137. GEORGE V: STATUTES
An act to make provision with respect to the powers of the house of lords in relation to those of the house of commons and to limit the duration of parliament. Whereas it is expedient that provision should be made for regulating the relations between the two houses of parliament; and whereas it is intended to substitute for the house of lords as it at present exists a second chamber constituted on a popular instead of hereditary basis, but such substitution cannot be immediately brought into operation; and whereas provision will require hereafter to be made by parliament in a measure effecting such substitution for limiting and defining the powers of the new second chamber, but it is expedient to make such provision as in this act appears for restricting the existing powers of the house of lords: be it therefore enacted ... as follows: —
If a money bill, having been passed by the house of commons and sent up to the house of lords at least one month before the end of the session, is not passed by the house of lords without amendment within one month after it is so sent up to that house, the bill shall, unless the house of commons direct to the contrary, be presented to his majesty and become an act of parliament on the royal assent being signified, notwithstanding that the house of lords have not consented to the bill. A money bill means a public bill which in the opinion of the speaker of the house of commons contains only provisions dealing with all or any of the following subjects: namely, the imposition, repeal, remission, alteration, or regulation of taxation; the imposition for the payment of debt or other financial purposes of charges on the consolidated fund, or on money provided by parliament, or the variation or repeal of any such charges; supply; the appropriation, receipt, custody, issue, or audit of accounts of public money; the raising or guarantee of any loan or the repayment thereof; or subordinate matters incidental to those subjects or any of them. In this sub-section the expressions, "taxation," "public money," and "loan" respectively, do not include any taxation, money, or loan raised by local authorities or bodies for local purposes. There shall be endorsed on every money bill when it is sent up to the house of lords and when it is presented to his majesty for assent the certificate of the speaker of the house of commons signed by him that it is a money bill....
If any public bill (other than a money bill or a bill containing any provision to extend the maximum duration of parliament beyond five years) is passed by the house of commons in three successive sessions (whether of the same parliament or not), and, having been sent up to the house of lords at least one month before the end of the session, is rejected by the house of lords in each of those sessions, that bill shall, on its rejection for the third time by the house of lords, unless the house of commons direct to the contrary, be presented to his majesty and become an act of parliament on the royal assent being signified thereto, notwithstanding that the house of lords have not consented to the bill. Provided that this provision shall not take effect unless two years have elapsed between the date of the second reading in the first of those sessions of the bill in the house of commons and the date on which it passes the house of commons in the third of those sessions. When a bill is presented to his majesty for assent in pursuance of the provisions of this section, there shall be endorsed on the bill the certificate of the speaker of the house of commons signed by him that the provisions of this section have been duly complied with. A bill shall be deemed to be rejected by the house of lords if it is not passed by the house of lords either without amendment or with such amendments only as may be agreed to by both houses. A bill shall be deemed to be the same bill as a former bill sent up to the house of lords in the preceding session if, when it is sent up to the house of lords, it is identical with the former bill or contains only such alterations as are certified by the speaker of the house of commons to be necessary owing to the time which has elapsed since the date of the former bill, or to represent any amendments which have been made by the house of lords in the former bill in the preceding session, and any amendments which are certified by the speaker to have been made by the house of lords in the third session and agreed to by the house of commons shall be inserted in the bill as presented for royal assent in pursuance of this section....
Any certificate of the speaker of the house of commons given under this act shall be conclusive for all purposes, and shall not be questioned in any court of law.
In every bill presented to his majesty under the preceding provisions of this act, the words of enactment shall be as follows, that is to say: "Be it enacted by the king's most excellent majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the commons in this present parliament assembled, in accordance with the provisions of the Parliament Act, 1911, and by authority of the same, as follows." ...
Five years shall be substituted for seven years as the time fixed for the maximum duration of parliament under the Septennial Act, 1715....[2]
Ibid., XLIX, 38 f.: 1-2 George V, c. 13.
(B) National Insurance Act (1911)
An act to provide for insurance against loss of health and for the prevention and cure of sickness and for insurance against unemployment, and for purposes incidental thereto. Be it enacted ... as follows: —
Part I: National Health Insurance. Subject to the provisions of this act, all persons of the age of sixteen and upwards who are employed within the meaning of this part of this act shall be, and any such persons who are not so employed but who possess the qualifications hereinafter mentioned may be, insured in manner provided in this part of this act, and all persons so insured (in this act called "insured persons") shall be entitled in the manner and subject to the conditions provided in this act to the benefits in respect of health insurance and prevention of sickness conferred by this part of this act. The persons employed within the meaning of this part of this act (in this act referred to as "employed contributors") shall include all persons of either sex, whether British subjects or not, who are engaged in any of the employments specified in Part I of the first schedule to this act, not being employments specified in Part II of that schedule....[3]
Except as otherwise provided by this act, the funds for providing the benefits conferred by this part of this act and defraying the expenses of the administration of those benefits shall be derived as to seven-ninths (or, in the case of women, three-fourths) thereof from contributions made by or in respect of the contributors by themselves or their employers, and as to the remaining two-ninths (or, in the case of women, one-quarter) thereof from moneys provided by parliament. The contributions payable in respect of employed contributors shall be at the rate specified in Part I of the second schedule to this act (hereinafter referred to as the employed rate), and shall comprise contributions by the contributors and contributions by their employers at the rates specified in that part of that schedule, and shall be payable at weekly or other prescribed intervals.... The employer shall, in the first instance, pay both the contributions payable by himself (in this act referred to as the employer's contributions) and also, on behalf of the employed contributor, the contributions payable by such contributor, and shall be entitled to recover from the contributor by deduction from his wages or otherwise the amount of the contributions so paid by him on behalf of the contributor, in accordance with the rules set out in the third schedule to this act....
