sit and vote in parliament shall be duly summoned, twenty days
at least before every such trial, to appear at every such trial ; and
that every peer so summoned and appearing at such trial shall
vote in the trial of such peer or peeress so to be tried, every such
peer first taking the oaths mentioned in an act of parliament made
in the first year of the reign of king William and queen Mary,
entitled, An Act for abrogating the Oaths of Supremacy and
Allegiance and appointing other Oaths; and also every such peer



The Act of Settlement 475

subscribing and audibly repeating the declaration mentioned in
An Act for the more effectual preserving the King's Person and
Government by disabling Papists from sitting in either House of
Parliament, and made in the thirtieth year of the reign of the
late king Charles the Second.

XI. Provided always, that neither this act nor anything therein
contained shall any way extend or be construed to extend to any
impeachment or other proceedings in parliament in any kind
whatsoever.



243. The Act of Settlement.

(1701, June 12. 12 & 13 William III. c. 2. 7 S. R. 636. Stubbs, Select
Charters, 528-531. G. and H. 664-670.)

WHEREAS in the first year of the reign of Your Majesty and
of our late most gracious sovereign lady queen Mary (of
blessed memory) an act of parliament was made, entitled, An Act
for declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and for
settling the Succession of the Crown, wherein it was (amongst
other things) enacted, established and declared, that the crown
and regal government of the kingdoms of England, France and
Ireland, and the dominions thereunto belonging, should be and
continue to Your 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 Anne 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 should 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 and cases the people of these realms shall be
and are thereby absolved of their allegiance; and that the said



476 English Constitutional Documents

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 marry-
ing 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 provi-
dence of God giving success to Your Majesty's just undertakings
and unwearied endeavours for that purpose, had no greater tem-
poral 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
principal 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 Anne 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 recom-
mending from your throne a further provision to be made for
the succession of the crown in the Protestant line, for the happi-
ness 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 title 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
just recited act should determine : Therefore for a further pro-
vision 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,



The Act of Settlement 477

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 Protes-
tant line to the imperial crown and dignity of the said realms
of England, France and Ireland, with the dominions and terri-
tories thereunto belonging, after His Majesty and the princess
Anne of Denmark, and in default of issue of the said princess Anne
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 Anne of Denmark, and for default of
issue of the said princess Anne and of His Majesty respectively,
the crown and regal government of the said kingdoms of Eng-
land, France and Ireland and of the dominions thereunto belong-
: ng, with the royal state and dignity of the said realms and all
honours, styles, titles, regalities, prerogatives, powers, jurisdic-
tions 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 Highness, and the failure of the heirs of their respec-
tive 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 of this kingdom



478 English Constitutional Documents

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 parliament made in the first year of the reign of His
Majesty and the said late queen Mary, entitled, An Act for estab-
lishing 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 Anne 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 consent of parliament.

That no person who shall hereafter come to the possession of
this crown shall go out of the dominions of England, Scotland or
Ireland, without consent of parliament.

That from and after the time that the further limitation by this
act shall take effect, all matters 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 trans-
acted there; and all resolutions taken thereupon shall be signed
by such of the privy council as shall advise and consent to the
same.

That 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 natural-
ized or 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, tene-
ments 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



Act of Union with Scotland 479

king or receives a pension from the crown shall be capable of
serving as a member of the house of commons.

That after the said limitation shall take effect as aforesaid,
judges commissions be made quam diu sc bent 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 government 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 the 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.



244. Act of Union with Scotland.

(170$, March 6. 5 Anne, c. & S S. . 566.)

A/TOST gracious sovereign,

IV! Whereas Articles of Union were agreed on, the twenty-second
day of July in the fifth year of Your Majesty's reign, by the com-
missioners 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 the behalf of the
kingdom of Scotland under Your Majesty's great seal of Scotland,
bearing date the twenty-seventh 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 con-
cerning 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



480 English Constitutional Documents

Articles of Union of the two kingdoms had agreed to and approved
of the said Articles of Union, with some additions and explana-
tions, and that Your Majesty, with the advice and consent of the
estates of parliament, for establishing the Protestant religion and
Presbyterian church government within the kingdom of Scot-
land, had passed in the same session of parliament an act,
entitled, Act for securing of the Protestant Religion and Presby-
terian Church Government, which by the tenor thereof was ap-
pointed 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, fol-
lows:

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 hun-
dred and seven, and forever after, be united into one kingdom by
the name of Great Britain; and that the ensigns armorial of the
said United Kingdom be such as Her Majesty shall appoint, and
the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew be conjoined in such
manner as Her Majesty shall think fit, and used in all flags, ban-
ners, standards and ensigns, both at sea and land.

