The statute of 1 Anne, having been not affect granted by the crown for life, or for lives, in possession or in reversion, without restriction in amount, or in the duration of the grant, other than the amount of the revenues, and the claims and burdens already upon them. By the 50 Geo. III. c. 3, the principle of parliamentary in terference was established in reference to the hereditary revenues of Scotland, the amount of the pensions was reduced to 25,000L, and no more than 8001. was to be granted in any one year, until such reduction was effected. At this period, the Civil List pensions of Scotland amounted to 39,3791. By the 1 Geo. IV. c. 1, the hereditary revenues of Scotland were placed to the account of the consolidated fund.
Certain duties, called the four and a half per cent. duties, were not withdrawn from the private control of the crown until 1830, when they were surrendered by William IV. for his life, the pensions then chargeable upon them continuing payable. On the accession of King William IV. there was nothing there fore to prevent the Pension Lists of England, Ireland, and Scotland being consolidated ; and this was effected by 1 Wm. IV. c. 25, which also made provision for their reduction, on the expiration of existing interests, from an amount of 145,7501. net, to a future maximum sum of 75,000/. The Pension List for England was at this period 74,200/. net; Scotland, 23,6501.; Ireland, 47,9001.
In 1830 the ministry of the Duke of Wellington was overthrown, on the question of referring the Civil List (which comprises the Pension List) to a select committee, Sir Henry Parnell's motion to that effect being carried by 233 against 204.
In February, 1834, in order to define with greater precision the class of per sons to whom the grant of pensions ought to be confined, Lord Althorp, chan cellor of the exchequer (afterwards Earl Spencer), moved resolutions to the fol lowing effect, which were agreed to by the House of Commons :—" That it is the bounden duty of the responsible ad visers of the crown to recommend to his Majesty for grants of pensions on the Civil List, such persons only as have just claims on the royal beneficence, or who, by their personal services to the crown, by the performance of duties to the pub lic, or by their useful discoveries in science and attainments in literature and the arts, have merited the gracious con sideration of their sovereign and the gratitude of their country." On the accession of Queen Victoria, in 1837, the subject of pensions was again considered ; and a select committee of the House of Commons, appointed to inquire into the Civil List, recom mended—" That in place of granting a sum of 75,0001. for Civil List pensions,
her majesty should be empowered to grant in every year new pensions on the Civil List to the amount of 12001., these pensions to be granted in strict con formity with the resolutions of the House of Commons, of February, 1834." These views were adopted by the House, and embodied in the 1 Viet. c. 2, the words of the resolution being introduced into the Act. [Civil. Lim] Since the accession of Queen Victoria, still greater force has been given to the spirit of the Act, in consequence of the recommenda tions of a select committee of the House of Commons, appointed in December, 1837, to inquire how far the pensions charged on the Civil List, as settled on the accession of William IV., ought to be continued, " having due regard to the just claims of the parties, and to economy in the public expenditure." This emu mittee, after a searching inquiry into the merits of each case on the Pension List, recommended the immediate suspension of several pensions, to be regranted on the responsibility of the government, should the circumstances of the parties render it necessary ; others they con sidered should determine at an earlier period than specified in the original grant ; and for several pensions, they considered it unadvisable to make any future provision, that is, that they should be no longer paid. In their Re port, dated July, 1838, the committee recommended that in the case of all future Civil List pensions, the reasons and motives of the grant should be set forth in the warrant of appointment; that in pensions granted for services to others than the individual by whom the services were rendered, care should be taken, if these pensions are granted for younger lives, that is, to the sons or daughters of the individual entitled to the pension, that no undue increase of charge should be made; and that such grants should be avoided, except under very peculiar circumstances: they recom mended also that pensions for the relief of distress should be granted only on the condition of their ceasing when the cir cumstances of the parties no longer re quire their continuance ; that all pensions should be held liable to deduction or suspension in the event of the parties being appointed to office in the public service; that under no circumstances should the mere combination of poverty with the hereditary rank of the peerage be considered as a justification of a grant of a pension. The committee also recom mended that, in order to avoid any possible doubt or misconception hereafter, enact ments should be made with respect to the Irish and Scotch revenue, analogous to those of the English act of 1 Anne.