ABSTRACT
The convention of 1689, like that of 1660, had no claim to the status of a Parliament. The members of the Upper House increased during this period. William’s creations, indeed, were largely counterbalanced by extinctions, and Anne did not make many peers in the early part of her reign. But the Act of Union provided that the Scottish peers were to be represented in the House of Lords by sixteen of their number, elected by their fellow-peers for each Parliament. In 1719 an attempt was made to fix the numbers of the Lords by statute. An Act of 1696 prohibited minors from voting and provided that all county voters must, if required by a candidate, swear that they had the necessary freehold qualification. An Act of 1696 forbade the election of minors.
