Civil list

A civil list is a list of individuals to whom money is paid by the government, typically for service to the state or as honorary pensions. It is a term especially associated with the United Kingdom, and its former colonies and dominions. It was originally defined as expenses supporting the British monarchy.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the Civil List was, until 2011, the annual grant that covered some expenses associated with the Sovereign performing their official duties, including those for staff salaries, state visits, public engagements, ceremonial functions and the upkeep of the Royal Households. The cost of transport and security for the Royal Family, together with property maintenance and other sundry expenses, were covered by separate grants from individual government departments. The Civil List was abolished under the Sovereign Grant Act 2011.

History

Civil List Act 1697
Act of Parliament
Parliament of England
Long title	An Act for granting to His Majesty a further Subsidy of Tunnage and Poundage towards raiseing the Yearly Summ of Seven hundred thousand Pounds for the Service of His Majesties. Household & other Uses therein mencioned during His Majesties Life.
Citation	9 Will. 3. c. 23 (Ruffhead: 9 & 10 Will. 3. c. 23)
Territorial extent	England and Wales
Dates
Royal assent	5 July 1698
Other legislation
Repealed by	Customs Law Repeal Act 1825
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

Civil List Act 1714
Act of Parliament
Parliament of Great Britain
Long title	An Act for the better support of his Majesty's houshold and of the honour and dignity of the crown of Great Britain.
Citation	1 Geo. 1. St. 1. c. 1
Dates
Royal assent	21 August 1714
Repealed	15 July 1867
Other legislation
Repealed by	Statute Law Revision Act 1867
Status: Repealed

Civil List Act 1727
Act of Parliament
Parliament of Great Britain
Long title	An Act for the better Support of His Majesty's Household, and of the Honour and Dignity of the Crown of Great Britain.
Citation	1 Geo. 2. St. 1. c. 1
Dates
Royal assent	17 July 1727
Repealed	15 July 1867
Other legislation
Repealed by	Statute Law Revision Act 1867
Status: Repealed

Civil List Act 1760
Parliament of Great Britain
Long title	An Act for the Support of his Majesty's Household, and of the Honour and Dignity of the Crown of Great Britain.
Citation	1 Geo. 3. c. 1
Territorial extent	England and Wales; Scotland
Dates
Royal assent	9 December 1760
Repealed	15 July 1867
Other legislation
Repealed by	Statute Law Revision Act 1867
Status: Repealed

Civil List Act 1776
Act of Parliament
Parliament of Great Britain
Long title	An act for the better support of his Majesty's household, and of the honour and dignity of the crown of Great Britain.
Citation	17 Geo. 3. c. 21
Dates
Royal assent	7 May 1777
Repealed	21 August 1871
Other legislation
Repealed by	Statute Law Revision Act 1871
Status: Repealed

Civil List Act 1785
Act of Parliament
Parliament of Great Britain
Long title	An Act to authorize the Lord Steward of the Household, the Lord Chamberlain, the Master of the Horse, the Master of the Robes, and the Lords of the Treasury, respectively, to pay Bounties granted by His Majesty to Persons in low and indigent Circumstances.
Citation	25 Geo. 3. c. 61
Dates
Royal assent	20 July 1785
Repealed	21 August 1871
Other legislation
Repealed by	Statute Law Revision Act 1871
Status: Repealed

Civil List Act 1837
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act for the Support of Her Majesty's Household, and of the Honour and Dignity of the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Citation	1 & 2 Vict. c. 2
Dates
Royal assent	23 December 1837
Other legislation
Amended by	Sovereign Grant Act 2011
Status: Amended
Text of the Civil list as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

Civil List Act 1804
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An act for the better Support of his Majesty's Household, and of the Honour and Dignity of the Crown of the United Kingdom; and for preventing Accumulation of Arrears in the Payments out of the Civil List Revenues.
Citation	44 Geo. 3. c. 80
Dates
Royal assent	20 July 1804
Repealed	6 August 1872
Other legislation
Repealed by	Statute Law Revision Act 1872
Status: Repealed

Civil List (Ireland) Act 1805
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An act to amend an act made in the parliament of Ireland, for the support of the honour and dignity of his Majesty's crown in Ireland; and for granting to his Majesty a civil list establishment under certain provisions and regulations.
Citation	45 Geo. 3. c. 76
Dates
Royal assent	2 July 1805
Repealed	6 August 1872
Other legislation
Repealed by	Statute Law Revision Act 1872
Status: Repealed

Civil List Audit Act 1816
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act for the better Regulation of the Civil List.
Citation	56 Geo. 3. c. 46
Dates
Royal assent	20 June 1816
Other legislation
Amended by	Statute Law Revision Act 1873 Statute Law Revision Act 1888
Repealed by	Sovereign Grant Act 2011
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