Subject to the provisions of this act, the benefits conferred by this act upon insured persons are (a) medical treatment and attendance ... (in this act called "medical benefit"); (b) treatment in sanatoria or other institutions ... (in this act called "sanatorium benefit"); (c) periodical payments whilst rendered incapable of work by ... bodily or mental disablement ... , continuing for a period not exceeding twenty-six weeks (in this act called "sickness benefit"); (d) in the case of the disease or disablement continuing after the determination of sickness benefit, periodical payments so long as so rendered incapable of work ... (in this act called "disablement benefit"); (e) payment in the case of the confinement of the wife ... of an insured person, or of any other woman who is an insured person, of a sum of 30s. (in this act called "maternity benefit")....
Every insurance committee shall, for the purpose of administering medical benefit, make arrangements with duly qualified medical practitioners in accordance with regulations made by the insurance commissioners.[4] The regulations made by the insurance commissioners shall provide for the arrangements made being subject to the approval of the insurance commissioners and being such as to secure that insured persons shall ... receive adequate medical attendance and treatment from the medical practitioners with whom arrangements are so made, and shall require the adoption by every insurance committee of such system as will secure (a) the preparation and publication of lists of medical practitioners who have agreed to attend and treat insured persons whose medical benefit is administered by the committee; (b) a right on the part of any duly qualified medical practitioner who is desirous of being included in any such list as aforesaid of being so included ...; (c) a right on the part of any insured person of selecting, at such periods as may be prescribed, from the appropriate list the practitioner by whom he wishes to be attended and treated, and, subject to the consent of the practitioner so selected, of being attended and treated by him; (d) the distribution amongst ... the several practitioners, whose names are on the lists, of the insured persons who after due notice have failed to make any selection, or who have been refused by the practitioner whom they have selected....
Part II: Unemployment Insurance. Every workman who, having been employed in a trade mentioned in the sixth schedule to this act[5] (in this act referred to as "an insured trade"), is unemployed, and in whose case the conditions laid down by this part of this act (in this act referred to as "statutory conditions") are fulfilled, shall be entitled ... to receive payments (in this act referred to as "unemployment benefit") at weekly or other prescribed intervals at such rates and for such periods as are authorized by or under the seventh schedule to this act....
The sums required for the payment of unemployment benefit under this act shall be derived partly from contributions by workmen in the insured trades and partly from contributions by employers of such workmen and partly from moneys provided by parliament. Subject to the provisions of this part of this act, every workman employed within the united kingdom in an insured trade and every employer of any such workman shall be liable to pay contributions at the rates specified in the eighth schedule to this act. Except where the regulations under this part of this act otherwise prescribe, the employer shall, in the first instance, be liable to pay both the contribution payable by himself and also, on behalf of and to the exclusion of the workman, the contribution payable by such workman; and, subject to such regulations, shall be entitled, notwithstanding the provisions of any act or any contract to the contrary, to recover from the workman by deductions from the workman's wages or from any other payment due from him to the workman the amount of the contributions so paid by him on behalf of the workman....
For the purposes of this part of this act, there shall be established under the control and management of the board of trade a fund called the unemployment fund, into which shall be paid all contributions payable under this part of this act by employers and workmen and out of moneys provided by parliament, and out of which shall be paid all claims for unemployment benefit and any other payments which under this part of this act are payable out of the fund.... The treasury may out of the consolidated fund or the growing produce thereof advance, on the security of the unemployment fund, any sums required for the purpose of discharging the liabilities of that fund under this part of this act; provided that the total amount of advances outstanding at any time shall not exceed £3,000,000....
Ibid., XLIX, 337 f.: 1-2 George V, c. 55.
(C) Defence of the Realm Consolidation Act (1914)
An act to consolidate and amend the Defence of the Realm Acts. Be it enacted ... as follows: —
His majesty in council has power, during the continuance of the present war, to issue regulations for securing the public safety and the defence of the realm and as to the powers and duties for that purpose of the admiralty and army council and of the members of his majesty's forces and other persons acting in his behalf; and may, by such regulations, authorize the trial by courts martial, or in the case of minor offences by courts of summary jurisdiction, and punishment of persons committing offences against the regulations and in particular against any of the provisions of such regulations designed (a) to prevent persons communicating with the enemy or obtaining information for that purpose or any purpose calculated to jeopardize the success of the operations of any of his majesty's forces or the forces of his allies or to assist the enemy; or (b) to secure the safety of his majesty's forces and ships and the safety of any means of communication and of railways, ports, and harbours; or (c) to prevent the spread of false reports or reports likely to cause disaffection to his majesty or to interfere with the success of his majesty's forces by land or sea or to prejudice his majesty's relations with foreign powers; or (d) to secure the navigation of vessels in accordance with directions given by or under the authority of the admiralty; or (e) otherwise to prevent assistance being given to the enemy or the successful prosecution of the war being endangered.
