Octennial Act
The Octennial Act (7 George III c.3; long title An act for limiting the duration of parliaments) was a 1768 act of the Parliament of Ireland which set a maximum duration of eight years for the Irish House of Commons. Before this, a dissolution of parliament was not required except on the demise of the Crown, and the previous three general elections were held in 1715, 1727, and 1761, on the respective deaths of Anne, George I, and George II. After the act, general elections were held in 1769, 76, 83, 90, and 98.Limiting the duration of parliament was a prime objective of the Patriot Party. Heads of bills were brought, by Charles Lucas in 1761 and 1763 and by Henry Flood in 1765, to limit parliament to seven years as the Septennial Act 1716 did for the Parliament of Great Britain. The heads were rejected by the Privy Council of Great Britain, which, under Poynings' Law, had to pre-approve any bill before it was formally introduced in the Irish parliament. Since the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763, the British government had wished to increase the size of Irish regiments, the part of the British Army charged on the Irish exchequer rather than the British. In 1767, the Chatham Ministry appointed George Townshend, 4th Viscount Townshend as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and instructed him to secure the support of the Irish parliament for an Augmentation Bill to effect this increase. The British considered several possible concessions to win over the Patriot Party, and.
United Kingdom legislation
election act