Act of Attainder in United Kingdom

An Act of Attainder (Conviction) was an Act of Parliament convicting a person of an offence and inflicting a punishment. This was not necessarily preceded by a trial, but if it was it was held before both Houses of Parliament and not before the Lords on the accusation of the Commons, as was the case in an impeachment (q.v.). The Act of Attainder procedure was commonly used from the 15th century until the reign of James I instead of impeachment, and Erskine May describes it as ‘the highest form of parliamentary judicature’. It has not been employed since the early 18th century, and like impeachment is now obsolete. The latter had for its object the coercion of the King, and it would necessarily be in times of serious conflict between King and Parliament that it would be resorted to. Attainder was a sign that King and Parliament were in agreement, since the King must sign the Bill, although in theory attainder served the same purpose as impeachment–the parliamentary control of the King’s minister. (…) [1]

Resources

See Also

• Parliament

Notes

1. Wilding, N. and Laundy, P., An Encyclopaedia of Parliament, 4th ed., London: Cassell & Company Ltd., 1972