Westminster 1585

Four hundred years ago Westminster acquired a status that was considerably overdue. By Act of Parliament it became a municipality with its own laws and constitution. On May 29th, 1585, ordinances were issued for the 'good government' of Westminster and a court was set up to see that they were carried out.

For eight centuries Westminster had possessed an abbey, and since the reign of Edward the Confessor had been the home of kings; by summoning Parliament here 300 years earlier Simon de Montfort had made Westminster England's political capital; here, too, sat the principal law courts of the land. So although the Act would seem formal recognition of a long-established dignity, as the physical changes of the times are examined it becomes clear that new laws were a social necessity.