Civil List Act 1820
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act for the Support of His Majesty's Household and of the Honour and Dignity of the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Citation	1 Geo. 4. c. 1
Dates
Royal assent	6 June 1820
Repealed	5 August 1873
Other legislation
Repealed by	Statute Law Revision Act 1873
Status: Repealed

Civil List Act 1831
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An act for the Support of His Majesty's Household, and of the Honour and Dignity of the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Citation	1 Will. 4. c. 25
Dates
Royal assent	22 April 1831
Repealed	18 July 1874
Other legislation
Repealed by	Statute Law Revision Act 1874
Status: Repealed

Civil List Act 1901
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to make provision for the honour and dignity of the Crown and the Royal Family, and for the payment of certain allowances and pensions.
Citation	1 Edw. 7. c. 4
Dates
Royal assent	2 July 1901
Text of statute as originally enacted

Civil List Act 1910
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to make provision for the honour and dignity of the Crown and the Royal Family, and for the payment of certain allowances and pensions.
Citation	10 Edw. 7. & 1 Geo. 5. c. 28
Dates
Royal assent	3 August 1910
Commencement	6 May 1910
Other legislation
Repealed by	Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1977
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

Civil List Act 1937
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to make provision for the honour and dignity of the Crown and the Royal Family, and for the payment of certain allowances and pensions; to enable His Majesty to assent to arrangements on behalf of any son of His Majesty being Duke of Cornwall for the payment of certain sums out of the revenues of the Duchy during the minority of the said Duke; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
Citation	1 Edw. 8. & 1 Geo. 6. c. 32
Dates
Royal assent	10 June 1937
Other legislation
Repealed by	Sovereign Grant Act 2011
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

See also: Civil List Act 1697, Civil List Act 1727, Civil List Act 1760, and Civil List Act 1837

Following the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the expenses relating to the support of the monarch were largely separated from the ordinary expenses of the state managed by the Exchequer.

In 1697, Parliament under William III fixed the Crown's peacetime revenue at £1,200,000 per year; of this about £700,000 was appropriated towards the Civil List.^[1][2] The sovereigns were expected to use this to defray some of the costs of running the civil government (such as the Civil Service, judges' and ambassadors' salaries) and the payment of pensions, as well as the expenses of the Royal Household and the sovereign's personal expenses. It was from this that the term "Civil List" arose, to distinguish it from the statement of military and naval expenses which were funded through special taxation.

The 1760 accession of George III marked a significant change in royal finances. As his predecessor, George II, had failed to meet all of the specific costs of the civil government in accordance with the previous arrangement, it was decided by the Civil List Act 1760 that George III would surrender the hereditary revenues from the Crown Estate to Parliament for the duration of his reign, and in return Parliament would assume responsibility for most of the costs of the civil government. Parliament would continue to pay the Civil List, which would defray the expenses of the Royal Household and some of the costs of the civil government. George III, however, retained the income from the Duchy of Lancaster.

On the 1830 accession of William IV, the sum voted for the Civil List was restricted to the expenses of the Royal Household, removing any residual responsibilities associated with the cost of the civil government. This finally removed any links between the sovereign and the cost of the civil government. On the accession of Queen Victoria, the Civil List Act 1837—which reiterated the principles of the civil list system and specified all prior Acts as in force—was passed. Upon the accession of subsequent monarchs down to Queen Elizabeth II, this constitutional arrangement was confirmed, but the historical term "Civil List" remained even though the grant had nothing to do with the expenses of the civil government.

In 1931, George V decided to eschew the £50,000 due to him from the Civil List as a result of the Great Depression. As Keeper of the Privy Purse, Sir Frederick Ponsonby wrote to Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald to say that George had felt it was possible to reject the grant by "exercise of the most rigid economy" and that Queen Mary and other royal family members were "desirous that reductions in these grants should be made during this time of national crisis".^[3]

Elizabeth II

Civil List Act 1952
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to make provision for the honour and dignity of the Crown and the Royal Family, as to the disposal in certain circumstances of revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall, and for the payment of certain allowances and pensions.
Citation	15 & 16 Geo. 6 & 1 Eliz. 2. c. 37
Dates
Royal assent	1 August 1952
Other legislation
Amended by	Civil List Act 1972 Sovereign Grant Act 2011
Status: Amended
Text of the Civil List Act 1952 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

