The 3rd Parliament of William III was summoned by

William III of England William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 16508 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, Zeeland, Lordship of Utrecht, Utrec ...

on 12 October 1695 and assembled on 22 November 1695. It was the first election to be contested under the terms of the new

Triennial Act The Triennial Act 1641 (16 Cha. I c. 1), also known as the Dissolution Act, was an Act passed on 15 February 1641,Paul Foley, a Country Whig and member for

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

, was installed as

Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings. Systems that have such a position include: * Speaker of ...

. In the first session of 1695–96 there was deadlock between the main parties over the issues of the value of the coinage (due to

clipping Clipping may refer to: Words * Clipping (morphology), the formation of a new word by shortening it, e.g. "ad" from "advertisement" * Clipping (phonetics), shortening the articulation of a speech sound, usually a vowel * Clipping (publications) ...

and the adverse rate of exchange) and the proposal to set up a Council of Trade. A sudden threat of invasion unified the Whigs behind the

First Whig Junto The First Whig Junto controlled the government of England from 1694 to 1699 and was the first part of the Whig Junto, a cabal of people who controlled the most important political decisions.Compare junta which has fallen into use only for militar ...

and enabled the Whig-dominated ministry to effect the recoinage on its own terms and establish a crown-appointed, rather than Parliament appointed,

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

. In the second session a major event was the attainder of the Jacobite conspirator Sir John Fenwick. The proceedings were expedited when Fenwick threatened to implicate leading Whigs in the plot and the Attainder Bill was passed with a small majority in spite of there being only one prosecution witness. Fenwick was beheaded on 28 January 1697. His horse ''White Sorrel'' was claimed by the King and later stumbled and unseated him, hastening his death. Other debate concerned the Chancellor of the Exchequer's efforts to raise money for the war effort. Although he successfully got approval for an extension of the Bank of England's privileges until 1710 in return for a new loan of £5 million, he was defeated in his efforts to impose new duties on wine and textiles. By the time the third and final session started in December 1697 the continental war had ended with the signing of the

Treaty of Ryswick The Peace of Ryswick, or Rijswijk, was a series of treaties signed in the Dutch city of Rijswijk between 20 September and 30 October 1697. They ended the 1688 to 1697 Nine Years' War between France and the Grand Alliance, which included England, ...

. Although the King wanted to maintain the large army as a deterrent, the Commons forced him to reduce it to 10,000 men.

Notable Acts of the Parliament

Corrupt Practices Act 1695 The Corrupt Practices Act 1695 (7 & 8 Will. III, c. 4) was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of England passed in 1696, the long title of which is "An Act for preventing Charge and Expence in Elections of Members to serve in Parliament." It ...

Parliamentary Elections Act 1695 The Parliamentary Elections Act 1695 ( 7 & 8 Will. 3. c. 25) was an Act of the Parliament of England regulating elections to the English House of Commons. Provisions Section 3 of the Act required that an election to a county constituency had ...

Parliamentary Elections (Returns) Act 1695 The Parliamentary Elections (Returns) Act 1695 ( 7 & 8 Will. 3. c. 7) was an Act of the Parliament of England. The provisions as to procuring returns in sections 3 and 4 ceased to have effect by virtue of section 74(5) of, and Schedule 11 to, ...

* Plantation Trade Act 1695 *

Quakers Act 1695 The Quakers Act 1695 was an Act of the Parliament of England which allowed Quakers to substitute an affirmation where the law previously required an oath. The Act did not apply to the oaths required when giving evidence in a criminal case or ...

Security of King and Government Act 1695 The Security of King and Government Act 1695 (7&8 Will.3 c.27) was an Act of the Parliament of England. Its long title was ''An act for the better security of his Majesty's royal person and government''. It was passed in 1696 but backdated to t ...

Treason Act 1695 The Treason Act 1695 (7 & 8 Will 3 c 3) is an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of England which laid down rules of evidence and procedure in high treason trials. It was passed by the English Parliament but was extended to cover Scotland ...

Administration of Justice Act 1696 The Administration of Justice Act 1696 (8 & 9 Will 3 c 11) was an Act of the Parliament of England, originally titled ''An Act for the better preventing of frivolous and vexatious Suits. Repeals Sections 1 to 3 and 5 to 7 were repealed by secti ...

* Attainder of Sir John Fenwick Act 1696 * Bank of England Act 1696 * Blackwell Hall Act 1696 *

Coin Act 1696 The Coin Act 1696 (8&9 Will.3 c.26) was an Act of the Parliament of England which made it high treason to make or possess equipment useful for counterfeiting coins. Its title was "An Act for the better preventing the counterfeiting the current Coi ...

* Escape of Debtors, etc. Act 1696 *

Blasphemy Act 1697 The Blasphemy Act 1697 (9 Will 3 c 35) was an Act of the Parliament of England. It made it an offence for any person, educated in or having made profession of the Christian religion, by writing, preaching, teaching or advised speaking, to deny ...

Civil List Act 1697 The Civil List Act 1697 was an Act of the Parliament of England (9 Will III c. 23). This was the first Act of Parliament to set the Civil List, although the custom had begun in 1689. The annual amount assigned to King William III and his househ ...

Correspondence with the Pretender Act 1697 The Correspondence with the Pretender Act 1697 ( 9 Will. 3. c. 1) was an Act of the Parliament of England which made it high treason to correspond with the deposed King James II. This Act replaced the earlier Correspondence with Enemies Act 1 ...

New Forest Act 1697 The New Forest Act 1697 ( 9 Will. 3. c. 33) was an Act of the Parliament of England which provided that "Waste Lands" in the New Forest be enclosed and planted with trees to supply timber for the ships of the Royal Navy. Provisions Of the tota ...

Poor Act 1697 The Poor Act 1697 (8 & 9 Will. III, c. 30), formally titled An Act for supplying some Defects in the Laws for the Relief of the Poor of this Kingdom, was a 1697 welfare statute, operating within the framework of the Act for the Relief of the Poor 1 ...

References

* - ''Note:3rd Parliament considered the 2nd by History of Parliament'' 1695 establishments in England 1695 in politics The Restoration {{England-hist-stub

Notable Acts of the Parliament

See also

References