Any such regulations may provide for the suspension of any restrictions on the acquisition or use of land, or the exercise of the power of making by-laws or any other power under the Defence Acts, 1842 to 1875....[6] It shall be lawful for the admiralty or army council to require that there shall be placed at their disposal the whole or any part of the output of any factory or workshop in which arms, ammunition, or warlike stores or equipment, or any articles required for the production thereof, are manufactured; to take possession of and use for the purpose of his majesty's naval or military service any such factory or workshop....
The Defence of the Realm Act, 1914, and the Defence of the Realm (No. 2) Act, 1914, are hereby repealed; but nothing in this repeal shall affect any orders in council made thereunder....
Ibid., LIII, 21 f.: 5 George V, c. 8.
(D) Representation of the People Act (1918)
An act to amend the law with respect to parliamentary and local government franchises and the registration of parliamentary and local government electors and the conduct of elections, and to provide for the redistribution of seats at parliamentary elections and for other purposes connected therewith. Be it enacted ... as follows: —
A man shall be entitled to be registered as a parliamentary elector for a constituency (other than a university constituency) if he is of full age and not subject to any legal incapacity, and has the requisite residence qualification or has the requisite business premises qualification. A man, in order to have the requisite residence qualification or business premises qualification for a constituency, must on the last day of the qualifying period be residing in premises in the constituency or occupying business premises in the constituency, as the case may be, and must during the whole of the qualifying period have resided in premises or occupied business premises, as the case may be, in the constituency or in another constituency within the same parliamentary borough or parliamentary county, or within a parliamentary borough or parliamentary county contiguous to that borough or county.... The expression "business premises" in this section means land or other premises of the yearly value of not less than £10 occupied for the purpose of the business, profession, or trade of the person to be registered. A man shall be entitled to be registered as a parliamentary elector for a university constituency if he is of full age and not subject to any legal incapacity and has received a degree (other than an honorary degree) at any university forming, or forming part of, the constituency.... A man shall be entitled to be registered as a local government elector for a local government electoral area, if he is of full age and not subject to any legal incapacity and is on the last day of the qualifying period occupying, as owner or tenant, any land or premises in that area and has, during the whole of the qualifying period, so occupied any land or premises in that area....
A woman shall be entitled to be registered as a parliamentary elector for a constituency (other than a university constituency) if she has attained the age of thirty years and is not subject to any legal incapacity and is entitled to be registered as a local government elector in respect of the occupation in that constituency of land or premises (not being a dwelling-house) of a yearly value of not less than £5 or of a dwelling-house, or is the wife of a husband entitled to be so registered. A woman shall be entitled to be registered as a parliamentary elector for a university constituency if she has attained the age of thirty years and either would be entitled to be so registered if she were a man, or has been admitted to and passed the final examination, and kept under the conditions required of women by the university the period of residence necessary for a man to obtain a degree at any university forming, or forming part of, a university constituency which did not at the time the examination was passed admit women to degrees. A woman shall be entitled to be registered as a local government elector for any local government electoral area where she would be entitled to be so registered if she were a man, and where she is the wife of a man who is entitled to be so registered in respect of premises in which they both reside, and she has attained the age of thirty years and is not subject to any legal incapacity....
Every person registered as a parliamentary elector for any constituency shall ... be entitled to vote at an election of a member to serve in parliament for that constituency; but a man shall not vote at a general election for more than one constituency for which he is registered by virtue of a residence qualification or for more than one constituency for which he is registered by virtue of other qualifications of whatever kind, and a woman shall not vote at a general election for more than one constituency for which she is registered by virtue of her own or her husband's local government qualification, or for more than one constituency for which she is registered by virtue of any other qualification.... A person shall not be disqualified from being registered or from voting as a parliamentary or local government elector by reason that he or some person for whose maintenance he is responsible has received poor relief or other alms....
Each of the areas mentioned in the first column of the first part of the ninth schedule to this act shall be a parliamentary borough returning the number of members specified opposite thereto in the said schedule, and where so provided in the schedule shall be divided into the divisions specified therein, and each such division shall return one member. Each of the areas mentioned in the first column of the second part of the ninth schedule to this act shall be a parliamentary county returning the number of members specified opposite thereto in the said schedule, and where so provided in the schedule shall be divided into the divisions specified therein, and each such division shall return one member. Each of the universities and combinations of universities mentioned in the third part of the ninth schedule to this act shall be a constituency returning the number of members specified opposite thereto in the said schedule. The distribution of seats in Great Britain under this part of this act shall take the place of the distribution of seats existing at the time of the passing of this act....[7]
Ibid., LV, 253 f.: 7-8 George V, c. 64.
