Local and personal acts are laws in theUnited Kingdom which apply to a particular individual or group of individuals, or corporate entity. This contrasts with a public generalact of Parliament (statute) which applies to the nation-state. Acts of Parliament can afford relief from another law; grant a unique benefit or, grant powers not available under the general law; or, relieve someone from legal responsibility for some allegedly wrongful act.
Acts for the benefit of individuals were before 1948 known asprivate acts, and are now calledpersonal acts.
Acts of local or limited application are known aslocal acts orpublic local acts. This distinction from the more normal public general acts was introduced in 1797; before that time there were simply 'public acts'.
The bills for both personal and local acts are known asprivate bills. These should not be confused withprivate member's bills—which, in the Westminster system, are bills for a public general act of Parliament proposed by individual parliamentarians rather than the government.
About 11,000 private or personal acts have been passed since 1539, and 26,500 local acts have become law since 1797 (when local acts were separated from public general acts).[1]
Personal acts (known as private acts until 1948) evolved from the right to petition Parliament forredress from a specific wrong, or to obtain a benefit that was not otherwise available throughstatute or thecommon law. The granting ofdivorces, thenaturalisation of (granting ofcitizenship to) foreigners, legalname changes,[2] and changing the terms of awill, were often given effect through this means. In more recent years (since the introduction of general divorce and nationality laws, and the widespread adoption of the practice of using adeed poll to change name[3][4]) the use of personal acts has greatly decreased. From 1980 they were only used to authorise six marriages between individuals who would not otherwise be able tomarry due to being within theprohibited degrees of relationship, and no personal acts have been passed since 1987.[5] The most recent personal act, passed in 1987, provided for 59-year-old George Evans to marry his 28-year-old former daughter-in-law Deborah Evans.[6]
Until 1815, private and personal acts were not officially printed (although it was common for a private bill to include a clause to deem the act to be a public act and this would lead to it being printed). Divorce acts enacted between 1815 and 1922 were not printed whilst some other personal acts were.[1]
Local acts are public acts sought by and for the benefit of organisations or used to authorise major projects such as railways or canals or to grant extra powers.
The latter are often sought bylocal authorities who may seek additional powers to enable them to manage or control issues occurring in their locality. One such example is the Ministry of Housing and Local Government Provisional Order Confirmation (Greater London Parks and Open Spaces) Act 1967.[7]
In the nineteenth century, local acts were used to createcorporations, grant monopolies and, most frequently, for the construction ofrailways,canals and other infrastructure projects.[8]
Their use has become more limited in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries asstatute law (principally theTransport and Works Act 1992) andstatutory instruments have enabled many situations to be dealt with through other, delegated, legislative mechanisms. Major public transport projects which do require the passing of a specific Act of Parliament now tend to be dealt with ashybrid bills which become public general Acts of Parliament.
However, local acts are still used for special purposes. One such example is in the formal restructuring of corporations. Recent examples include theHSBC Investment Banking Act 2002, which facilitated the transfer of oneHSBC subsidiary's businesses to two other subsidiaries,[9] and theHBOS Group Reorganisation Act 2006, which facilitated conversion of theBank of Scotland into apublic limited company.
