Tumultuous Petitioning Act 1661

United Kingdom legislation

Tumultuous Petitioning Act 1661^[1]
Dates
Act of Parliament
Parliament of England
Long title	An Act against Tumults and Disorders upon pretence of preparing or presenting Peticions or other Addresses to His Majesty or the Parliament.^[2]
Citation	13 Cha. 2 St. 1. c. 5
Royal assent	30 July 1661
Commencement	8 May 1661
Repealed	1 April 1987
Other legislation
Repealed by	Public Order Act 1986
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Tumultuous Petitioning Act 1661 (13 Cha. 2 St. 1. c. 5) was an Act of the Parliament of England. Its long title was "An Act against Tumults and Disorders upon pretence of preparing or presenting publick Peticions or other Addresses to His Majesty or the Parliament".

Petitions to either the House of Commons or House of Lords seem to have been later in origin than petitions to the Crown. They are not referred to in the Bill of Rights (1688 or 1689), but the right of petition is a convention of the constitution. Petitions to the Lords or the whole Parliament can be traced back to Henry III. No petition to the Commons has been found earlier than Richard II; but from the time of Henry IV petitions to the Commons have been freely made. The political importance of petitioning dates from about the reign of Charles I. The development of the practice of petitioning had proceeded so far in the reign of Charles II as to lead to the passing in 1662 of an Act against "tumultuous petitioning". It provides that no petition or address shall be presented to the king or either house of Parliament by more than ten persons; nor shall any one procure above twenty persons to consent or set their hands to any petition for alteration of matters established by law in church or state, unless with the previous order of three justices of the county, or the major part of the grand jury.^[3]

It was repealed by section 40(3) of, and Schedule 3 to, the Public Order Act 1986.

References

^ The citation of this Act by this short title was authorised by section 5 of, and Schedule 2 to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1948. Due to the repeal of those provisions, it is now authorised by section 19(2) of the Interpretation Act 1978.
^ These words are printed against this Act in the second column of Schedule 2 to the Statute Law Revision Act 1948, which is headed "Title".
^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Petition". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 306.

'Charles II, 1661: An Act against Tumults and Disorders upon p[re]tence of p[re]paring or p[re]senting publick Petic[i]ons or other Addresses to His Majesty or the Parliament', Statutes of the Realm: Volume 5: 1628-80 (1819), p. 308. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=47289. Date accessed: 21 July 2018.
Text of the Act at constitution.org, go to (G)

UK legislation

Pre-parliamentary legislation

Acts of parliaments of states preceding
the Kingdom of Great Britain

Parliament of England	1225–1267 1275–1307 1308–1325 Temp. incert. 1327–1376 1377–1397 1399–1411 1413–1421 1422–1460 1461 1463 1464 1467 1468 1472 1474 1477 1482 1483 1485–1503 1509–1535 1536 1539–1540 1541 1542 1543 1545 1546 1547 1548 1549 1551 1553 1554 1555 1557 1558–1575 1580 1584 1586 1588 1592 1597 1601 1603 1605 1606 1609 1620 1623 1625 1627 Petition of Right 1640 Interregnum (1642–1660) 1660 1661 1662 1663 1664 1665 1666 1667 1670 1672 1675 1677 1678 1679 Habeas Corpus Act 1680 1685 1688 1689 Bill of Rights 1690 1691 1692 1693 1694 1695 1696 1697 1698 1700 1701 1702 1703 1704 1705 1706
Parliament of Scotland	to 1707

Parliament of England