(E) Re-election of Ministers Act (1919)
An act to make provision for restricting the necessity of the re-election of members of the house of commons on acceptance of office and to make provision as to the right of certain ministers to sit in the house of commons. Be it enacted ... as follows: —
Notwithstanding anything in any act, a member of the commons house of parliament shall not vacate his seat by reason only of his acceptance of an office of profit if that office is an office the holder of which is capable of being elected to or sitting or voting in that house, and if such acceptance has taken place within nine months after the issue of a proclamation summoning a new parliament.[8] Provided that this section shall not apply to the acceptance of any office mentioned in the schedule to this act;[9] nor shall it affect the provisions of any act imposing a limit on the number of secretaries or under-secretaries of state who may sit and vote in the commons house of parliament....
Where, before or after the passing of this act, a member of his majesty's privy council has been or is appointed to be a minister of the crown at a salary, without any other office being assigned to him, he shall not by reason thereof be deemed to have been or to be incapable of being elected to or of sitting or voting in the commons house of parliament, and the office of such minister shall be deemed to be an office included in the above-mentioned schedules. Provided that not more than three ministers to whom this section applies shall sit as members of that house at the same time....
Ibid., LVII, 4 f.: 9 George V, c. 2.
(F) Sex-disqualification Removal Act (1919)
An act to amend the law with respect to disqualifications on account of sex. Be it enacted ... as follows: —
A person shall not be disqualified by sex or marriage from the exercise of any public function, or from being appointed to or holding any civil or judicial office or post, or from entering or assuming or carrying on any civil profession or vocation, or for admission to any incorporated society ... and a person shall not be exempted by sex or marriage from the liability to serve as a juror.
Provided that, notwithstanding anything in this section, his majesty may by order in council authorize regulations to be made providing for and prescribing the mode of the admission of women to the civil service of his majesty ... and giving power to reserve to men any branch of or posts in the civil service in any of his majesty's possessions overseas, or in any foreign country; and any judge, chairman of quarter sessions, recorder or other person before whom a case is or may be heard may, in his discretion, on an application made by or on behalf of the parties ... make an order that the jury shall be composed of men only or of women only as the case may require, or may, on an application made by a woman to be exempted from service on a jury in respect of any case by reason of the nature of the evidence to be given or of the issues to be tried, grant such exemption....
Nothing in the statutes or charter of any university shall be deemed to preclude the authorities of such university from making such provision as they shall think fit for the admission of women to membership thereof, or to any degree, right, or privilege therein or in connection therewith....
Ibid., LVII, 325 f.: 9-10 George V, c. 71.
(G) Church of England Assembly Act (1919)
An act to confer powers on the national assembly of the Church of England ... and for other purposes connected therewith. Whereas the convocations of Canterbury and York have recommended ... that, subject to the control and authority of his majesty and of the two houses of parliament, powers in regard to legislation touching matters concerning the Church of England shall be conferred on the national assembly of the Church of England ...; and whereas it is expedient, subject to such control and authority as aforesaid, that such powers should be conferred on the Church assembly so constituted: be it therefore enacted ... as follows: —
... There shall be a committee of members of both houses of parliament styled the ecclesiastical committee. The ecclesiastical committee shall consist of fifteen members of the house of lords, nominated by the lord chancellor, and fifteen members of the house of commons, nominated by the speaker of the house of commons, to be appointed ... at the commencement of each parliament to serve for the duration of that parliament.... The powers and duties of the ecclesiastical committee may be exercised and discharged by any twelve members thereof, and the committee shall be entitled to sit and to transact business whether parliament be sitting or not and notwithstanding a vacancy in the membership of the committee. Subject to the provisions of this act, the ecclesiastical committee may regulate its own procedure.
Every measure passed by the Church assembly[10] shall be submitted by the legislative committee to the ecclesiastical committee, together with such comments and explanations as the legislative committee may deem it expedient or be directed by the Church assembly to add. The ecclesiastical committee shall thereupon consider the measure so submitted to it and may ... invite the legislative committee to a conference to discuss the provisions thereof, and thereupon a conference of the two committees shall be held accordingly. After considering the measure, the ecclesiastical committee shall draft a report thereon to parliament stating the nature and legal effect of the measure and its views as to the expediency thereof, especially with relation to the constitutional rights of all his majesty's subjects. The ecclesiastical committee shall communicate its report in draft to the legislative committee, but shall not present it to parliament until the legislative committee signify its desire that it should be so presented.
At any time before the presentation of the report to parliament the legislative committee may, either on its own motion or by direction of the Church assembly, withdraw a measure from further consideration by the ecclesiastical committee; but the legislative committee shall have no power to vary a measure of the Church assembly either before or after conference with the ecclesiastical committee. A measure may relate to any matter concerning the Church of England, and may extend to the amendment or repeal in whole or in part of any act of parliament, including this act. Provided that a measure shall not make any alteration in the composition or powers or duties of the ecclesiastical committee, or in the procedure in parliament prescribed by ... this act.
When the ecclesiastical committee shall have reported to parliament on any measure submitted by the legislative committee, the report, together with the text of such measure, shall be laid before both houses of parliament forthwith, if parliament be then sitting, or, if not, then immediately after the next meeting of parliament, and thereupon, on a resolution being passed by each house of parliament directing that such measure in the form laid before parliament should be presented to his majesty, such measure shall be presented to his majesty, and shall have the force and effect of an act of parliament on the royal assent being signified thereto in the same manner as to acts of parliament....
