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 were in effect the government of rural England and Wales until the reforms of the late 1800s creating county and district councils.

They were administrative committees of selected parishioners whose members generally had a property qualification and who were recruited largely by co-option.

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.

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.