CHILTERN HUNDREDS. An old principle of English parliamentary law declared that a member of the House of Com mons, once duly chosen, could not resign his seat. This rule was a relic of the days when the local gentry had to be compelled to serve in parliament. The only method, therefore, of avoiding the rule came to be by accepting an office of profit from the crown, a statute of 1707 enacting that every member accepting an office of profit from the crown should thereby vacate his seat, but should be capable of re-election, unless the office in question had been created since 1705, or had been otherwise declared to dis qualify for a seat in parliament. Before this time the only course open to a member desiring to resign was to petition the House for its leave, but except in cases of incurable ill-health, the House always refused it. Among the posts of profit held by members of the House of Commons in the first half of the 18th century are to be found the names of several crown stewardships, which ap parently were not regarded as places of profit under the crown within the meaning of the act of 1707, for no seats were vacated by appointment to them. The first instance of the acceptance of such a stewardship vacating a seat was in 174o, when the house decided that Sir W. W. Wynn, on inheriting from his father, in virtue of a royal grant, the stewardship of the lordship and manor of Bromfield and Yale, and ipso facto vacated his seat. On the passing of the Place act of 1742, the idea of utilizing the appoint ment to certain crown stewardships (possibly suggested by Sir W. W. Wynn's case) as a pretext for enabling a member to resign his seat was carried into practice. These nominal stewardships were eight in number, but only two survived to be used in this way in contemporary practice—those of the Chilterns and North stead ; and when a member wishes to vacate his seat, he is accord ingly spoken of as taking the Chiltern Hundreds.
The Chiltern Hundreds formed a bailiwick of the ordinary type. They are situated on the Chiltern hills, Buckinghamshire. The appointment of steward was first used for parliamentary purposes in 175o, the appointment being made by the chancellor of the exchequer (and at his discretion to grant or not), and the warrant bestowing on the holder "all wages, fees, allowances and other privileges and pre-eminences." Up to the 19th century there was a nominal salary of 20s. attached to the post. It was laid down in 1846 by the chancellor of the exchequer that the Chilterns could not be granted to more than one person in the same day, but this rule has not been strictly adhered to, for on four occasions sub sequent to 185o the Chilterns were granted twice on the same day. The Chilterns might be granted to members whether they had taken the oath or not, or during a recess, though in this case a new writ could not be issued until the House met again. Each new warrant expressly revoked the grant to the last holder, the new steward retaining it in his turn until another should be appointed.
See parliamentary paper—Report from the Select Committee on House of Commons (Vacating of Seats) (1894).