Private acts are laws in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

which apply to a particular individual or group of individuals, or corporate entity. This contrasts with a public general

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of parliame ...

(

statute A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by ...

) which applies to the nation-state. Private acts 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. There are now two types of private act: Acts for the benefit of individuals (known as personal acts), and others acts of local or limited application (known as local acts). This distinction between personal acts and local acts was introduced in 1797, before that time there were simply private acts. Private acts should not be confused with

private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in wh ...

s—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).Introduction to the Chronological Table of Private and Personal Acts
Office of Public Sector Information – retrieved 23 May 2009

Personal acts

Personal acts evolved from the right to petition parliament for redress from a specific wrong, or to obtain a benefit that was not otherwise available through

or the

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omniprese ...

. The granting of

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving th ...

s, the

naturalisation Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

of (granting of

citizenship Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

to) foreigners, legal

name change Name change is the legal act by a person of adopting a new name different from their current name. The procedures and ease of a name change vary between jurisdictions. In general, common law jurisdictions have loose procedures for a name chang ...

s, and changing the terms of a

will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and wi ...

, 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 a

deed poll A deed poll (plural: deeds poll) is a legal document binding on a single person or several persons acting jointly to express an intention or create an obligation. It is a deed, and not a contract because it binds only one party. Etymology The ...

to change name) 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 to marry due to being within the prohibited degrees of relationship, and no personal acts have been passed since 1987.Chronological Table of the Private and Personal Acts Part 33 (1910-1987)
Office of Public Sector Information – retrieved 23 May 2009 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.

Local acts

Local acts are generally 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 by

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

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.

Corporations and major projects

In the nineteenth century, Local Acts were used to create

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...

s, grant monopolies and, most frequently, for the construction of

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface f ...

s and other infrastructure projects.Private Bills
House of Commons Factsheet L4, October 2008 – retrieved on 23 May 2009 Their use has become more limited in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries as statute law (principally the

Transport and Works Act 1992 The Transport and Works Act 1992 (TWA) was established by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to provide a system by which the construction of rail transport Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that tran ...

) and

statutory instrument In many countries, a statutory instrument is a form of delegated legislation. United Kingdom Statutory instruments are the principal form of delegated or secondary legislation in the United Kingdom. National government Statutory instrumen ...

s 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 as

hybrid bill In the United Kingdom a hybrid bill (which becomes a hybrid instrument or Hybrid Act) is a government measure which affects a particular individual or organisation in a different manner to other individuals or companies in the same class; it thus b ...

s 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 the HSBC Investment Banking Act 2002. This Act facilitated the transfer of one

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tr ...

subsidiary's businesses to two other subsidiaries based on business lines; and, the HBOS Group Reorganisation Act 2006 (which facilitated, among other issues, converting the

Bank of Scotland The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial and clearing bank based in Scotland and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, following the Bank of Scotland's implosion in 2008. The bank was established by th ...

into a

public limited company A public limited company (legally abbreviated to PLC or plc) is a type of public company under United Kingdom company law, some Commonwealth jurisdictions, and the Republic of Ireland. It is a limited liability company whose shares may be fr ...

). Similarly, major changes to the organisation of

universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...

charities A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...

may be facilitated through local acts, particularly when this involves the transfer of assets. For example the University 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). 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.

Local authorities

The majority of local acts now passed are promoted by

. Such acts are often for the purpose of giving the local authority additional powers to deal with such matters as street trading.Medway Council Act 2004
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Parliamentary process

Bills for local and personal acts do not follow exactly the same parliamentary process as bills for public general acts. Private bills are introduced into

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

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 a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

to block the bill. The Court 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. When the bill is sent to a

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

of each House, the committee hears arguments for and against the bill in a way quite similar to a civil court hearing: the promoter (often represented by a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and givin ...

) 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. Local and personal Acts of Parliament have two distinctive features. Firstly, they are preceded by a

preamble A preamble is an introductory and expressionary statement in a document that explains the document's purpose and underlying philosophy. When applied to the opening paragraphs of a statute, it may recite historical facts pertinent to the subj ...

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 using

roman numeral Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, ea ...

s (i, ii, iii etc.) and personal acts are numbered using italic numerals (''1'', ''2'', ''3'', etc.).

Scotland

Private legislation that mainly relates to Scotland is dealt with under a different procedure: that put in place by the Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act 1936.Order Confirmation Bills and Special Procedure Orders
, House of Commons Factsheet L9, April 2008 – retrieved on 23 May 2009 The 1936 act (which replaced similar previous acts dating back to 1899) provides for petitions for private legislation which are opposed to be considered by an inquiry panel made up of two members of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

and two members of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

. The inquiry sits in Scotland, rather than at Westminster, and hears arguments for and against the proposal, before making a recommendation to the

Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland ( gd, Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba; sco, Secretar o State fir Scotland), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the Unit ...

. If the proposal is not opposed then an inquiry is not held, but the petition is still scrutinised by

counsel A counsel or a counsellor at law is a person who gives advice and deals with various issues, particularly in legal matters. It is a title often used interchangeably with the title of ''lawyer''. The word ''counsel'' can also mean advice given ...

to the Secretary of State. 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 the parliamentary process (as this has been replaced by the inquiry) and so takes up less time. Since

devolution Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories ...

, many matters which were previously dealt with by provisional orders now fall within the responsibility of the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyr ...

. 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. In contrast to personal and local acts passed by the Westminster Parliament, private bills in the Scottish Parliament do not begin with a

and, when they have been passed, become part of the same series (system of numbering) as, and so are indistinguishable from, public

Acts of the Scottish Parliament An Act of the Scottish Parliament ( gd, Achd Pàrlamaid na h-Alba) is primary legislation made by the Scottish Parliament. The power to create Acts was conferred to the Parliament by section 28 of the Scotland Act 1998 following the successfu ...

Notes

External links

Local and personal acts
from the

Oireachtas The Oireachtas (, ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the bicameral parliament of Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of: *The President of Ireland *The two houses of the Oireachtas ( ga, Tithe an Oireachtais): ** Dáil Éireann ...

library catalogue; digitised volumes covering 92 of the years from 1807 to 1936 {{DEFAULTSORT:Local And Personal Acts Of Parliament In The United Kingdom