Features of The Convention Parliaments
It is a branch of the royal prerogative, that no parliament shall be convened by its own authority, or by any other authority than that of the sovereign. Where the crown is in abeyance, this prerogative cannot of course be exercised, and the expedient of Convention Parliaments has been resorted to, the enactments of which shall afterwards be ratified by a parliament summoned in accordance with the provisions of the constitution. ... a Convention Parliament the constitutional mode in which the general will of England expresses itself on such questions as cannot be constitutionally discussed in parliament—e.g., a change of the reigning dynasty. —Chambers's Encyclopaedia (1870), Volume 3 p. 210Blackstone points out that the 1689 parliament had to assemble without a kings writ, because the throne was vacant, and no legally summoned parliament could ever be assembled again unless a Convention Parliament met to settle the issue of government.
Between 1660 and 1689 the meaning of the word Convention underwent a revision. In the 1650 the word was seen as pejorative with overtones of irregularity, but after the convening of the 1689 parliament some started to see this as a virtue, "a voice of liberty".
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