The 45 Members who took their seats in the first Parliament of Great Britain, in November 1707, had been chosen by the estates of the Scottish parliament in the preceding February, according to the terms of an act of the Scottish parliament, passed only a short time before, for settling the representation of Scotland in the united Parliament. The three estates, peers, lesser barons (the equivalent of the English knights of the shire) and burgh commissioners, withdrew and made separate elections of their own representatives, in the exact proportions which were to obtain at each general election thereafter: 16 peers, 30 lesser barons, and 15 burgh commissioners. Little is known of the election process itself, but the end result reflected the political equation in the Edinburgh parliament. These Members were replaced at the general election of 1708.