The
vestry committees evolved in ecclesiastical parishes out of the feudal system and the removal of the influence of the Church after the Reformation. They had a dual nature and acquired civil duties such as administering the
Poor Law. These bodies met in the
vestry of the local
parish church and were responsible for imposing a form of local
taxes known as the
church rate. They were in effect the government of rural England and Wales until the reforms of the late 1800s creating county and district councils. Whilst the
open vestry was a general meeting of all inhabitant rate-paying householders in a parish, in the 17th century the huge growth of population in some parishes, mostly urban, made it increasingly difficult to convene and conduct meetings. Consequently,
select vestries were created in some of these. They were administrative committees of selected parishioners whose members generally had a property qualification and who were recruited largely by
co-option. This committee was also known as the "close vestry". By the late 17th century, the existence of a number of autocratic and corrupt select vestries had become a national scandal, and several bills were introduced to Parliament in the 1690s, but none became acts. There was continual agitation for reform, and in 1698 to keep the debate alive the
House of Lords insisted that a bill to reform the select vestries, the Select Vestries Bill, would always be the first item of business of the Lords in a new parliament until a reform bill was passed. The first reading of the bill was made annually, but every year the bill never got any further. This continues to this day as an archaic custom in the Lords to assert the independence from the Crown, even though the select vestries have long been abolished. ==Select Vestries Acts==