Act of Settlement 1701
The Act of Settlement (12 & 13 Will. 3. c. 2) is an act of the Parliament of England that settled the succession to the English and Irish crowns to only Protestants, which passed in 1701.[b] More specifically, anyone who became a Roman Catholic, or who married one, became disqualified to inherit the throne. This had the effect of deposing the remaining descendants of Charles I, other than his Protestant granddaughter Anne, as the next Protestant in line to the throne was Sophia of Hanover. Born into the House of Wittelsbach, she was a granddaughter of James VI and I from his most junior surviving line,[c] with the crowns descending only to her non-Catholic heirs. Sophia died shortly before the death of Queen Anne, and Sophia's son succeeded to the throne as King George I, starting the Hanoverian dynasty in Britain.
For other acts with similar titles, see Act of Settlement (disambiguation).Long title
An Act for the further Limitation of the Crown and better securing the Rights and Liberties of the Subject.
12 & 13 Will. 3. c. 2
Kingdom of England (1701–1707)
Kingdom of Ireland (1701–1800; extended by the Parliament of England to the Kingdom of Ireland)
Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800)
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922)- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1922–present)
Canada (1867–1931; became a separate law of Canada as a consequence of Order in Council P.C. 3144 and the Succession to the Throne Act 1937)[1][2][3]
Commonwealth of Australia (1901–42; became a separate law of Australia as a consequence of the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act)
New Zealand (1907–47; became a separate law of New Zealand as a consequence of the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act)
Newfoundland (1907–49; Dominion became a province of Canada)
Union of South Africa (1910–31; became a separate law of the Union of South Africa as a consequence of the Statute of Westminster)
Irish Free State (1922–31; became a separate law of the Irish Free State as a consequence of the Statute of Westminster)
12 June 1701[4]
6 February 1701
- Royal Succession Act 2013 (New Zealand)
- Succession to the Crown Act 2013 (United Kingdom)
- Succession to the Crown Act 2015 (Australia)
- Succession to the Throne Act 2015 (Barbados)
- British Nationality Act 1981
- Statute Law Revision Act 1950
- British Nationality Act 1948
- Regency Act 1937
- HM Declaration of Abdication Act 1936
- British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914
- Accession Declaration Act 1910
- Statute Law Revision and Civil Procedure Act 1881
- Short Titles Act 1896
- Electoral Administration Act 2006
- Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010
- Army Act 1955
- Air Force Act 1955
- Aliens’ Employment Act 1955
- Armed Forces Act 1966
- Solicitors Act 1974
- Northern Ireland (Elections) Act 1998
- Government of Wales Act 1998
- Scotland Act 1998
- Northern Ireland Act 1998
- Courts Act 2003
- Armed Forces Act 2006
- Regency Act 1705, s. 27 [1]
- Act 1 Geo. 1. St. 2. c. 51 (1715) [2]
- and others
The Act of Supremacy 1558 had confirmed the independence of the Church of England from Roman Catholicism under the English monarch. One of the principal factors which contributed to the Glorious Revolution was the perceived assaults made on the Church by King James II, a Roman Catholic, who was deposed in favour of his Protestant daughter Mary II and her husband William III. The need for this Act of Settlement was prompted by the inability of William and Mary, as well as of Mary's Protestant sister (the future Queen Anne), to produce any surviving children, and by the perceived threat posed by the pretensions to the throne by remaining Roman Catholic members of the House of Stuart.
The act played a key role in the formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain as, though England and Scotland had shared a monarch since 1603, they had remained separately governed countries, with the Act catalysing the Union of England and Scotland. However, the Parliament of Scotland was more reluctant to abandon the House of Stuart, members of which had been Scottish monarchs long before they became English. Moreover, the Act also placed limits on both the role of foreigners in the British government and the power of the monarch with respect to the Parliament of England, though some of those provisions have been altered by subsequent legislation.
Along with the Bill of Rights 1689, the Act of Settlement remains today one of the main constitutional laws governing the succession not only to the throne of the United Kingdom, but to those of the other Commonwealth realms, whether by assumption or by patriation.[5] The Act of Settlement cannot be altered in any realm except by that realm's own parliament and, by convention, only with the consent of all the other realms, as it touches on the succession to the shared crown.[6] On 26 March 2015, following the Perth Agreement, legislation amending the Act came into effect across the Commonwealth realms that removed the disqualification arising from marriage to a Roman Catholic and instituted absolute primogeniture.
Opposition[edit]
The Tory administration that replaced the Whig Junto in 1699 took responsibility for steering the Act through Parliament. As a result, it passed with little opposition, although five peers voted against it in the House of Lords, including the Earl of Huntingdon, his brother-in-law the Earl of Scarsdale and three others.[13] While many shared their opposition to a 'foreign' king, the general feeling was summed up as 'better a German prince than a French one.'[14]