The Chiltern Hundreds is an ancient administrative area in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-e ...

, England, composed of three " hundreds" and lying partially within the

Chiltern Hills The Chiltern Hills is a chalk escarpment in England. The area, northwest of London, covers stretching from Goring-on-Thames in the southwest to Hitchin in the northeast - across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and Bedfordshi ...

. "Taking the Chiltern Hundreds" refers to one of the

legal fiction A legal fiction is a fact assumed or created by courts, which is then used in order to help reach a decision or to apply a legal rule. The concept is used almost exclusively in common law jurisdictions, particularly in England and Wales. Deve ...

s used to effect resignation from the British House of Commons. Since Members of Parliament are not permitted to resign, they are instead appointed to an "office of profit under the Crown", which requires MPs to vacate their seats. The ancient office of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds, having been reduced to a mere

sinecure A sinecure ( or ; from the Latin , 'without', and , 'care') is an office, carrying a salary or otherwise generating income, that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service. The term originated in the medieval ch ...

by the 17th century, was first used by

John Pitt (of Encombe) John Pitt (c.1706–1787) of Encombe House, Dorset was a British MP for 35 years. He is recorded as having given one speech to Parliament. He is noted for being the first to be appointed to office of the Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds for t ...

in 1751 to vacate his seat in the House of Commons. Other titles were also later used for the same purpose, but only those of the Chiltern Hundreds and the Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead are still in use.

Three Chiltern Hundreds

A hundred is a traditional division of an

English county The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term "county" is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each ...

: the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a c ...

'' says that the etymology is "exceedingly obscure". The three Chiltern Hundreds were Stoke Hundred,

Desborough Hundred Desborough Hundred is a hundred in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated in the south of the county and is bounded on the west by Oxfordshire and on the south the River Thames marked the boundary with Berkshire. History Until at least the t ...

, and

Burnham Hundred Burnham Hundred is a hundred in the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated towards the south of the county and is bounded on the north by Hertfordshire and on the south by Berkshire. History Until at least the time of t ...

. The area had been

Crown property The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

as early as the 13th century.

Steward and bailiff

Original role

Through the

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

and early Norman periods the area was administered by an elder. But by the late

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

the office holder was elected from among a hundred's notable landholding families. As the area was wild and notorious for outlaws, a steward and

bailiff A bailiff (from Middle English baillif, Old French ''baillis'', ''bail'' "custody") is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. Bailiffs are of various kinds and their o ...

was appointed directly by

the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has differ ...

(thus as a royal

bailiwick A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. The bailiwick is probably modelled on th ...

it was a legal office answerable to the reigning monarch) to maintain law and order. However, by the end of the 16th century such positions had been deprecated by changes in local and Crown representations and roles – the government of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

had established royal representatives (

Justices of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or '' puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission (letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sam ...

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

s, and Lords Lieutenant) in every county of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

; they ensured that Royal commands and laws were obeyed. By the 17th century the office of steward and bailiff had been reduced to just a title with no attached powers or duties.

Resignation from the House of Commons

In the 17th century

Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MPs) were often elected against their will. On 2 March 1624, a resolution was passed by the House of Commons making it illegal for an MP to quit or wilfully give up his seat. Believing that officers of the Crown could not remain impartial, the House passed a resolution on 30 December 1680 stating that an MP who "shall accept any Office, or Place of Profit, from the Crown, without the Leave of this House ... shall be expelled romthis House." However, MPs were able to hold Crown Stewardships until 1740, when Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn was deemed to have vacated his Commons seat after becoming Steward of the Lordship and Manor of Bromfield and Yale. The post of ''Crown Steward and Bailiff of the three Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham'' remained a nominal office of profit under the Crown, even though it had lost its original significance. It became the first office to be used for resignation when John Pitt was appointed Crown Steward on 25 January 1751. A number of other offices have also been used, but only the Chiltern Hundreds and the Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead are still in use.

References

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External links