Representation of the People Act 1949

Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom

United Kingdom legislation

Representation of the People Act 1949[a]Act of Parliament

Parliament of the United Kingdom

Long title| An Act to consolidate certain enactments relating to parliamentary and local government elections, corrupt and illegal practices and election petitions.
Citation| 12, 13 & 14 Geo. 6. c. 68
Territorial extent | United Kingdom
Dates
Royal assent| 24 November 1949
Commencement|

* 24 November 1949: relating to parliamentary elections, other than registration
* 11 March 1750: relating to local government elections, other than registration.
* 3 April 1950: rest of act except section176(2).

[b]
Repealed| 15 March 1983[c]
Other legislation
Amends|

* Union with Scotland (Amendment) Act 1707
* Representation of the People Act 1948

Repeals/revokes| Parliamentary Elections (Returns) Act 1695
Amended by|

* Representation of the People (Amendment) Act 1958
* Representation of the People Act 1969

Repealed by| Representation of the People Act 1983
Relates to| House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949

Status: Repealed

Text of statute as originally enacted

United Kingdom legislation

Representation of the People (Amendment) Act 1958[d]

Act of Parliament

Parliament of the United Kingdom

Long title| An Act to repeal section eighty-eight of the Representation of the People Act, 1949.
Citation| 7 & 8 Eliz. 2. c. 9
Territorial extent | United Kingdom
Dates
Royal assent| 18 December 1958
Commencement| 18 December 1958[e]
Other legislation
Amends| Representation of the People Act 1949
Repealed by| Representation of the People Act 1969

Status: Repealed

Text of statute as originally enacted

The Representation of the People Act 1949 (12, 13 & 14 Geo. 6. c. 68) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act consolidated previous electoral law, but also made some changes to administration. Representation of the People amendments followed in 1969, 1977, 1978, and 1980, all being repealed through consolidation into the Representation of the People Act 1983.

The principal change was to provide for the conduct of future reviews of parliamentary boundaries by the permanent Parliamentary Boundary Commissions. The act also abolished the terms 'parliamentary borough' and 'parliamentary county', renaming them 'borough constituency' and 'county constituency', abolished the university constituencies, and removed a requirement that the City of London form its own constituency. The Boundary Commissions were instructed to review all boundaries within 3–7 years from the act coming into force, and thereafter to review the boundaries periodically.[citation needed]

In addition the act made some changes to the franchise, removing the remaining provisions allowing plural voting in parliamentary elections by people who owned business premises. (However, plural voting for local government elections continued until it was abolished, outside the City of London, by the Representation of the People Act 1969.[1][2] It still exists in the City of London – see City of London Corporation elections). From this point forward, there was a single electoral register for both local government and Parliamentary elections and each voter was only allowed to vote once in any general election even if they happened to be registered in more than one address for local elections.[citation needed]

## Provisions

[edit]

### Short title, commencement and extent

[edit]

Section 176(1) of the act provided that the act may be cited as the "Representation of the People Act, 1949" and may be cited as a Representation of the People Act.

Section 176(2) of the act provided that the provisions of the act relating to parliamentary elections, other than provisions as to the registration of parliamentary electors, shall come into force for the purposes of the first general election after the passing of this act.

Section 176(3) of the act provided that the provisions of the act apart from those in 176(2) of the act would come into force on a day appointed by the home secretary by statutory instrument.

The Representation of the People Act 1949 (Date of Commencement) Order 1950 (SI 1950/242) provided that the provisions of the act relating to local government elections, other than registration, would come into force on 11 March 1750 and that the rest of the act except section 176(2) would come into force on 3 April 1950.[f]

## Legacy

[edit]

The whole act, so far as unrepealed was repealed by section 206 of, and part II of schedule 9 to, the Representation of the People Act 1983.

United Kingdom legislation

Representation of the People Act 1949 (Date of Commencement) Order 1950[g]Statutory Instrument

Parliament of the United Kingdom

Citation| SI 1950/242
Introduced by| James Chuter Ede MP (Commons)
Territorial extent | United Kingdom
Dates
Made| 11 February 1950
Other legislation
Made under| Representation of the People Act 1949

Status: Current legislation

Text of statute as originally enacted

## See also

[edit]

* Reform Acts
* Representation of the People Act

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Section 176(1).
2. ^ The Representation of the People Act 1949 (Date of Commencement) Order 1950
3. ^ The The Representation of the People Act 1983 (Commencement) Order 1983.
4. ^ Section 2(1).
5. ^ The Acts of Parliament (Commencement) Act 1793.
6. ^ The Representation of the People Act 1949 (Date of Commencement) Order 1950
7. ^ Section 1(1).

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Halsey, Albert Henry (1988). British Social Trends since 1900. Springer. p. 298\. ISBN 9781349194667.
2. ^ Peter Brooke (24 February 1999). "City of London (Ward Elections) Bill". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). United Kingdom: House of Commons. col. 452.

## Bibliography

[edit]

* D. J. Rossiter, Ronald John Johnston, C. J. Pattie, "The Boundary Commissions: redrawing the UK's map of parliamentary constituencies", Manchester University Press, 1999, p. 87–90.

## External links

[edit]

* Representation of the People Act, 1949 (full text)

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