Majesty and the said late Queen during the joint Lives of Your Majesty and the said Queen and to the Survivor And that after the Decease of Your Majesty and of the said Queen the said Crown and Regal Government should be and remain to the Heirs of the Body of the said late Queen And for Default of such Issue to her Royal Highness the Princess Ann of Denmark and the Heirs of her Body And for Default of such Issue to the Heirs of the Body of Your Majesty And it was thereby further enacted That all and every Person and Persons that then were or afterwards should be reconciled to or shall hold Communion with the See or Church of Rome or should profess the Popish Religion or marry a Papist should be excluded and are by that Act made forever incapable to inherit possess or enjoy the Crown and Government of this Realm and Ireland and the Dominions thereunto belonging or any part of the same or to have use or exercise any regal Power Authority or Jurisdiction within the same And in all and every such Case or Cases the People of these Realms shall be and are thereby absolved of their Allegiance And that the said Crown and Government shall from time to time descend to and be enjoyed by such Person or Persons being Protestants as should have inherited and enjoyed the same in case the said Person or Persons so reconciled holding Communion professing or marrying as aforesaid were naturally dead; After the making of which Statute and the Settlement therein contained Your Majesty's good Subjects who were restored to the full and free Possession and Enjoyment of their Religion Rights and Liberties by the Providence of God giving Success to Your Majesty's just Undertakings and unwearied Endeavours for that Purpose had no greater temporal Felicity to hope or wish for than to see a Royal Progeny descending from Your Majesty to whom (under God) they owe their Tranquillity and whose Ancestors have for many Years been principally Assertors of the reformed Religion and the Liberties of Europe and from our said most gracious Sovereign Lady whose Memory will always be precious to the Subjects of these Realms; And it having since pleased Almighty God to take away our said Sovereign Lady and also the most hopeful Prince William Duke of Gloucester (the only Surviving Issue of Her Royal Highness the Princess Ann of Denmark) to the unspeakable Grief and Sorrow of Your Majesty and Your said good Subjects who under such Losses being sensibly put in mind that it standeth wholly in the Pleasure of Almighty God to prolong the Lives of Your Majesty and of Her Royal Highness and to grant to Your Majesty or to Her Royal Highness such Issue as may be inheritable to the Crown and Regal Government aforesaid by the respective Limitations in the said recited Act contained do constantly implore the Divine Mercy for those Blessings; And Your Majesty's said Subjects having Daily Experience of Your Royal Care and Concern for the present and future Welfare of these Kingdoms and particularly recommending from Your Throne a further Provision to be made for the Succession of the Crown in the Protestant Line for the Happiness of the Nation and the Security of our Religion; And it being absolutely necessary for the Safety Peace and Quiet of this Realm to obviate all Doubts and Contentions in the same by reason of any pretended Titles to the Crown and to maintain a Certainty in the succession thereof to which Your Subjects may safely have Recourse for their Protection in case the Limitations in the said recited Act should determine Therefore for a further Provision of the Succession of the Crown in the Protestant Line We Your Majesty's most dutiful and Loyal Subjects the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament assembled do beseech Your Majesty that it may be enacted and declared and be it enacted and declared by the King's most Excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same That the most excellent Princess Sophia Electress and Duchess Dowager of Hanover Daughter of the most Excellent Princess Elizabeth late Queen of Bohemia Daughter of our late Sovereign Lord King James the First of happy Memory be and is hereby declared to be the next in Succession in the Protestant Line to the Imperial Crown and Dignity to the said Realms of England France and Ireland and of the Dominions thereunto belonging after His Majesty and the Princess Ann of Denmark and in Default of Issue of the said Princess Ann and of His Majesty respectively and that from and after the Deceases of His said Majesty our now Sovereign Lord and of Her Royal Highness the Princess Ann of Denmark and for Default of Issue of the said Princess Ann and of His Majesty respectively the Crown and Regal Government of the said Kingdoms of England France and Ireland and of the Dominions thereunto belonging with the Royal State and Dignity of the said Realms and all the Honours Styles Titles Regalities Prerogatives Powers Jurisdictions and Authorities to the same belonging and appertaining shall be remain and continue to the said most Excellent Princess Sophia and the Heirs of her Body being Protestants; And thereunto the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons shall and will in the Name of all the People of this Realm most humbly and faithfully submit themselves their Heirs and Posterities and do faithfully promise That after the Deceases of His Majesty and Her Royal High ness and the failure of the Heirs of their respective Bodies to stand to maintain and defend the said Princess Sophia and the Heirs of her Body being Protestants according to the Limitation and Succession of the Crown in this Act specified and contained to the utmost of their Powers with their Lives and Estates against all Persons whatsoever that shall attempt anything to the contrary. II. Provided always and it is hereby enacted That all and every Person and Persons who shall or may take or inherit the said Crown by virtue of the Limitation of this present Act and is are or shall be reconciled to or shall hold Communion with the See or Church of Rome or shall profess the Popish Religion or shall marry a Papist shall be subject to such Incapacities as in such Case or Cases are by the said recited Act provided enacted and established