Cambridge University Act 1856
1856 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Act of Parliament 19 & 20 Vic c. 88

The Cambridge University Act 1856 (19 & 20 Vict. c. 88) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom, which regulates corporate governance at the University of Cambridge. It requires that most members of full-time academic staff have voting rights over the Council of the Senate, which is ultimately the leading body in the university's administration. The act resulted in new subjects being introduced.
Provisions
Sections 1 and 2 stipulated that commissioners must be appointed and for how long. This resulted in 8 commissioners being appointed.
Section 5, states that the Council of the Senate is the top management body.
Section 12, concerns "Votes of electors." It states:
The act also removed some religious requirements and restrictions.
See also
UK labour law
UK company law
Universities in the UK
Notes
References
Citations
Bibliography
The Statutes: Second Revised Edition.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Cambridge University Act 1856” as 1856 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Act of Parliament 19 & 20 Vic c. 88. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as 1856 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Act of Parliament 19 & 20 Vic c. 88. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q25054078. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1856.
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This entry incorporates text from “Cambridge University Act 1856” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.