Triennial Parliament Bill

The Triennial Parliament Bill was passed by the House of Lords in 1694 after rejection by the House of Commons and despite William III’s objections. In the book’s account of English political power, the measure stands as a concrete instance of the Lords acting against both the Commons’ decision and the Crown’s preference.

The 1694 passage

The House of Lords passed the bill in 1694 after the House of Commons had rejected it. William III objected to the measure, placing the two Houses and the monarch on opposing sides of the decision. The account identifies the bill’s passage but does not detail its provisions; its importance here lies in the constitutional contest made visible by that outcome.

The Lords and the Crown

The bill appears within a broader description of the Lords as a body that repeatedly kept the throne under scrutiny and checked royal power. The book presents the peerage not simply as an extension of monarchy but as a rival authority within it: each institution sought to reduce the other’s power. The Lords’ success in passing a measure opposed by William III illustrates that rivalry in practice.

Retaliation and political significance

William III responded in irritation by removing the Earl of Bath from the governorship of Pendennis Castle and stripping Viscount Mordaunt of his offices. The account places these dismissals immediately after the bill’s passage, showing the political costs of the Lords’ assertion of authority. It interprets the struggle between monarchy and oligarchy as having an unintended beneficiary: as each weakened the other, power was gained by the people. The bill thus serves as a focal example of how institutional conflict could both constrain the Crown and, in the book’s analysis, open space for a wider public interest.