A bill for the better regulating of Select Vestries, usually referred to as the Select Vestries Bill, is customarily the first

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Pla ...

introduced and debated in the

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House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

at the start of each session of

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. The equivalent bill used by the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

is the Outlawries Bill. The bill is read after the King's Speech, after the Commons have returned to their chamber, but before any debate on the contents of the Speech. The bill is given a

pro forma The term ''pro forma'' (Latin for "as a matter of form" or "for the sake of form") is most often used to describe a practice or document that is provided as a courtesy or satisfies minimum requirements, conforms to a norm or doctrine, tends to ...

first reading A reading of a bill is a stage of debate on the bill held by a general body of a legislature. In the Westminster system, developed in the United Kingdom, there are generally three readings of a bill as it passes through the stages of becoming, ...

upon the motion of the

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, to demonstrate that the House can debate on whatever it chooses and set its own business independently of the Crown.

Origin of the bill

The vestry committees evolved in ecclesiastical parishes out of the feudal system and the removal of the influence of the Church after the Reformation. They had a dual nature and acquired civil duties such as administering the

Poor Law In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of he ...

. These bodies met in the

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

of the local

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

and were responsible for imposing a form of local

tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

es known as the

church rate The church rate was a tax formerly levied in each parish in England and Ireland for the benefit of the Church of England parish church, parish church. The rates were used to meet the costs of carrying on divine service, repairing the fabric of the ...

. They were in effect the government of rural England and Wales until the reforms of the late 1800s creating county and district councils. Select vestry comforts LCCN2006691072

Whilst the open vestry was a general meeting of all inhabitant rate-paying householders in a parish,. in the 17th century the huge growth of population in some parishes, mostly urban, made it increasingly difficult to convene and conduct meetings. Consequently, select vestries were created in some of these. They were administrative committees of selected parishioners whose members generally had a property qualification and who were recruited largely by

co-option Co-option (also co-optation, sometimes spelt coöption or coöptation) has two common meanings. It may refer to the process of adding members to an elite group at the discretion of members of the body, usually to manage opposition and so maintai ...

. This took responsibility from the community at large and improved efficiency, but over time tended to lead to governance by a self-perpetuating elite. This committee was also known as the "close vestry". By the late 17th century, the existence of a number of autocratic and corrupt select vestries had become a national scandal, and several bills were introduced to Parliament in the 1690s, but none became acts. There was continual agitation for reform, and in 1698 to keep the debate alive the

insisted that a bill to reform the select vestries, the Select Vestries Bill, would always be the first item of business of the Lords in a new parliament until a reform bill was passed. The first reading of the bill was made annually, but every year the bill never got any further. This continues to this day as an archaic custom in the Lords to assert the independence from the Crown, even though the select vestries have long been abolished.KP Poole & Bryan Keith-Lucas. ''Parish Government 1894–1994''.

National Association of Local Councils The National Association of Local Councils (NALC) is a membership organisation and the only national body representing the interests of local (parish and town) councils. NALC works in partnership with county associations to support, promote and ...

Select Vestries Acts

The term Select Vestries Acts collectively refers to two

Acts of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of parliament be ...

passed in 1818 and 1819 respectively, the ''Act for the Regulation of Parish Vestries'' (

Vestries Act 1818 A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloqui ...

, 58 Geo. III c. 69), and the ''Act to Amend the Law for the Relief of the Poor'' (

Poor Relief Act 1819 Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little

income

, 59 Geo. III c.12). These acts were promoted by William Sturges Bourne, MP and Chairman of a Committee to reform the Poor Laws, and are therefore also known as the Sturges Bourne Acts.

References

Constitution of the United Kingdom 1818 in British law 1819 in British law 1818 in England 1819 in England