The Archives

The ArchivesInstitutionsThe House of Commons

The House of Commons

The elected lower chamber of the Parliament of England to 1707 and of Great Britain thereafter, sole grantor of supply and the body that enacted the piracy statutes of 1700 and 1721 while holding no power to try, commission or deploy.

Also writtenHouse of Commons; the Commons; the lower House; the elective chamber; Commons of England; Commons of Great Britain

The House of Commons was the elected lower chamber of the Parliament of England to 1707 and of Great Britain after it, a legislature and the sole grantor of supply, neither a court nor a department of state. It could enact, address, inquire, expel and impeach. It could not try a pirate, commission a cruiser or appoint a governor. Those powers lay with commissioners under the Admiralty, the Board of Admiralty, and the Crown advised by the Privy Council and Board of Trade.1

The chamber's grip on the sea war was financial. Its resolution of 3 July 1678 declared that "all Aids and Supplies" are "the sole Gift of the Commons", who alone might "direct, limit, and appoint" their terms. No ship went out against pirates on public money without a vote of supply.2

The statutes

No piracy statute was the Commons' act alone; each needed the Lords and the royal assent. The Piracy Act is cited as 11 Will. 3 c. 7, long titled "An Act for the more effectuall Suppression of Piracy". Its short title of 1698 came from the Statute Law Revision Act 1948, which is why catalogues date it 1698, 1699 and 1700. It let piracy be tried out of England before commissioners under the Great Seal or the seal of the Admiralty.3

One more bore directly on piracy. The Piracy Act 1721 (8 Geo. I c. 24) went at the shore side of the trade, making it piracy to "anywise trade with any pirate" or to furnish one with ammunition, provisions or stores. Accessories under the earlier Act became principals, and a merchant crew that would not fight lost its wages and served six months.4

The Kidd business

Its most conspicuous piracy business failed in every object. On 6 December 1699 it rejected the question that the letters patent granting pirates' goods to the Earl of Bellomont and others were "dishonourable to the King, against the Law of Nations". On 16 March 1700 it addressed the King that William Kidd be neither tried nor pardoned before the next session and that Bellomont transmit his papers; the King complied. It impeached Portland on 1 April 1701 and Somers, Orford and Halifax a fortnight later, on 14 April by the printed proceedings, 15 April by the History of Parliament. Kidd's commission appears in Orford's articles and in Somers's thirteenth. Every impeachment failed: Somers acquitted on 17 June, Orford unanimously on 23 June before 43 peers, or 44 by a variant report, the rest collapsing next day.5

The supply votes

In the session of 16 November 1699 to 11 April 1700 the House voted a complement of 7,000 seamen and 90,000 pounds for extraordinaries of the navy, and borrowed 220,000 pounds at 5 per cent for seamen's wages. In the session begun 19 October 1721 it granted one million pounds towards navy debts of about 1,700,000 pounds.6

Where the reach stopped

The Commons enforced nothing at sea. Its coercive power stopped at Westminster: expulsion, custody, the Tower, impeachment before the Lords. The South Sea inquiry of 1721 shows that machinery at full stretch: a Committee of Secrecy of thirteen chosen by ballot, seven members expelled between January and May. The expedition that retook New Providence in 1718 was privately funded.1,4

What the sources cannot yet give is the House's own paper. The Journals volume for 1699 to 1702 is absent from the series that carries the rest, so the sittings of 1701 have not been read, and no petition of piracy losses appears in the printed proceedings for these sessions.

What the evidence does not settle

Kidd's Commons examination

  • The sitting date of Kidd's examination by the Commons

1721 Piracy Act origin

  • Parliamentary origin and sponsors of the 1721 piracy bill unknown

Piracy statute perpetuation

  • Whether 6 Geo I c.19 renewed the piracy statute

Each line is one question with its own grade, taken from the register where a claim carries it. Nothing here is graded as a whole.

Sources for this record

Every statement above that rests on a checked claim carries a small number; the numbers lead here. Each entry gives what is claimed, how far the record supports it, and where it comes from.