Ibid., LVII, 348 f.: 9-10 George V, c. 76.
(H) Emergency Powers Act (1920)
An act to make exceptional provision for the protection of the community in cases of emergency. Be it enacted ... as follows: —
If at any time it appears to his majesty that any action has been taken or is immediately threatened by any persons or body of persons of such a nature and on so extensive a scale as to be calculated, by interfering with the supply and distribution of food, water, fuel, or light, or with the means of locomotion, to deprive the community, or any substantial portion of the community, of the essentials of life, his majesty may by proclamation ... declare that a state of emergency exists. No such proclamation shall be in force for more than one month, without prejudice to the issue of another proclamation at or before the end of that period. Where a proclamation of emergency has been made, the occasion thereof shall forthwith be communicated to parliament and, if parliament is then separated by such adjournment or prorogation as will not expire within five days, a proclamation shall be issued for the meeting of parliament within five days, and parliament shall accordingly meet and sit upon the day appointed by that proclamation....
Where a proclamation of emergency has been made, and so long as the proclamation is in force, it shall be lawful for his majesty in council by order to make regulations for securing the essentials of life to the community; and those regulations may confer or impose on a secretary of state or other government department, or any other persons in his majesty's service or acting on his majesty's behalf, such powers and duties as his majesty may deem necessary for the preservation of the peace, for securing and regulating the supply and distribution of food, water, fuel, light, and other necessities, for maintaining the means of transit or locomotion, and for any other purposes essential to the public safety and the life of the community; and may make such provisions incidental to the powers aforesaid as may appear to his majesty to be required for making the exercise of those powers effective.
Provided that nothing in this act shall be construed to authorize the making of any regulations imposing any form of compulsory military service or industrial conscription. Provided also that no such regulation shall make it an offence for any person or persons to take part in a strike, or peacefully to persuade any other person or persons to take part in a strike. Any regulations so made shall be laid before parliament as soon as may be after they are made, and shall not continue in force after the expiration of seven days from the time when they are so laid unless a resolution is passed by both houses providing for the continuance thereof.
The regulations may provide for the trial, by courts of summary jurisdiction, of persons guilty of offences against the regulations; so, however, that the maximum penalty which may be inflicted for any offence against any such regulations shall be imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term of three months, or a fine of £100 or both such imprisonment and fine, together with the forfeiture of any goods or money in respect of which the offence has been committed. Provided that no such regulations shall alter any existing procedure in criminal cases or confer any right to punish by fine or imprisonment without trial....
This act shall not apply to Ireland.
Ibid., LVIII, 345 f.: 10-11 George V, c. 55.
(I) Irish Free State Agreement Act (1922)
An act to give the force of law to certain articles of agreement for a treaty between Great Britain and Ireland and to enable effect to be given thereto, and for other purposes incidental thereto and consequential thereon. Be it enacted ... as follows: —
The articles of agreement for a treaty between Great Britain and Ireland set forth in the schedule to this act shall have the force of law as from the date of the passing of this act. For the purpose of giving effect to article 17 of the said agreement, orders in council may be made transferring to the provisional government established under that article the powers and machinery therein referred to; and, as soon as may be and not later than four months after the passing of this act, the parliament of Southern Ireland shall be dissolved and such steps shall be taken as may be necessary for holding ... an election of members for the constituencies which would have been entitled to elect members to that parliament, and the members so elected shall constitute the house of the parliament to which the provisional government shall be responsible, and that parliament shall, as respects matters within the jurisdiction of the provisional government, have power to make laws in like manner as the parliament of the Irish Free State when constituted.... No writ shall be issued after the passing of this act for the election of a member to serve in the commons house of parliament for a constituency in Ireland other than a constituency in Northern Ireland....
Articles of Agreement.... I. Ireland shall have the same constitutional status, in the community of nations known as the British Empire, as the dominion of Canada, the commonwealth of Australia, the dominion of New Zealand, and the union of South Africa, with a parliament having powers to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of Ireland, and an executive responsible to that parliament, and shall be styled and known as the Irish Free State.
2. Subject to the provisions hereinafter set out, the position of the Irish Free State in relation to the imperial parliament and government and otherwise shall be that of the dominion of Canada, and the law, practice, and constitutional usage governing the relationship of the crown or the representative of the crown and of the imperial parliament to the dominion of Canada shall govern their relationship to the Irish Free State.
3. The representative of the crown in Ireland shall be appointed in like manner as the governor general of Canada and in accordance with the practice observed in the making of such appointments.
4. The oath to be taken by members of the parliament of the Irish Free State shall be in the following form: —
"I, ———— , do solemnly swear true faith and allegiance to the constitution of the Irish Free State as by law established, and that I will be faithful to his majesty King George V, his heirs, and successors by law, in virtue of the common citizenship of Ireland with Great Britain and her adherence to and membership of the group of nations forming the British Commonwealth of Nations." ...