ARTICLE II

That the succession to the monarchy of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and of the dominions thereto belonging after
Her most sacred Majesty and in default of issue of Her Majesty
be, remain and continue to the most excellent princess Sophia,
electress and duchess dowager of Hanover, and the heirs of her
body, being Protestants, upon whom the crown of England is
settled by an act of parliament made in England in the twelfth
year of the reign of His late Majesty king William the Third,
entitled, An Act for the further Limitation of the Crown and better
securing the Rights and Liberties of the Subject; and that all
papists and persons marrying papists shall be excluded from and
forever incapable to inherit, possess or enjoy the imperial crown
of Great Britain and the dominions thereunto belonging or any
part thereof, and in every such case the crown and government
shall from time to time descend to and be enjoyed by such per-
son, being a Protestant, as should have inherited and enjoyed the
same, in case such papist or person marrying a papist was naturally



Act of Union with Scotland 481

dead, according to the provision for the descent of the crown of
England, made by another act of parliament in England in the
first year of the reign of Their late Majesties, king William and
queen Mary, entitled, An Act declaring the Rights and Liberties
of the Subject and settling the Succession of the Crown.

ARTICLE III

That the United Kingdom of Great Britain be represented by
one and the same parliament to be styled the Parliament of Great
Britain.

ARTICLE IV

That all the subjects of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
shall from and after the union have full freedom and intercourse
of trade and navigation to and from any port or place within the
said United Kingdom and the dominions and plantations there-
unto belonging; and that there be a communication of all other
rights, privileges and advantages, which do or may belong to the
subjects of either kingdom, except where it is otherwise expressly
agreed in these articles.



ARTICLE XVIII

That the laws concerning regulation of trade, customs and such
excises, to which Scotland is by virtue of this treaty to be liable,
be the same in Scotland from and after the union as in England;
and that all other laws in use within the kingdom of Scotland do
after the union and notwithstanding thereof remain in the same
force as before, (except such as are contrary to or inconsistent
with this treaty), but alterable by the parliament of Great Britain;
with this difference betwixt the laws concerning public right,
policy and civil government and those which concern private
right, that the laws which concern public right, policy and civil
government may be made the same throughout the whole United
Kingdom, but that no alteration be made in laws which concern
private right, except for evident utility of the subjects within
Scotland.

ARTICLE XLX

That the Court of Session or College of Justice do after the
union, and notwithstanding thereof, remain in all time coming
within Scotland, as it is now constituted by the laws of that king-
dom, * * * and that all inferior courts within the said limits do



482 English Constitutional Documents

remain subordinate, as they are now, to the supreme courts of
justice within the same, in all time coming; and that no causes in
Scotland be cognizable by the courts of chancery, queen's bench,
common pleas, or any other court in Westminster Hall; * * *



ARTICLE XXII

That by virtue of this treaty, of the peers of Scotland at the time
of the union sixteen shall be the number to sit and vote in the
house of lords, and forty-five the number of the representatives
of Scotland in the house of commons of the parliament of Great
Britain; and that when Her Majesty, her heirs or successors, shall
declare her or their pleasure for holding the first or any subse-
quent parliament of Great Britain, until the parliament of Great
Britain shall make further provision therein, a writ do issue under
the great seal of the United Kingdom directed to the privy coun-
cil of Scotland, commanding them to cause sixteen peers who are
to sit in the house of lords to be summoned to parliament, and
forty-five members to be elected to sit in the house of commons
of the parliament of Great Britain, according to the agreement
in this treaty, in such manner as by an act of this present session
of the parliament of Scotland is or shall be settled; which act is
hereby declared to be as valid as if it were a part of and engrossed
in this treaty; and that the names of the persons so summoned and
elected shall be returned by the privy council of Scotland into
the court from whence the said writ did issue. * * *



