Equality (Titles) Bill

Equality (Titles) Bill

Long title A Bill to make provision for the succession of female heirs to hereditary titles; for husbands and civil partners of those receiving honours to be allowed to use equivalent honorary titles to those available to wives; and for connected purposes.
Introduced by The Lord Lucas and Dingwall
Status: Not passed

The Equality (Titles) Bill, known colloquially as the "Downton Law" and "Downton Abbey Law",[1] was a Bill of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that would end a measure of gender discrimination and allow for equal succession of female heirs to hereditary titles and peerages.[2] The primogeniture legislation, in conjunction with the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, would align hereditary titles in accordance with the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act.

Overview

The bill did not progress beyond the committee stage and will make no further progress.[3]

The bill has been referred to as the "Downton law" in reference to the British television drama Downton Abbey where the Earl's eldest daughter is unable to inherit the family seat because it can only be passed to a male heir.[2]

The bill was sponsored by the Lord Lucas and Dingwall[4] in the House of Lords and has had two readings.[5] The Queen has consented to the bill's procession.[6] Conservative MP Mary Macleod has sponsored the bill in the House of Commons and pointed out that only two of House of Lords' 92 hereditary peers are women.[4]

The Equality (Titles) Bill was precipitated by the passage of the 2013 Succession to the Crown Act, which altered the laws of succession to the British throne so that male heirs no longer precede their elder sisters. After peer Lord Trefgarne remarked that the changes in succession would "set the hare running" on other inherited titles, a campaign group named "The Hares" was established.[7]

An amendment to the bill that would exclude baronetcies from its scope has been opposed by David Roche, Roddy Llewellyn, and Nicholas Stuart Taylor of the Stuart Taylor Baronetcy as well as Lord Monson.[8] A number of the bill's supporters have titles that are in danger of dying out, as their only heirs are female.[7]

The bill returned to parliament under a new title. It did not pass.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Collins, Lauren (9 December 2013). "Ladies First!". The New Yorker.
  2. 1 2 Graham, Georgia (29 December 2013). "Ladies who could soon be a leaping". The Telegraph.
  3. ↑ "Equality (Titles) Bill [HL] 2013-14". UK Parliament. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  4. 1 2 Lyall, Sarah (22 June 2013). "Son and Heir? In Britain, Daughters Cry No Fair". The New York Times.
  5. ↑ "Bill stages – Equality (Titles) Bill [HL] 2013–14". Retrieved 30 December 2013.
  6. ↑ "Queen gives green light to removing gender bias from titles". Royal Central. 1 November 2013.
  7. 1 2 Merrick, Jane; Bell, Matthew (20 October 2013). "The hares take on the heirs in Parliament: Where royalty led, the aristocracy may follow, with succession rights for girls to be debated". The Independent.
  8. ↑ "First-born girls should be able to inherit hereditary titles". The Telegraph. 5 December 2013.

External links

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