11. Until the expiration of one month from the passing of the act of parliament for the ratification of this instrument, the powers of the parliament and the government of the Irish Free State shall not be exercisable as respects Northern Ireland....
12. If, before the expiration of the said month, an address is presented to his majesty by both houses of the parliament of Northern Ireland to that effect, the powers of the parliament and government of the Irish Free State shall no longer extend to Northern Ireland....[11]
16. Neither the parliament of the Irish Free State nor the parliament of Northern Ireland shall make any law so as either directly or indirectly to endow any religion, or prohibit or restrict the free exercise thereof, or give any preference or impose any disability on account of religious belief or religious status, or affect prejudicially the right of any child to attend a school receiving public money without attending the religious instruction at the school, or make any discrimination as respects state aid between schools under the management of different religious denominations, or divert from any religious denomination or any educational institution any of its property except for public utility purposes and on payment of compensation.
17. By way of provisional arrangement for the administration of Southern Ireland during the interval which must elapse between the date hereof and the constitution of a parliament and government of the Irish Free State in accordance therewith, steps shall be taken forthwith for summoning a meeting of members of parliament elected for constituencies in Southern Ireland since the passing of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, and for constituting a provisional government, and the British government shall take the steps necessary to transfer to such provisional government the powers and machinery requisite for the discharge of its duties, provided that every member of such provisional government shall have signified in writing his or her acceptance of this instrument. But this arrangement shall not continue in force beyond the expiration of twelve months from the date hereof....
Ibid., LX, 4 f.: 12 George V, c. 4.
(J) Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act (1927)
An act to declare and amend the law relating to trade disputes and trade unions ... and for other purposes connected with the purposes aforesaid. Be it enacted ... as follows: —
... Any strike is illegal if it has any object other than or in addition to the furtherance of a trade dispute within the trade or industry in which the strikers are engaged, and is a strike designed or calculated to coerce the government either directly or by inflicting hardship upon the community....[12]
The provisions of the Trade Disputes Act, 1906, shall not, nor shall the second proviso to sub-section I of section 2 of the Emergency Powers Act, 1920,[13] apply to any act done in contemplation or furtherance of a strike or lockout which is by this act declared to be illegal, and any such act shall not be deemed for the purposes of any enactment to be done in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute. Provided that no person shall be deemed to have committed an offence under any regulations made under the Emergency Powers Act, 1920, by reason only of his having ceased work or having refused to continue to work or to accept employment.
No person refusing to take part or to continue to take part in any strike or lockout which is by this act declared to be illegal, shall be, by reason of such refusal or by reason of any action taken by him under this section, subject to expulsion from any trade union or society, or to any fine or penalty, or to deprivation of any right or benefit to which he or his legal personal representatives would otherwise be entitled, or liable to be placed in any respect either directly or indirectly under any disability or at any disadvantage as compared with other members of the union or society, anything to the contrary in the rules of a trade union or society notwithstanding....
It is hereby declared that it is unlawful for one or more persons (whether acting on their own behalf or on behalf of a trade union or of an individual employer or firm, and notwithstanding that they may be acting in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute) to attend at or near a house or place where a person resides or works or carries on business, or happens to be, for the purpose of obtaining or communicating information or of persuading or inducing any person to work or to abstain from working, if they so attend in such numbers or otherwise in such manner as to be calculated to intimidate any person in that house or place, or to obstruct the approach thereto or egress therefrom, or to lead to a breach of the peace....
It shall not be lawful to require any member of a trade union to make any contribution to the political fund of a trade union unless he has ... delivered at the head office or some branch office of the trade union notice in writing ... of his willingness to contribute to that fund....
Amongst the regulations as to the conditions of service in his majesty's civil establishments there shall be included regulations prohibiting established civil servants from being members, delegates, or representatives of any organization of which the primary object is to influence or affect the remuneration and conditions of employment of its members, unless the organization is an organization of which the membership is confined to persons employed by or under the crown....
It shall not be lawful for any local or other public authority to make it a condition of the employment or continuance in employment of any person that he shall or shall not be a member of a trade union, or to impose any condition upon persons employed by the authority whereby employees who are or who are not members of a trade union are liable to be placed in any respect either directly or indirectly under any disability or disadvantage as compared with other employees. It shall not be lawful for any local or other public authority to make it a condition of any contract made or proposed to be made with the authority, or of the consideration or acceptance of any tender in connection with such a contract, that any person to be employed by any party to the contract shall or shall not be a member of a trade union.... There shall be added to section 5 of the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act, 1875, the following provision, that is to say: "If any person employed by a local or other public authority wilfully breaks a contract of service with that authority, knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that the probable consequence of his so doing, either alone or in combination with others, will be to cause injury or danger or grave inconvenience to the community, he shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £10 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months." ...
Public General Acts, 1927, 328 f.: 17-18 George V, c. 22.
