Statute Law Repeals - Law Commission - Ministry of Justice

GROUP 7 - SALE OF PUBLIC OFFICES
Sale of Offices Acts 1551 and 1809
2.35 In the Middle Ages, the concept of tenure applied to public offices. An office was
granted to a person as if it were property. The office gave the official certain
rights and imposed upon him certain duties. In many cases, the salary paid to the
office-holder was small, but the office carried with it the right to extract large fees
from the public. The Sale of Offices Acts 1551 and 1809 50 represented efforts to
eliminate the purchase and sale of public offices.
2.36 The 1551 Act forbade the sale of certain public offices connected with the
administration of justice, on pain of specified disabilities upon those seeking them or
accepting reward. All such sales or agreements for sale were declared void and
anyone making a contract for an office in violation of the Act was disabled for life
from holding the office. The Act was not comprehensive. It applied to clerkships in
the courts of record and to certain offices of trust, 51 and there were exceptions
under provisos since repealed. The restrictions of the Act gave rise to substantial
case law as to the offices within its scope and the types of contravention of its
provisions; but there appear to have been no cases since 1829. 52
2.37 The 1809 Act was passed as a consequence of a scandal involving the Duke of
York, the commander-in-chief of the army, and his mistress. The events were
described as follows - 53
In January 1809 the radical member of parliament Wardle brought
before the house the squalid tale of the Duke of York and Mrs Clarke.
Mrs Clarke, an extravagant actress, was the Duke's mistress. It was
proved that she had taken money from those who wished to buy
promotion or favours in the war organization. It was alleged that the
Duke of York knew of her sales of office, and even that he took a share
of the proceeds. For two months the house examined witnesses from
the underworld of London society. In the end it was carried, by 278 to
196, that the Duke of York was not guilty of personal corruption or of
connivance at corruption. But as he had clearly been guilty of allowing
his mistress to know too much of official business he was obliged, in
spite of his services to the Army, to resign his official appointments. 54 ...
Perceval, for the government, was certainly shocked by the revelation of
public belief that places were for sale. Striking at once, therefore, he
carried an act making it penal to solicit money for procuring offices.
50 5 & 6 Edw.6 c.16 (1551) and 49 Geo.3 c.126 (1809).
51 According to Jowitt’s Dictionary of English Law (2 nd ed 1977), vol 2 p 1278, public offices
are either "offices of trust" which cannot be performed by a deputy, or ministerial offices
(which can).
52 See Russell on Crime (12 th ed 1964), pp 374-6.
53
J S Watson, The Reign of George III (1760-1815) (The Oxford History of England, vol XII
1960) pp 447-8.
54 The Duke was reappointed commander in chief in 1811; ibid, p 448.
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