the word was seen as pejorative with overtones of irregularity, but after the convening of the 1689 parliament some started to see this as a virtue, "a voice of liberty". The Succession to the Crown Act 1707 and the Meeting of Parliament Act 1797 has made it extremely unlikely that there will be need of another Westminster Convention Parliament:

Convention Parliament of 1399

The first example of a convention parliament is the parliament of 1399. In 1399 a convention of estates of the realm assembled to offer the throne to Henry Bolingbroke as King

Henry IV of England Henry IV ( – 20 March 1413), also known as Henry Bolingbroke, was King of England from 1399 to 1413. Henry was the son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (a son of King Edward III), and Blanche of Lancaster. Henry was involved in the 1388 ...

after the deposition of King

Richard II of England Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Edward, Prince of Wales (later known as the Black Prince), and Jo ...

. The convention had been summoned as a parliament by a writ issued by Richard, but it had not been opened by his commission as he had been deposed and it was held that this had the same effect on the parliament as the death of a monarch. So once Henry was recognised as King he re-summoned the same parliament hence validating its previous recognition of him as king.

Convention Parliament of 1660

The Convention Parliament (25 April 1660 – 29 December 1660) followed the Long Parliament that had finally voted for its own dissolution on 16 March that year. Elected as a "free parliament",''History of England'', Thomas Babington Macaulay pp 109-110 i.e. with no oath of allegiance to the Commonwealth or to the monarchy, it was predominantly

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...

in its membership. It assembled for the first time on 25 April 1660. After the Declaration of Breda had been received, Parliament proclaimed on 8 May that King Charles II had been the lawful

monarch A monarch () is a head of stateWebster's II New College Dictionary. "Monarch". Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest ...

since the death of Charles I in January 1649. The Convention Parliament then proceeded to conduct the necessary preparation for the Restoration Settlement. These preparations included the necessary provisions to deal with land and funding such that the new régime could operate. Reprisals against the establishment which had developed under

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

were constrained under the terms of the Indemnity and Oblivion Act which became law on 29 August 1660. Nonetheless there were prosecutions against those accused of regicide, the direct participation in the trial and execution of Charles I. The Convention Parliament was dissolved by Charles II on 29 December 1660. The succeeding parliament was elected in May 1661, and was called the Cavalier Parliament. It set about both systematically dismantling of all the legislation and institutions which had been introduced during the

Interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of revolutionary breach of legal continuity, discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one m ...

, and the confirming of the Acts of the Convention Parliament. As all the acts of the Commonwealth parliaments were obliterated from the legal record, the Convention Parliament replicated some of the legislation they wanted to keep (e.g. the Navigation Act 1651) in new acts.

Convention Parliament of 1689

The Convention Parliament (29 December – 22 January 1689) was the first parliament of the '

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1688, was the deposition of James II and VII, James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II, Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange ...

' of 1688. This parliament, which met in 1689 after the departure of King

James II of England James II and VII (14 October 1633 – 16 September 1701) was King of England and Monarchy of Ireland, Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II of England, Charles II, on 6 February 1 ...

, was not summoned by the King. It decided that the King had abdicated by fleeing the capital and throwing the Great Seal of the Realm in the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

. It also offered the throne jointly to King William III and Queen Mary II, formally recognising Prince William of Orange as King by passing the

Bill of Rights 1689 The Bill of Rights 1689 (sometimes known as the Bill of Rights 1688) is an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of England that set out certain basic civil rights and changed the succession to the Monarchy of England, Engl ...

Notes

References

* * * * * * {{cite book, last=Wood , first=Gordon S. , year=1998 , title=The creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787 , publisher=UNC Press, isbn=0-8078-4723-2 1399 in England 1660 in England 1689 in England 14th-century English parliaments 17th-century English parliaments Constitutional conventions (political meeting)