And the tenor of the aforesaid 'Act for securing of the Protes-
tant Religion and Presbyterian Church Government within the
Kingdom of Scotland ' is as follows :

* * * And further Her Majesty with advice aforesaid ex-
pressly declares and statutes, that none of the subjects of
this kingdom shall be liable to, but all and every one of them for-
ever free of any oath, test or subscription within this kingdom,
contrary to or inconsistent with the foresaid true Protestant reli-
gion and Presbyterian church government, worship and discipline,
as above established; and that the same within the bounds of this
church and kingdom shall never be imposed upon or required of
them in any sort; and lastly, that after the decease of Her present
Majesty (whom God long preserve) the sovereign succeeding to
her in the royal government of the kingdom of Great Britain shall



The Place Act 483

in all time coming, at his or her accession to the crown, swear and
subscribe, that they shall inviolably maintain and preserve the
foresaid settlement of the true Protestant religion, with the govern-
ment, worship, discipline, right and privileges of this church, as
above established by the laws of this kingdom, in prosecution of
the Claim of Right. * * *



X. May it therefore please Your most excellent Majesty, that
it may be enacted; and be it enacted by the Queen's most excel-
lent 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 all and every
the said Articles of Union as ratified and approved by the said
act of parliament of Scotland, as aforesaid, and hereinbefore
particularly mentioned and inserted; and also the said act of
parliament of Scotland for establishing the Protestant religion
and Presbyterian church government within that king'dom, en-
titled, * * *, and every clause, matter and thing in the said
articles and act contained, shall be, and the said articles and
acts are hereby forever ratified, approved and confirmed.



245. The Place Act

(1707. 6 Anne, c. 7. First enacted in 1705, in 4 Anne, c. 8. 8 S. R. 742.)



XXIV. AND be it further enacted by the authority afore-
said, that no person who shall have in his own name or in
the name of any person or persons in trust for him or for his
benefit any new office or place of profit whatsoever under the
crown, which at any time since the five and twentieth day of
October in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and
five have been created or erected, or hereafter shall be created or
erected, nor any person who shall be commissioner or sub-com-
missioner of prizes, secretary or receiver of the prizes, nor any
comptroller of the accounts of the army, nor any commissioner of
transports, nor any commissioner of the sick and wounded, nor
any agent for any regiment, nor any commissioner for any wine
licenses, nor any governor [or] deputy governor of any of the



484 English Constitutional Documents

plantations, nor any commissioners of the navy employed in any
of the out ports, nor any person having any pension from the crown
during pleasure, shall be capable of being elected or of sitting or
voting as a member of the house of commons in any parliament
which shall be hereafter summoned and holden.

XXV. Provided always, that if any person being chosen a
member of the house of commons shall accept of any office of
profit from the crown, during such time as he shall continue a
member, his election shall be and is hereby declared to be void,
and a new writ shall issue for a new election, as if such person so
accepting was naturally dead; provided nevertheless that such
person shall be capable of being again elected, as if his place had
not become void as aforesaid.

XXVI. Provided also, and be it enacted, that in order to pre-
vent for the future too great a number of commissioners to be
appointed or constituted for the executing of any office, that no
greater number of commissioners shall be made or constituted for
the execution of any office, than have been employed in the exe-
cution of such respective office at some time before the first day
of this present parliament.

XXVII. Provided also, that nothing herein contained shall
extend or be construed to extend to any member of the house of
commons, being an officer in Her Majesty's navy or army, who
shall receive any new or other commission in the army or navy
respectively.

XXVIII. And be it further enacted, that if any person hereby
disabled, or declared to be incapable to sit or vote in any parlia-
ment hereafter to be holden, shall nevertheless be returned as a
member to serve for any county, stewartry, city, town or Cinque
port in any such parliament, such election and return are hereby
enacted and declared to be void to all intents and purposes what-
soever; and if any person disabled or declared incapable by this
act to be elected shall after the dissolution or determination of
this present parliament presume to sit or vote as a member of the
house of commons in any parliament to be hereafter summoned,