The Succession to the Crown Act 1707 (6 Ann c 41) is an Act of Parliament of the

Parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a new unified Kingdo ...

. It is still partly in force in Great Britain. The Act was passed at a time when Parliament was anxious to ensure the

succession Succession is the act or process of following in order or sequence. Governance and politics *Order of succession, in politics, the ascension to power by one ruler, official, or monarch after the death, resignation, or removal from office of ...

of a Protestant on the death of Queen Anne. It replaced the Regency Act 1705. The Act required privy counsellors and other officers, in the event of Anne's death, to proclaim as her successor the next Protestant in the line of succession to the throne, and made it high treason for any of them to fail to do so. If the next monarch was overseas at the time of the succession, the government would be run until he or she returned by between seven and fourteen "Lords Justices." Seven of the Lords Justices were named in the Act, and the next monarch could appoint seven more, who would be named in writing, three copies of which were to be sent to the Privy Council in England. The Act made it treason for any unauthorised person to open these, or to neglect to deliver them to the Privy Council. The Lords Justices were to have the power to give royal assent to bills, except that they would be guilty of treason if they amended the

Act of Uniformity 1662 The Act of Uniformity 1662 (14 Car 2 c 4) is an Act of the Parliament of England. (It was formerly cited as 13 & 14 Ch.2 c. 4, by reference to the regnal year when it was passed on 19 May 1662.) It prescribed the form of public prayers, adm ...

or the

Protestant Religion and Presbyterian Church Act 1707 The Protestant Religion and Presbyterian Church Act 1707 (c 6) is an Act of the pre-Union Parliament of Scotland which was passed to ensure that the status of the Church of Scotland would not be affected by the Union with England. Its long titl ...

. The Act also provided that if Parliament was sitting at the time of the monarch's death, then it would be able to sit for a further six months unless dissolved by a new legitimate monarch. Previously the death of the monarch automatically dissolved Parliament. If the monarch were to die and Parliament was not at that time sitting, then it would immediately convene. These clauses remain in force today (without the six-month time limit on Parliament's continued existence, which was repealed in 1878). The Act also made it treason maliciously, advisedly and directly by writing or printing to maintain and affirm that any person has a right to the Crown otherwise than according to the Act of Settlement and Acts of Union, or that the Crown and Parliament cannot pass statutes for the limitation of the succession to the Crown. It was

praemunire In English history, ''praemunire'' or ''praemunire facias'' () refers to a 14th-century law that prohibited the assertion or maintenance of papal jurisdiction, or any other foreign jurisdiction or claim of supremacy in England, against the suprema ...

to say so in speech. These provisions were extended to Scotland by the

Treason Act 1708 The Treason Act 1708 (7 Ann c 21) is an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which harmonised the law of high treason between the former kingdoms of England and Scotland following their union as Great Britain in 1707. This Act is partly st ...

, and were repealed in 1967 (however see the

Treason Act 1702 The Treason Act 1702 (1 Anne Stat. 2 c. 21Some volumes cite it as c.17) is an Act of the Parliament of England, passed to enforce the line of succession to the English throne (today the British throne), previously established by the Bill of Righ ...

which makes similar provision). Anne died on 1 August 1714 and was succeeded as a result of the

Act of Settlement 1701 The Act of Settlement 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. More specifically, anyone who became a Roman Catholic, or who married one, bec ...

by the Elector of Hanover, George Louis, as King George I, who arrived in Great Britain on 18 September 1714. Sections 1 to 3 were repealed by the Criminal Law Act 1967. The whole Act was formally repealed in the Republic of Ireland by the

Statute Law Revision Act 2007 The Statute Law Revision Act 2007 is an Act of the Oireachtas of the Republic of Ireland which repealed a large amount of pre-1922 legislation of Ireland, England, Great Britain and the United Kingdom while preserving a shorter list of statutes. ...

. This Act is not to be confused with ''6 Ann. c.14'', which is entitled "An act for the better security of Her Majesty's person and government" but which is not about treason.

References

External links

Text of the Demise of the Crown Act 1727
which clarified the 1707 Act, as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from the UK Statute Law Database. *List of repeals in the Republic of Ireland from th
Irish Statute Book
{{DEFAULTSORT:Succession to the Crown Act 1707 Great Britain Acts of Parliament 1707 Succession to the British crown Treason in the United Kingdom Protestantism in the United Kingdom Anti-Catholicism in the United Kingdom Succession acts

See also

References

External links