Civil List Act 1972
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to make further provision for the honour and dignity of the Crown and the Royal Family, and for the payment of certain allowances and pensions.
Citation	1972 c. 7
Dates
Royal assent	24 February 1972
Other legislation
Amends	Civil List Act 1952
Amended by	Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1977 Sovereign Grant Act 2011
Status: Amended
Text of the Civil List Act 1972 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

Civil List Act 1975
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to provide for supplementing out of moneys provided by Parliament the sums payable under the enactments mentioned in section 6(1) of the Civil List Act 1972; and to repeal section 5(2)(b) of that Act.
Citation	1975 c. 82
Dates
Royal assent	19 December 1975
Other legislation
Repealed by	Sovereign Grant Act 2011
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted
Text of the Civil List Act 1975 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The last British monarch to receive Civil List payments was Elizabeth II. The Civil List for her reign lasted from her accession in 1952 until its abolition in 2012. During this period the Queen, as head of state, used the Civil List to defray some of the official expenditure of the monarchy.

Only the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen Mother ever received direct funding from the Civil List.^[4] The then Prince of Wales and his immediate family (the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince Harry) received their income from the Duchy of Cornwall. The state duties and staff of other members of the Royal Family were funded from a parliamentary annuity, the amount of which was fully refunded by the Queen to the Treasury.^[5] The Queen's consort (Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh) received £359,000 per year.^[6]

The last two decades of the Civil List were marked by surpluses and deficits. Surpluses in the 1991–2000 Civil List caused by low inflation and the efforts of the Queen and her staff to make the Royal Household more efficient led to the accrual of a £35.3 million reserve by late 2000. Consequently, the Civil List was fixed at £7.9 million annually in 2001, the same amount as in 1991, and remained at that level until its abolition. The reserve was then used to make up the shortfall in the Civil List during the subsequent decade.^[7] The Civil List Act 1972 allowed the Treasury to review the level of the payment every ten years, but only allowed for increases and not reductions.^[8]

The abolition of the Civil List was announced in the spending review statement to the House of Commons on 20 October 2010 by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne. In its place, he said, "the Royal Household will receive a new Sovereign Support Grant linked to a portion of the revenue of the Crown Estate". The Crown Estate is a statutory corporation, run on commercial lines by the Crown Estate Commissioners and generates revenue for HM Treasury every year (an income surplus of £210.7 million for the year ended 31 March 2010).^[9] This income is received by the Crown and given to the state as a result of the agreement reached in 1760 that has been renewed at the beginning of each subsequent reign. The Sovereign Grant Act 2011 received royal assent on 18 October 2011. Under this Act, the Sovereign Grant now funds all of the official expenditure of the monarchy, not just the expenditure previously borne by the Civil List.

Civil List pensions

See also: Pensions in the United Kingdom § Civil List pensions

These are pensions traditionally granted by the Sovereign from the Civil List upon the recommendation of the First Lord of the Treasury. The Civil List Act 1837 applied the condition that any new pensions should be "granted to such persons only as have just claims on the royal beneficence or who by their personal services to the Crown, or by the performance of duties to the public, or by their useful discoveries in science and attainments in literature and the arts, have merited the gracious consideration of their sovereign and the gratitude of their country."^[10] Famous recipients include William Wordsworth,^[11] William Barnes,^[12] Geraldine Jewsbury,^[13] Margaret Oliphant,^[14] Christopher Logue,^[15] and Molly Parkin.^[16] (Lord Byron is often said to have received a civil list pension, but his mother was the actual recipient.^[17]) As of 1911, a sum of £1,200 was allotted each year from the Civil List, in addition to the pensions already in force. From a Return issued in 1908, the total of Civil List pensions payable in that year amounted to £24,665. In the financial year 2012-13 the annual cost of Civil List pensions paid to 53 people was £126,293.^[18] New Civil List pensions continue to be awarded occasionally.^[16]

Canada

In Canada the civil list was a common term during the pre-confederation period; it referred to the payment for all officials on the government payroll. There was much controversy as to whether the list would be controlled by the governor or by the Legislative Assembly. The Assembly demanded control of all money matters, while the governors worried that if the Assembly was given this power, then certain positions would be delisted. Eventually under the Baldwin-Lafontaine government, a compromise was reached with Lord Elgin.^{[clarification needed]}

The term civil list is no longer commonly used to describe the payment of civil servants in Canada, who are covered in the budgets of executive agencies.

