University constituency
University constituency
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University constituency

A university constituency is a constituency, used in elections to a legislature, that represents the members of one or more universities rather than residents of a geographical area. These may or may not involve plural voting, in which voters are eligible to vote in or as part of this entity and their home area's geographical constituency.

When James VI inherited the English throne in 1603, the system was adopted by the Parliament of England. The system was continued in the Parliament of Great Britain (from 1707 to 1800) and the United Kingdom Parliament, until 1950. It was also used in the Parliament of Ireland, in the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1613 to 1800, and in the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1936.

Such constituencies have also existed in Japan and in some countries of the British Empire such as India.

At present there are four instances in two countries of university constituencies: two in Seanad Éireann (the upper—and in general less powerful—house of the legislature of the Republic of Ireland) and two in the Senate of Rwanda.

As shown, at Westminster (in the English then successor British parliaments) 4 seats were incepted in 1603 and the final total, 12, were abolished in 1950.

The Northern Irish body was the last in the UK to abolish such seats: it abolished its four for Queens, Belfast in 1969.

Six such seats continue in Seanad Éireann, the upper chamber of the Oireachtas (legislature of the Republic of Ireland). They are the sole directly elected members of the Seanad, with the remainder of the seats being elected by a combination of members of Oireachtas, incoming TDs and outgoing Senators, and local councillors, along with 11 members appointed by the Taoiseach.

King James VI of Scotland, on ascending the English throne, brought to the English Parliament a practice which endured in the Scottish Parliament of allowing the universities to elect members. The king believed that the universities were often affected by the decisions of Parliament, and ought therefore to have representation in it. James gave the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford two seats each from 1603. On the formal Union (1707), Scottish universities lost their representatives as none were appointed to the Parliament of Great Britain (at Westminster). The voters were the graduates of the university, whether they were resident or not; they could vote for the university seats in addition to any other vote that they might have[citation needed].

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