and that every King and Queen of this Realm who shall come to and succeed in the Imperial Crown by virtue of this Act shall have the Coronation Oath administered to him her or them at their respective Coronations according to the Act of Parliament1 made in the First Year of the Reign of His Majesty and the said late Queen Mary intituled An Act for establishing the Coronation Oath and shall make subscribe and repeat the Declaration in the Act first above recited mentioned or referred to in the Manner and Form thereby prescribed. III. And whereas it is requisite and necessary that some further Provision be made for securing our Religion Laws and Liberties from and after the Death of His Majesty and the Princess Ann of Denmark and in Default of Issue of the Body of the said Princess and of his Majesty respectively Be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same That whosoever shall hereafter come to the Possession of this Crown shall join in Communion with the Church of England as by Law established. That in case the Crown and Imperial Dignity of this Realm shall hereafter come to any Person not being a Native of this Kingdom of England this Nation be not obliged to engage in any War for the Defence of any Dominions or Territories which do not belong to the Crown of England without the consent of Parliament. That no Person who shall hereafter come to the possession of the Crown shall go out of the Dominions of England Scotland and Ireland without the consent of Parliament.2 1 W. and M. Sess. 1 c. 6, (see p. 65). That from and after the Time that the further Limitation by this Act all Matters1 and Things relating to the well governing of this Kingdom which are properly cognizable in the Privy Council by the Laws and Customs of this Realm shall be transacted there and all Resolutions taken thereupon shall be signed by such of the Privy Council as shall advise and consent to the same. That 2 after the said Limitation shall take Effect as aforesaid no Person born out of the Kingdoms of England Scotland or Ireland or the Dominions thereunto belonging (although he be naturalized and made a Denizen) (except such as are born of English parents) shall be capable to be of the Privy Council or a Member of either House of Parliament or to enjoy any Office or Place of Trust either Civil or Military or to have any Grant of Lands Tenements or Hereditaments from the Crown to himself or to any other or others in trust for him. That no Person who has an Office or Place of Profit under the King or receives a Pension from the Crown shall be capable of serving as a Member of the House of Commons.3 That after the said Limitation shall take Effect as aforesaid Judges Commissions be made Quam diu se bene Gesserint and their Salaries ascertained and established but upon the Address of both Houses of Parliament it may be lawful to remove them. That no Pardon under the Great Seal of England be pleadable to an Impeachment by the Commons in Parliament. IV. And whereas the Laws of England are the Birthright of the People thereof and all the Kings and Queens who shall ascend the Throne of this Realm ought to administer the Goverment of the same according to the said Laws and all their Officers and Ministers ought to serve them respectively according to the same The said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do therefore further humbly pray That all the Laws and Statutes of this Realm for securing the established Religion and Rights and Liberties of the People thereof and all other Laws and Statutes of the same now in Force may be ratified and confirmed And the same are by His Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons and by Authority of the same ratified and confirmed accordingly. (Hallam, C.H. iii. 179; Rogers, P.L. i. 161; Ranke, H.E. v. 226 et seq.; and authorities for Bill of Rights.) 1 Repealed by 4 and 5 Anne, c. 20, § 27. 2 Repealed by 7 and 8 Vict. c. 66, and 33 Vict. c. 14, § 7. Modified by 4 and 5 Anne, c. 20; 6 Anne, c. 7; 1 Geo. I. Stat. 2, c. 56. XXI THE ACT FOR THE UNION WITH 5 Anne, Cap. 11,1 1706. An Act for the Union of the Two Kingdoms of England and Scotland. Most gracious Sovereign Whereas Articles of Union were agreed on the Twenty-second Day of July in the Fifth Year of Your Majesty's Reign by the Commissioners nominated on Behalf of the Kingdom of England under Your Majesty's Great Seal of England bearing Date at Westminster the Tenth Day of April then last past in pursuance of an Act of Parliament made in England in the Third Year of Your Majesty's Reign and the Commissioners nominated on Behalf of the Kingdom of Scotland under Your Majesty's Great Seal of Scotland bearing Date the Twenty-second Day of February in the Fourth Year of Your Majesty's Reign in pursuance of the Fourth Act of the Third Session of the Present Parliament of Scotland to treat of and concerning an Union of the said Kingdoms; And whereas an Act hath passed in the Parliament of Scotland at Edinburgh the Sixteenth Day of January in the Fifth Year of Your Majesty's Reign wherein 'tis mentioned that the Estates of Parliament considering the said Articles of Union of the Two Kingdoms had agreed to and approved of the said Articles of Union with some Additions and Explanations and that Your Majesty with Advice and Consent of the Estates of Parliament for establishing the Protestant Religion and Presbyterian Church Government within the Kingdom of Scotland had passed in the same Session of Parliament an Act intituled Act for securing of the Protestant Religion and Presbyterian Church Government which by the Tenor thereof was appointed to be inserted in any Act ratifying the Treaty and expressly declared to be a fundamental and essential Condition of the said Treaty or Union in all Times coming, the Tenor of which Articles as ratified and approved of with Additions and Explanations by the said Act of Parliament of Scotland follows. ARTICLE I. That the Two Kingdoms of England and Scotland shall upon the First Day of May which shall be in the Year one thousand seven hundred and seven and for ever after be united into 1 Cited as 5 and 6 Anne, c. 8, in common printed editions. Repealed in part Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1867. |