  1. The House of Commons was the elected lower chamber of the Parliament of England to 1707 and of Great Britain thereafter, a legislature and the sole grantor of supply that could enact, address, inquire, expel and impeach but could not try a pirate, commission a cruiser or appoint a governor, those powers lying respectively with commissioners sitting under the Admiralty, with the Board of Admiralty, and with the Crown on the advice of the Privy Council and the Board of Trade; its own coercive reach stopped at Westminster, as the South Sea inquiry of 1721 shows, when a Committee of Secrecy of thirteen members was chosen by ballot and seven members were expelled between January and May 1721, while the expedition that retook New Providence in 1718 was privately funded and not voted by Parliament. Unverified Reported, not yet checked against the record. Statute text and parliamentary proceedings: Piracy Act 1698, 11 Will. 3 c. 7, "An Act for the more effectuall Suppression of Piracy," revised text on legislation.gov.uk, for the trial power vested in commissioners; The History and Proceedings of the House of Commons, vol. 6, session begun 8 December 1720, pp. 218 to 262, British History Online, for the balloted Committee of Secrecy and the seven expulsions; David Wilson, Suppressing Piracy in the Early Eighteenth Century (Boydell Press, 2021), chapter 3, for the private co-partnership that funded the 1718 Bahamas expedition
  2. The Commons held the sole right to grant supply, resolving on 3 July 1678 that "all Aids and Supplies" are "the sole Gift of the Commons," who possess "the undoubted and sole Right" to "direct, limit, and appoint" the terms of such grants, terms that "ought not to be changed, or altered by the House of Lords." Unverified Reported, not yet checked against the record. Primary parliamentary record: House of Commons Journal, vol. 9, 3 July 1678, p. 509a, British History Online
  3. The Piracy Act is cited as 11 Will. 3 c. 7, also given as 11 and 12 Will. III c. 7, is long titled "An Act for the more effectuall Suppression of Piracy," and carries a modern short title of 1698 conferred retrospectively by the Statute Law Revision Act 1948, which is why catalogues date the same Act 1698, 1699 and 1700; it permitted piracy committed out of England to be tried before commissioners sitting under the Great Seal or the seal of the Admiralty. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Statute text: Piracy Act 1698, 11 Will. 3 c. 7, revised text as at 1 February 1991, legislation.gov.uk, for the citation, long title, preamble and the origin of the short title
  4. The Piracy Act 1721 (8 Geo. I c. 24) made it piracy to "anywise trade with any pirate, by truck, barter, exchange, or in any other manner" or to furnish a pirate with "any ammunition, provision, or stores of any kind," declared accessories under the Act of 1700 to be principals, and forfeited the wages of a master or seaman of an armed merchant ship who would not fight, with six months' imprisonment. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Statute text: Piracy Act 1721, 8 Geo. 1 c. 24, revised text as at 1 February 1991, legislation.gov.uk, for the trading, accessory and wages provisions
  5. The Commons' campaign over William Kidd failed in every object: on 6 December 1699 it put and rejected the question that the letters patent of pirates' goods to the Earl of Bellomont and others were "dishonourable to the King, against the Law of Nations, contrary to the Laws and Statutes of the Realm, an Invasion of Property, and destructive of Trade and Commerce"; on 16 March 1700 it addressed the King that Kidd not be tried, discharged or pardoned before the next session and that Bellomont transmit all papers relating to him, with which the King complied; and it impeached Portland on 1 April 1701 and Somers, Orford and Halifax a fortnight later, Kidd's commission appearing in Orford's articles of 9 May and as the thirteenth of Somers's fourteen articles of 19 May, whereupon Somers was acquitted on 17 June 1701, Orford unanimously acquitted on 23 June and the remaining cases collapsed on 24 June with no managers sent to prosecute them. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Printed parliamentary proceedings and the History of Parliament: The History and Proceedings of the House of Commons, vol. 3, session begun 16 November 1699, pp. 106 to 127, British History Online, for the question of 6 December 1699 and the address of 16 March 1700; same work, vol. 3, session begun 6 February 1701, pp. 127 to 183, for the impeachment resolutions and the articles against Orford and Somers; History of Parliament Online, Lords biographies of Somers, Russell and Montagu, and the Trust's blog post "Impeachment II" (9 February 2021), for the acquittals and the absence of managers. The sources differ on two points: the printed proceedings date the April resolutions 14 April 1701 while the History of Parliament gives 15 April with a division of 189 to 182, and the Russell biography reports 43 peers present at Orford's acquittal in its main text while quoting Vernon for 44
  6. In the session of 16 November 1699 to 11 April 1700, the session that produced the piracy statute, the Commons voted a naval complement of 7,000 seamen for the next year's service with 90,000 pounds for extraordinaries of the navy, applied 76,383 pounds remaining in the Exchequer from tonnage and poundage to seamen's wages and authorised 220,000 pounds to be borrowed at 5 per cent for the same; in the session begun 19 October 1721 it granted one million pounds towards the debts of the navy, which had stood at about 1,700,000 pounds on 30 September 1721. Unverified Reported, not yet checked against the record. Printed parliamentary proceedings: The History and Proceedings of the House of Commons, vol. 3, session begun 16 November 1699, pp. 106 to 127, British History Online, for the supply votes of 1699 to 1700; same work, vol. 6, session begun 19 October 1721, pp. 263 to 281, for the grant of one million pounds and the navy debt at 30 September 1721