TRIENNIAL ACT - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

TRIENNIAL ACTAuthored

The Law Mind • 753 words

Definition

The Triennial Act is the name applied to one or both of two English statutes requiring that Parliament be convened, and limiting its duration, to a period of three years. The term most commonly refers to:

(1) The Act passed by the Long Parliament in 1640–41, which required Parliament to meet at least once every three years and placed procedural safeguards against the Crown's ability to avoid or dissolve it indefinitely. This act was repealed by the Convention Parliament upon the Restoration in 1660.

(2) The Act 6 Will. & M. c. 2 (1694), passed during the reign of William III and Mary II, which revived and strengthened the triennial principle by providing that no Parliament should continue for more than three years without dissolution and fresh elections. This second statute is sometimes the primary referent when lawyers and historians cite the "Triennial Act" without qualification.

Both acts were superseded when the Septennial Act (1 Geo. I, St. 2, c. 38) extended the maximum duration of Parliament to seven years in 1716. The Septennial Act itself was replaced much later by the Parliament Act 1911, which reduced the maximum term to five years.

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Common Confusion

The name "Triennial Act" has been applied to two distinct statutes enacted more than fifty years apart. Black's (1st and 2nd editions) describes only the 1640 act and its repeal, while Rapalje & Lawrence and Bouvier identify both acts and treat the 1694 statute as the more significant of the two. Researchers citing "the Triennial Act" in historical materials should verify which statute the source intends. The 1640 act addressed whether Parliament would meet at all; the 1694 act addressed how long a sitting Parliament could endure. These are related but legally distinct concerns.

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Why It Matters in Research

This term is essentially a historical artifact of English constitutional law and will appear almost exclusively in materials treating parliamentary history, the constitutional conflicts of the seventeenth century, or the background of legislative supremacy doctrine.

Several research traps are worth flagging:

First, the two-statute problem is live in historical sources. Older American legal dictionaries, including both editions of Black's, describe only the 1640 act, which may leave researchers unaware of the 1694 statute that was actually operative for the longer period. Rapalje & Lawrence and Bouvier are more precise on this point.

Second, the relationship between the Triennial Acts and the Septennial Act is a standard reference sequence in English constitutional history. Any source discussing one will often reference the others. Researchers tracing the evolution of parliamentary duration limits should treat these three statutes as a cluster.

Third, American legal sources occasionally invoke the Triennial Act as comparative background when discussing legislative terms, the frequency of elections, or the theoretical accountability of representative assemblies—though the act has no direct American legal force.

Fourth, the phrase "triennial" appears in other legal contexts (triennial visitations, triennial oaths) that are unrelated to parliamentary duration. Context is essential when searching historical corpus materials for this term.

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Historical Dictionary Support

The four source dictionaries are largely in agreement on substance but differ in completeness. Black's (both editions) describes the 1640 act and its repeal, then jumps directly to the Septennial Act, omitting the 1694 statute entirely. This is a meaningful gap. Rapalje & Lawrence and Bouvier—which appear to share common text on this entry—correctly identify both acts, noting the 1640 act was "repealed by the Convention Parliament, 1660, and more particularly the Act 6 Will. & M. c. 2" as the statute that ultimately regularized the triennial principle. The phrase "more particularly" signals that these sources treat the 1694 act as the more operationally significant of the two, a judgment consistent with most constitutional histories.

None of the source dictionaries discuss the substantive content of either act in depth, the constitutional struggles that produced them, or the political circumstances surrounding the Septennial Act's replacement of both. For those dimensions, historical legal encyclopedias and treatises on English constitutional history are necessary supplements.

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Jurisdictional Note

The Triennial Acts are instruments of English parliamentary law with no direct application in American or other common law jurisdictions. They may appear in American legal materials only as historical reference points or comparative constitutional commentary.

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TRIENNIAL ACTmain

Black's Law Dictionary • 1891

An act limiting the duration of every parliament to three years, unless sooner dissolved. It was passed by the long parliament in 1640, and after- wards repealed, and the term was fixed at seven years by the septennial act, (St. 1 Geo. I. St. 2, c. 38.)

TRIENNIAL ACTmain

Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910

An English statute limiting the duration of every parliament to three years, urfless sooner dissolved. It was passed by the long parliament in 1640, and afterwards repealed, and the term was fixed at seven years by the septennial act, (St. 1 Geo. I. St. 2, ¢. 38.) .

TRIENNIAL ACTmain

Rapalje & Lawrence • 1883

- An act passed by the Long Parliament, 1640-1, and repealed by the Convention Parliament, 1660, and more particularly the Act 6 Will. & M. c. 2, whereby every parliament, unless sooner dissolved, came to an end in three years. It was repealed on the accession of Geo. I. by the Septennial Act. TRIENS.-A third part; also, dower. TRIERS, or TRIORS. - Persons sometimes appointed by the court (when necessary) to decide challenges to jurors, where no jurors have been already sworn on the jury. As soon as two jurors are sworn, they, or the court, generally decide all subsequent challenges. Challenges to the array may be tried by the court. Arch. Pr. 392. See CHALLENGE; ELISORS. TRINEPOS.-In the civil law, the male descendant in the sixth degree in direct line. TRINITY HOUSE is the short name usually given to "The master, wardens and assistants of the guild, fraternity or brotherhood of the most glorious and undivided Trinity, and of St. Clement in the parish of Deptford Strond in the county of Kent;" also called the "Corporation of the Trinity House of Deptford Strond." It was incorporated in the reign of Henry VIII., and charged by many successive charters and acts of parliament with numerous duties relating to the marine, especially in relation to pilotage (q. r.), and the erection and maintenance of lighthouses, beacons and seamarks. Eng. Merch. Shipp. Act, 1854; 3 Steph. Com. 156 et seq. TRINOBANTES, TRINONANTES, or TRINOVANTES. Inhabitants of Britain, situated next to the Cantii northward, who occupied, according to Camden and Baxter, that country which now comprises the counties of Essex and Middlesex, and some part of Surrey. But if Ptolemy be not mistaken, their territories were not so extensive in his time, as London did not then belong to them. The name seems to be derived from the three following British words: Tri, now, hant, i. e, inhabitants of the new city (London). -Encycl. Lond. TRINODA NECESSITAS.-Under this denomination are comprised three distinct imposts, to which all landed possessions, not excepting those of the church, were subject, viz.: (1) Bryge-bót, for keeping the bridges and high roads in repair. Pontis constructio. (2) Burgbót, for keeping the burgs or fortresses in an efficient state of defense. - Arcis constructio. (3) Fyrd, or contribution for maintaining the military and naval force of the kingdom. Anc. Inst. Eng.

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