India

Civil Services of India civil servant bureaucrats, in a personal capacity, are paid from the Civil List. Senior civil servants may be called to account by Parliament. The civil service system in India is rank-based and does not follow the tenets of the position-based civil services.^[19]

Morocco

Article 45 of the 2011 Amended Moroccan Constitution states that the King shall have a civil list.^[20] A similar provision was contained in Article 22 of the 1996 Amended Moroccan Constitution.^[21]

New Zealand

The New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 (an enactment of the Parliament of the United Kingdom) granted self-government to the Colony of New Zealand and made provision for sums payable to the monarch. Various Civil List enactments were passed, repealed and replaced over the next hundred years which provided for permanent appropriations of Parliament to fund to the Governor-General, Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers, Members of Parliament and the judiciary. The Civil List Act 1950 provided for salaries and allowances of members of Parliament to be fixed by Order in Council on the recommendation of a royal commission, where previously they had been set at intervals by legislation, and also codified the convention that a Minister of the Crown must be a member of Parliament. It was amended in 1964 to provide for an annuity for former prime ministers and the widows of former prime ministers.

The Civil List Act 1979, succeeding the 1950 Act, was the final enactment of that name. It provided for a Higher Salaries Commission (now known as the Remuneration Authority), an independent salary-setting body for public offices including judges. A standalone Higher Salaries Commission Act 1977 extracted the commission from the Civil List Act. Some parts of the Act were also rehomed into the Constitution Act 1986. A review of the Civil List Act 1979 was undertaken by the Law Commission from 2007 to 2010; eventually the Act was repealed in two stages.^[22][23] The provisions relating to the Governor-General were repealed and replaced by the Governor-General Act 2010 and the remaining provisions were repealed and replaced by the Members of Parliament (Remuneration and Services) Act 2013.

Singapore

The Civil List and Gratuity Act^[24] provides a civil list and gratuity for the maintenance of the President of Singapore.

See also

• Privy Purse
• Privy Purse in India

References

Citations

1. "William III, 1697-8: An Act for granting to His Majesty a further Subsidy of Tunnage and Poundage towards raiseing the Yearly Su[m]m of Seven hundred thousand Pounds... [Chapter XXIII. Rot. Parl. 9 Gul. III. p. 4. n. 5.] | British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 2016-06-24.
2. "The Convention and Bill of Rights". UK Parliament. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
3. "Silence of the readers". The Times. 22 August 1992. p. 10.
4. Verkaik, Robert (30 May 2002). "Royal aides want to see abolition of Civil List". The Independent. Archived from the original on February 24, 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
5. "Sovereign Grant Act: main provisions". HM Treasury. Archived from the original on 3 January 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
6. "What Is The True Cost Of The Monarchy?". Royal Central. 17 February 2013. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
7. Elena Egawhary (23 June 2010). "How the Civil List is spent". BBC News. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
8. Travis, Alan (30 May 2002). "Secret deals that obscure the royal finances". The Guardian. Retrieved 2015-09-07.
9. "News Page - 2010 Annual Results". The Crown Estate. 15 July 2010. Archived from the original on 22 August 2010.
10. Civil List Act 1837 (c.2)
11. Erickson, Lee (1996). The economy of literary form: English literature and the industrialization of publishing, 1800-1850. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 76. ISBN 0801851459. OCLC 32394070.
12. Chris Wrigley, 'Barnes, William (1801–1886)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2006 accessed 7 Sept 2017
13. Joanne Wilkes, 'Jewsbury, Geraldine Endsor (1812–1880)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 7 Sept 2017
14. Elisabeth Jay, 'Oliphant, Margaret Oliphant Wilson (1828–1897)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 7 Sept 2017
15. Jeremy Noel-Tod, 'Logue, (John) Christopher (1926–2011)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Jan 2015 accessed 7 Sept 2017
16. Richard Eden (20 May 2012). "Erotic painter Molly Parkin is shocked to receive rare honour from the Queen". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
17. Jerome J. McGann, 'Byron, George Gordon Noel, sixth Baron Byron (1788–1824)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, May 2015 accessed 7 Sep 2017
18. "Written Answers to Questions". House of Commons Hansard. 17 June 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
19. United Nations Public Administration Network. "National Civil Service System in India : A Critical View" (PDF). Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
20. "Constitution". Maroc.ma. 11 April 2013. Retrieved 2015-09-07.
21. "Morocco Constitution Adopted 13 September 1996" (PDF). United Nations Public Administration Network. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-06-05. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
22. "Civil List Act 1979 | Law Commission". www.lawcom.govt.nz. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
23. "PM welcomes review of Civil List Act". The Beehive. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
24. Cap. 44, 2002 Rev. Ed.

Further reading

• President of Singapore's Salary and Entitlements President of Singapore#Salary and entitlements

External links

• BBC Royal Accounts 2002
• The price of monarchy: two pints of milk (Stephen Bates, Guardian, 25 June 2004)
• Royal financial reports 2003/2004 (royal.gov.uk)
• Civil List (royal.gov.uk)