Quote:
Originally Posted by johndallman
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Freaky!
I have done a bit of following up. It turns out that the
Succession to the Crown Act 1707 (i.e. in about the time frame you would expect) provided that people in office under the Crown should remain in office for six months after a demise of the Crown (unless sacked by the successor, their commission expired, etc.). That included, crucially, members of Parliament. The
Demise of the Crown Act 1727 extended that to some dubious cases involving offices under the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of Cornwall, and the
Demise of the Crown Act 1901 removed the six-month limit for all offices (the six-month limit for members of Parliament was removed in 1878).