The full title of the Parliament Act (1 & 2 Geo. 5. c. 13) was “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.” Its primary purpose was to limit the power of the unelected and hereditary House of Lords to block legislation proposed by the democratically elected House of Commons. A further stipulation of the Act reduced the maximum period between elections from seven years to five years (which had been the law since the Septennial Act of 1715) so that the government would have to present its policies to the electorate more frequently.
The long-term cause of the Parliament Act was the increasing power of the urban middle class, and the declining strength of the landed
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Citation: Clark, Robert. "Parliament Act - Reform of House of Lords". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 December 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=5471, accessed 23 November 2024.]
