Vestries Act 1831
United Kingdom legislation / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Vestries Act 1831 (1 & 2 Will. 4. c. 60), commonly known as Hobhouse's Vestry Act (named after the Whig frontbencher Sir John Hobhouse, later created Lord Broughton), was an Act of Parliament in 1831 and was a local government overhaul which also affected the Established Church at a local level. The act gave subsidiarity in that local ratepayers would have to agree by a special majority for the reform to take effect in their local area (parish).
Long title | An Act for the better Regulation of Vestries, and for the Appointment of Auditors of Accounts, in certain Parishes of England and Wales. |
---|---|
Citation | 1 & 2 Will. 4. c. 60 |
Territorial extent | Provinces of Canterbury and York (England, Channel Islands, Isle of Man) |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 20 October 1831 |
Repealed | 1 June 1992 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Church of England (Miscellaneous Provisions) Measure 1992 |
Status: Repealed | |
Text of the Vestries Act 1831 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk. |
Where locally approved it replaced the select vestry (the local government where not an open vestry and which was in most cases a narrow oligarchy) with a non-co-opted system of vestrymen (vestry members) to be instead elected by ratepayers (male and female) who had been resident in the parish for more than a year.
To adopt the act (reform) the parish had to have over 800 ratepayers (thus excluding almost all rural parishes), of whom at least two-thirds would need to vote in support of the reform.
The five metropolitan parishes to adopt the act were:[2]
Membership of their vestries were replaced over a period of three years with a series of elections.
The Metropolis Management Act 1855 went further by abolishing the remaining select vestries of all metropolitan parishes in 1855 and extended the principle of election by ratepayers.