(K) Equal Franchise Act (1928)
An act to assimilate the franchises for men and women in respect of parliamentary and local government elections, and for purposes consequential thereon. Be it enacted ... as follows: —
For the purpose of providing that the parliamentary franchise shall be the same for men and women, sub-sections 1 and 2 of section 4 of the Representation of the People Act, 1918 (in this act referred to as the principal act), shall be repealed, and the following sections shall be substituted for sections 1 and 2 of that act: —
... "1. A person shall be entitled to be registered as a parliamentary elector for a constituency (other than a university constituency) if he or she is of full age and not subject to any legal incapacity and has the requisite residence qualification, or has the requisite business premises qualification, or is the husband or wife of a person entitled to be so registered in respect of a business premises qualification...."
"2. A person shall be entitled to be registered as a parliamentary elector for a university constituency if he or she is of full age and not subject to any legal incapacity and has received a degree (other than an honorary degree) at any university forming, or forming part of, the constituency...."
For the purpose of providing that the local government franchise shall be the same for men and women, sub-section 3 of section 4 of the principal act shall be repealed, and the following section shall be substituted for section 3 of that act: —
"A person shall be entitled to be registered as a local government elector for a local government electoral area if he or she is of full age and not subject to any legal incapacity and is on the last day of the qualifying period occupying as owner or tenant any land or premises in that area, and has during the whole of the qualifying period so occupied any land or premises in that area ... , or is the husband or wife of a person entitled to be so registered in respect of premises in which both the person so entitled and the husband or wife, as the case may be, reside...."
Ibid., 1928, 27 f.: 18-19 George V, c. 12.
(L) Local Government Act (1929)
An act to amend the law relating to the administration of poor relief, registration of births, deaths, and marriages, highways, town-planning, and local government ... , and for purposes consequential on the matters aforesaid. Be it enacted ... as follows: —
On the appointed day the functions of each poor law authority shall, subject to the provisions of this act ... , be transferred to
the council of the county or county borough comprising the poor law area for which the poor law authority acts ... and, as from the appointed day, all the then existing poor law authorities shall cease to exist.
As from the appointed day the following provisions shall have effect with respect to functions relating to infant life, protection, and vaccination formerly discharged by poor law authorities: functions under Part I of the Children Act, 1908, shall be discharged by the councils of counties and county boroughs as functions under the Maternity and Child Welfare Act, 1918, except that where the council of a district have established a maternity and child welfare committee the said functions shall, in that district, be discharged by the council of the district and not by the county council; and functions relating to vaccination shall be discharged by the councils of counties and county boroughs as functions relating to public health....
The council of every county and county borough shall prepare and, within six months after the commencement of this act, submit to the minister a scheme ... of the administrative arrangements proposed to be made for discharging the functions transferred to the council under this part of this act.... A council, in preparing an administrative scheme, shall have regard to the desirability of securing that, as soon as circumstances permit, all assistance which can lawfully be provided otherwise than by way of poor relief shall be so provided ...; but nothing in this sub-section or in any scheme shall diminish or otherwise affect the duty of a council under section 34 of the Poor Law Act, 1927, to provide relief for the poor. For the purpose of this sub-section, the expression "assistance" includes maintenance and treatment at hospitals and other places, the education of children, and any other services which could, after the appointed day, be provided either by way of poor relief or by virtue of any of the above-mentioned acts....
An administrative scheme shall provide for the constitution of a committee of the council (hereinafter referred to as the public assistance committee) and may provide (a) that any other committee of the council shall act as the public assistance committee, or that the members for the time being of any other such committee shall so act; and (b) for the inclusion in the public assistance committee, or among any members of another committee acting as such, of persons who are not members of the council, some of whom shall be women — so, however, that of the whole number of members of the public assistance committee, or committee or body acting as such, two-thirds at least shall be members of the council....
In the case of a county the administrative scheme shall provide for the division of the county into areas, each area consisting of one or more districts, and for the constitution for each such area of a local sub-committee of the public assistance committee (to be called the guardians committee of the area) consisting of not more than thirty-six nor less than twelve members ...; f or the discharge, subject to such general or special restrictions or conditions as the county council may from time to time impose, by each guardians committee, or a sub-committee thereof, of such of the functions transferred to the council under this part of this act as relate to the following matters: — the consideration and examination of applications for relief; the determination of the nature and amount of the relief, if any, to be given to such applicants; the determination of the amount, if any, to be paid by any recipient of relief, or the persons liable for his maintenance, towards reimbursing the council the amount expended by them on his relief; the visiting inspection or management, if the public assistance committee so request, of any poor law institutions in the area for which the guardians committee is appointed — so, however, that the functions to be delegated under this sub-section shall not include the appointment or dismissal of any officer.... No scheme so submitted to the minister shall be of any effect unless and until it has been approved by the minister....
The council of every county shall be the highway authority as respects every road in the county which at the appointed day is a main road, or which would, apart from this section, at any time thereafter have become a main road....
Where after the appointed day the council of a county and any local authority or local authorities under the Town Planning Act, 1925, are desirous of acting jointly in the preparation or adoption of a town planning scheme, they shall be entitled to do so....
Ibid., 1928-29, 49 f.: 19 George V, c. 17.
