The Radical Duke: Universal Suffrage and the Modernization of Constitutional Monarchy

The “Radical Duke,” Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond, introduced a bill for universal manhood suffrage in the House of Lords in June 1780. The bill emerged from a philosophical and practical effort to solve a constitutional puzzle created in Britain by the growing work of colonial administration and the pressures of the American Revolution. The story of how Richmond, a close collaborator of Edmund Burke and radicals like Thomas Paine in the 1760s and 1770s, developed this proposal is an essentially unknown but important part of British constitutional history and the history of theory and practice of representation. Richmond achieved the technical innovations needed to make modern representation possible. This lecture will introduce these important contributions and unpack their significance for constitutional theory.

The HLA Hart Memorial Lecture is an annual lecture delivered in Oxford by a distinguished speaker. The lecture is named after HLA Hart (1907-1992), who became Professor of Jurisprudence in Oxford in 1952 and was the author of the highly influential book The Concept of Law. The lecture takes place under the auspices of University College, Oxford, where Hart held his chair, and is supported by the Tanner Lectures on Human Values.

The HLA Hart Visiting Fellowship in Law has been endowed in perpetuity, thanks to a transformative gift from the Rt Hon. Lord Mance, (1961, Law). We are grateful to him for this generous contribution to the life of the College, and in recognition of this will rename the Fellowship the HLA Hart-JH Mance Visiting Fellowship in Philosophy, Law and Politics. Read more