Cavalier Parliament - Sessions

Sessions

At the 1660 Restoration, the Commonwealth era was obliterated from the legal record, with the result that Charles II's regnal years officially begin on January 30, 1649 (the death date of Charles I). The Cavalier parliament thus officially begins on the thirteenth year of Charles II's reign.

The Cavalier parliament went through seventeen sessions, although some sessions were broken up by adjournments and recesses (an "adjournment" only interrupts a session; a "prorogation" ends a session, a "dissolution" ends a parliament).

By English tradition, a parliamentary session passes only one public "act", albeit an act with various "chapters". English legal statutes are cited by parliamentary session labeled by the regnal year in which that session sat. So the citation "15 Charles II c.4" means "the fourth chapter of the act passed by the parliamentary session that sat in the 15th year of the reign of Charles II". Charles II's regnal year begins January 30, so if a single parliamentary session overlaps that date, it will usually be given a double label, e.g. "19 & 20 Charles II" (the session that sat from the 19th to the 20th year of Charles II's reign). If there are two sessions within the same regnal year, they are differentiated by a "Statute" suffix (e.g. 13 Charles II Stat.1 is a different session than 13 Charles II Stat. 2). Finally, some sessions were prorogued without passing an act, and thus have no legal statute label at all.

The legal titles of parliamentary sessions of the Cavalier parliament are as given in the two most prominent compilations of statutes - the popular Statutes at Large (ed. Owen Ruffhead, 1762-65 or Danby Pickering 1762-66) and the official The Statutes of the Realm (ed. John Raithby, 1819). We note where the title differs between the two compilations.

The session dates are sometimes incorrect in the rolls. This table largely follows the dating in Cobbett's Parliamentary History. (N.B. - In the 17th C., the English "legal year" began on March 25, so an act which is passed, say, on February 10, 1663 will be officially dated February 10, 1662". This can be a cause of confusion. Cobbett notes the double date by a hyphen 1662-63, with the latter number as the historical calendar year. The table below follows the regular calendar dates.)

For the acts of parliament passed in each session, see List of Acts of the Parliament of England, 1660–1699.