(M) Statute of Westminster (1931)
An act to give effect to certain resolutions passed by imperial conferences held in the years 1926 and 1930. Whereas the delegates of his majesty's governments in the united kingdom, the dominion of Canada, the commonwealth of Australia, the dominion of New Zealand, the union of South Africa, the Irish Free State, and Newfoundland, at imperial conferences holden at Westminster in the years of our Lord 1926 and 1930, did concur in making the declarations and resolutions set forth in the reports of the said conferences; and whereas it is meet and proper to set out by way of preamble to this act that, inasmuch as the crown is the symbol of the free association of the members of the British Commonwealth of Nations, and as they are united by a common allegiance to the crown, it would be in accord with the established constitutional position of all the members of the commonwealth in relation to one another that any alteration in the law touching the succession to the throne or the royal style and titles shall hereafter require the assent as well of the parliaments of all the dominions as of the parliament of the united kingdom; and whereas it is in accord with the established constitutional position that no law hereafter made by the parliament of the united kingdom shall extend to any of the said dominions as part of the law of that dominion otherwise than at the request and with the consent of that dominion; and whereas it is necessary for the ratifying, confirming, and establishing of certain of the said declarations and resolutions of the said conferences that a law be made and enacted in due form by authority of the parliament of the united kingdom; and whereas the dominion of Canada, the commonwealth of Australia, the dominion of New Zealand, the union of South Africa, the Irish Free State, and Newfoundland have severally requested and consented to the submission of a measure to the parliament of the united kingdom for making such provision with regard to the matters aforesaid as is hereafter in this act contained: now, therefore, be it enacted ... as follows: —
In this act the expression dominion means any of the following dominions: that is to say, the dominion of Canada, the commonwealth of Australia, the dominion of New Zealand, the union of South Africa, the Irish Free State, and Newfoundland. The Colonial Laws Validity Act, 1865,[14] shall not apply to any law made after the commencement of this act by the parliament of a dominion. No law and no provision of any law made after the commencement of this act by the parliament of a dominion shall be void or inoperative on the ground that it is repugnant to the law of England, or to the provisions of any existing or future act of parliament of the united kingdom, or to any order, rule, or regulation made under any such act, and the powers of the parliament of a dominion shall include the power to repeal or amend any such act, order, rule, or regulation in so far as the same is part of the law of the dominion. It is hereby declared and enacted that the parliament of a dominion has full power to make laws having extra-territorial operation. No act of parliament of the united kingdom passed after the commencement of this act shall extend, or be deemed to extend, to a dominion as part of the law of that dominion, unless it is expressly declared in that act that that dominion has requested, and consented to, the enactment thereof....
Nothing in this act shall be deemed to apply to the repeal, amendment, or alteration of the British North America Acts, 1867 to 1930, or any order, rule, or regulation made thereunder. The provisions of section 2 of this act shall extend to laws made by any of the provinces of Canada and to the powers of the legislatures of such provinces. The powers conferred by this act upon the parliament of Canada or upon the legislatures of the provinces shall be restricted to the enactment of laws in relation to matters within the competence of the parliament of Canada or of any of the legislatures of the provinces respectively. Nothing in this act shall be deemed to confer any power to repeal or alter the constitution or the Constitution Act of the commonwealth of Australia or the Constitution Act of the dominion of New Zealand otherwise than in accordance with the law existing before the commencement of this act.
Nothing in this act shall be deemed to authorize the parliament of the commonwealth of Australia to make laws on any matter within the authority of the states of Australia, not being a matter within the authority of the parliament or government of the commonwealth of Australia. Nothing in this act shall be deemed to require the concurrence of the parliament or government of the commonwealth of Australia in any law made by the parliament of the united kingdom with respect to any matter within the authority of the states of Australia, not being a matter within the authority of the parliament or government of the commonwealth of Australia, in any case where it would have been in accordance with the constitutional practice existing before the commencement of this act that the parliament of the united kingdom should make that law without such concurrence....
Ibid., 1932, 13 f.: 22 George V, c. 4.
[1] Cf. no. 138A-C.
[2] No. 122B.
[3] Part I lays down the principle that in general the labouring class shall be insured under the act. The persons excepted in Part II are mainly government employees, salaried officials, teachers, workers hired for casual employment, and those earning more than £160 a year otherwise than by manual labour.
[4] The insurance commissioners were officials appointed by the crown for the general administration of the act. Within each county an insurance committee, of from forty to eighty members, was to supervise the payment of benefits.
[5] The principal trades mentioned are building, construction of works, shipbuilding, mechanical engineering, ironfounding, and construction of vehicles.
[6] Cf. nos. 131B, 139D, E.
[7] The ninth schedule contains a complete amended list of the constituencies in the united kingdom.
[8] This restriction was repealed in 1926.
[9] The schedule names two offices: steward or bailiff of his majesty's three Chiltern hundreds of Stoke, Desborough, and Burnham; steward or bailiff of the manors of East Hendred, Northstead, or Hempholme.
[10] The two convocations had established a single national assembly for the Church of England consisting of a house of bishops, a house of clergy, and a house of laity.
[11] Since an address to this effect was presented, a number of articles contemplating the subordination of Northern Ireland to the Free State remained without force.
[12] Exactly the same provisions are applied to lockouts.
[13] See nos. 136A, 137H.
[14] No. 131F.