Similarly, major changes to the organisation ofuniversities orcharities may be facilitated through local acts, particularly when this involves the transfer of assets. For example theUniversity of Manchester Act 2004 effected the merger of two Manchester-based universities by dissolving two existing universities (both incorporated by royal charter) and transferring their rights, properties, assets and obligations to a single new institution (also incorporated by royal charter).[10][11] For a few universities that are statutory corporations, some revisions to their constitutional documents are also effected by local acts, e.g. the University of London Act 2018.[12]
The majority of local acts now passed are promoted bylocal authorities. Such acts are often for the purpose of giving the local authority additional powers to deal with such matters as street trading,[13] orsui generis powers to deal with unique local issues, such as theIsle of Wight Festival.[14]
Bills for local and personal acts do not follow exactly the sameparliamentary process as bills for public general acts.[8]
Private bills are introduced intoParliament by the person promoting them by means of a petition. Because they may grant powers in excess of the normal law, a person, organisation or local community which could be affected by the proposed law can object to it, either through presenting a petition of their own or securing the support of aMember of Parliament to block the bill.[8]
TheCourt of Referees exists to consider the rights of a petitioner to argue against a private bill, in cases where the promoters of the bill have challenged that right.[15]
When the bill is sent to acommittee of each House, the committee hears arguments for and against the bill in a way quite similar to acivil court hearing: the promoter (often represented by abarrister) has to prove their case and satisfy the committee that the bill is necessary, whilst any opposers will seek to demonstrate that it is not. If the committee agrees that the purposes of the bill are proper and desirable then the bill continues on to the next stage, and ultimately to the other House where a similar process is followed.[8]
Local and personal acts of Parliament have two distinctive features. Firstly, they are preceded by apreamble setting out the reasons why the act needs to be made (and the preamble must be proved for the act to be made). Secondly, they are published in separate series from public acts: whilst public acts are numbered 1, 2, 3, etc. in the year they are passed, local acts are numbered usingroman numerals (i, ii, iii etc.) and personal acts are numbered using italic numerals (1,2,3, etc.).[1]
The procedure set out in theParliament Acts 1911 and 1949, which the House of Commons can use to enact laws without the consent of the House of Lords, only applies to public acts; as such, the Lords maintain an absoluteveto power over private acts.
| Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act 1899 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act to provide for improving and extending the Procedure for obtaining Parliamentary Powers by way of Provisional Orders in matters relating to Scotland. |
| Citation | 62 & 63 Vict. c. 47 |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 9 August 1899 |
| Repealed | 31 July 1936 |
| Other legislation | |
| Repealed by | Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act 1936 |
Status: Repealed | |
| Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act 1933 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act to improve and extend the procedure under the Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act, 1899. |
| Citation | 23 & 24 Geo. 5. c. 37 |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 28 July 1933 |
| Repealed | 31 July 1936 |
| Other legislation | |
| Repealed by | Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act 1936 |
Status: Repealed | |
| Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act 1936 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
| |
| Long title | An Act to consolidate the enactments relating to the procedure for obtaining parliamentary powers by way of Provisional Orders in matters affecting Scotland. |
| Citation | 26 Geo. 5 & 1 Edw. 8. c. 52 |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 31 July 1936 |
| Commencement | 31 July 1936 |
| Other legislation | |
| Amends |
|
| Repeals/revokes |
|
| Amended by | |
Status: Amended | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Text of the Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act 1936 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, fromlegislation.gov.uk. | |
Private legislation that mainly relates to Scotland is dealt with under a different procedure: that put in place by thePrivate Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act 1936 (26 Geo. 5 & 1 Edw. 8. c. 52).[16]
The 1936 act,which replaced similar previous acts, thePrivate Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act 1899 (62 & 63 Vict. c. 47) and thePrivate Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act 1933 (23 & 24 Geo. 5. c. 37), provides for petitions for private legislation which are opposed to be considered by an inquiry panel made up of two members of theHouse of Commons and two members of theHouse of Lords. The inquiry sits in Scotland, rather than at Westminster, and hears arguments for and against the proposal, before making a recommendation to theSecretary of State for Scotland. If the proposal is not opposed then an inquiry is not held, but the petition is still scrutinised bycounsel to the Secretary of State.[16]
If the inquiry's, or counsel's, recommendation is positive then the Secretary of State makes a provisional order. This order has no effect, however, until confirmed by an order confirmation act passed by Parliament. The bill for such an act normally skips the second reading and committee stages of theparliamentary process (as this has been replaced by the inquiry) and so takes up less time.[16]
Sincedevolution, many matters which were previously dealt with by provisional orders now fall within the responsibility of theScottish Parliament. The Scottish Parliament has its own private legislation procedures which provide for the consideration of the bill and any objections by a specially convened private bill committee of the parliament.[17][18]
In contrast to personal and local acts passed by the Westminster Parliament, private bills in the Scottish Parliament do not begin with apreamble and, when they have been passed, become part of the same series (system of numbering) as, and so are indistinguishable from, publicacts of the Scottish Parliament.[17][18]
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)