House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1944

The House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1944 (7 & 8 Geo.6. c.41) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that established permanent boundary commissions for each of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom, and provided for the periodic review of the number and boundaries of parliamentary constituencies.

The Act established the membership of each commission, the procedures to be followed by the commissions, and the rules for the redistribution of seats for the commissions to observe. The commissions' initial reviews of constituencies under the Act were implemented by the Representation of the People Act 1948.^[1]

The boundary commissions

The Speaker of the House of Commons was to be the chairman of each of the four commissions. The remaining members were as follows:

Boundary Commission for England

The Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages in England
The Director General of the Ordnance Survey
One member appointed by the Home Secretary
One member appointed by the Minister of Health

Boundary Commission for Scotland

The Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages in Scotland
The Director General of the Ordnance Survey
Two members appointed by the Secretary of State for Scotland

Boundary Commission for Wales

The Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages in England
The Director General of the Ordnance Survey
One member appointed by the Home Secretary
One member appointed by the Minister of Health

(For the purposes ot the Act Wales included Monmouthshire)

Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland

The Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages for Northern Ireland
The Commissioner of Valuation for Northern Ireland
Two other members appointed by the Home Secretary

No member of the Commons, or of either house of the Parliament of Northern Ireland was qualified to be a commissioner, and any serving commissioner would be disqualified on becoming a member of any of these bodies.

Rules for redistribution of seats

The Act contained a number of rules to guide the work of the commissions.

Number of constituencies

Great Britain was to have "not substantially greater or less than" 591 constituencies.
Scotland was to have not less than 71 constituencies.
Wales was to have not less than 35 constituencies.
Northern Ireland was to have 12 constituencies.

Rules on dividing and combining counties and districts

"As far as practicable" in England and Wales:

No county (or any part thereof) was to be included in a constituency with the whole or part of any other county, or part of a county borough or a metropolitan borough.
No county borough (or any part thereof) was to be included in a constituency with any other county borough or part of a metropolitan borough.
No metropolitan borough was to be included in a constituency which included the whole or part of any other metropolitan borough.
No county district (municipal borough, urban district or rural district) was to be included partly in one constituency and partly in another.

In Scotland:

No county or burgh could be partly in one parliamentary county and partly in another, or be divided between a parliamentary county and a parliamentary burgh.
No burgh other than a county of a city was to be divided between constituencies.

In Northern Ireland:

No county district was to be included partly in one constituency and partly in another.

Electorate

The electorate of any constituency should not differ from the "electoral quota" by more than 25%.

The electoral quota was obtained by dividing the total electorate for either Great Britain or Northern Ireland by the number of allocated seats.

Special geographical considerations

Each commission were allowed to depart from the rules on areas or electorate in special cases "including in particular the size, shape and accessibility of a constituency" in order to form constituencies.

Amendment and repeal

The 1944 Act was amended by the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1947, and succeeded by the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949 which amended the rules for the redistribution of seats, but did not change the membership or procedures of the commissions.

References

↑ The Boundary Commissions: redrawing the UK's map of Parliamentary constituencies; D J Rossiter, R J Johnston, C J Pattie; Manchester University Press, 1999.

United Kingdom legislation

Pre-Parliamentary legislation	List of English statutes Charter of Liberties Magna Carta

Acts of Parliament by states preceding the Kingdom of Great Britain	Acts of the Parliament of England to 1483 1485–1601 1603–1641 Interregnum (1642–1660) 1660–1699 1700–1706 Acts of the Parliament of Scotland Acts of the Parliament of Ireland to 1700 1701–1800

Acts of Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain	1707–1719 1720–1739 1740–1759 1760–1779 1780–1800

Acts of Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland	1801–1819 1820–1839 1840–1859 1860–1879 1880–1899 1900–1919 1920–1939 1940–1959 1960–1979 1980–1999 2000 to date Halsbury's Statutes UK Statute Law Database Short titles

Church of England measures	List Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act 1919

Legislation of devolved institutions	Acts of the Scottish Parliament Acts and Measures of the National Assembly for Wales Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly Acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland Orders in Council for Northern Ireland

Orders-in-Council	Order in Council

Secondary legislation	United Kingdom Statutory Instruments Scottish Statutory Instruments Act of Sederunt, Act of Adjournal

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