121. ANNE: STATUTES
(A) Act of Union with Scotland (1707)
An act for the union of the two kingdoms of England and Scotland.... Whereas articles of union were agreed on the 22d clay of July in the fifth year of your majesty's reign by the commissioners nominated on behalf of the kingdom of England ... and the commissioners nominated on the behalf of the kingdom of Scotland ... to treat of and concerning an union of the said kingdoms; and whereas an act hath passed in the parliament of Scotland ... , 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 ... , had passed in the same session of parliament an act entitled Act for Securing of the Protestant Religion and Presbyterian Church government within that kingdom ... shall be inserted in any act ratifying the treaty ...:[1] be it enacted ... that all and every the said articles of union ... and also the said act of parliament of Scotland for establishing the Protestant religion and Presbyterian Church government within that kingdom ... shall be, and the said articles and act are hereby, forever ratified, approved, and confirmed....
And whereas, since the passing the said act in the parliament of Scotland for ratifying the said articles of union, one other act, entitled Act Settling the Manner of Electing the Sixteen Peers and Forty-five Members to Represent Scotland in the Parliament of Great Britain, hath likewise passed in the said parliament of Scotland ....:[2] be it therefore further enacted and declared by the authority aforesaid that the said ... act ... shall be, and the same is hereby declared to be, as valid as if the same had been part of and engrossed in the said articles of union....
[Articles of union.] Article I. That the two kingdoms of England and Scotland shall, upon the first day of May which shall be in the year 1707, and forever after, be united into one kingdom by the name of Great Britain....
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....
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 thereunto 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 VI. That all parts of the united kingdom forever from and after the union shall have the same allowances, encouragements, and drawbacks, and be under the same prohibitions, restrictions, and regulations of trade, and liable to the same customs and duties on import and export. And that the allowances, encouragements, and drawbacks, prohibitions, restrictions, and regulations of trade, and the customs and duties on import and export settled in England when the union commences shall from and after the union take place throughout the whole united kingdom....
Article XVI. That from and after the union the coin shall be of the same standard and value throughout the united kingdom as now in England....
Article XVII. That from and after the union the same weights and measures shall be used throughout the united kingdom, as are now established in England....
Article XVIII. That the laws concerning regulation of trade ... 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 ... 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 ...: 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 XIX. That the court or session or college of justice do after the union ... remain ... within Scotland as it is now constituted by the laws of that kingdom, and with the same authority and privileges as before the union; subject, nevertheless, to such regulations for the better administration of justice as shall be made by the parliament of Great Britain.... And that all other courts now in being within the kingdom of Scotland do remain, but subject to alterations by the parliament of Great Britain. And that all inferior courts within the said limits do 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 in any other court in Westminster Hall. And that the said courts, or any other of the like nature after the union, shall have no power to ... review or alter the acts or sentences of the judicatures within Scotland or stop the execution of the same. And that there be a court of exchequer in Scotland after the union for deciding questions concerning the revenues of customs and excises, there having the same power and authority in such cases as the court of exchequer has in England....
Article XX. That all heritable offices ... , heritable jurisdictions, offices for life, and jurisdictions for life be reserved to the owners thereof as rights of property in the same manner as they are now enjoyed by the laws of Scotland....
Article XXI. That the rights and privileges of the royal burghs in Scotland, as they now are, do remain entire after the union....
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....
Article XXV. That all laws and statutes in either kingdom, so far as they are contrary to or inconsistent with the terms of these articles or any of them, shall from and after the union cease and become void....
[Act for securing of the Protestant religion and Presbyterian Church government.] Our sovereign lady and the estates of parliament considering that, by the late act of parliament for a treaty with England for an union of both kingdoms, it is provided that the commissioners for that treaty should not treat of or concerning any alteration of the worship, discipline, and government of the Church of this kingdom as now by law established ...; and it being reasonable and necessary that the true Protestant religion as presently professed within this kingdom, with the worship, discipline, and government of this Church should be effectually and unalterably secured; therefore her majesty, with advice and consent of the said estates of parliament, doth hereby establish and confirm the said true Protestant religion and worship, discipline, and government of this Church to continue without any alteration to the people of this land in all succeeding generations....
And it is hereby ... ordained that this act of parliament, with the establishment therein contained, shall be held and observed in all time coming as a fundamental and essential condition of any treaty or union to be concluded betwixt the two kingdoms without any alteration thereof or derogation thereto in any sort forever; as also that this act of parliament and settlement therein contained shall be insert and repeated in any act of parliament that shall pass for agreeing and concluding the foresaid treaty or union betwixt the two kingdoms; and that the same shall be therein expressly declared to be a fundamental and essential condition of the said treaty or union in all time coming....
[Act settling the manner of electing the sixteen peers and forty-five members to represent Scotland in the parliament of Great Britain.] Our sovereign lady considering that, by the twenty-second article of the treaty of union ... , it is provided that ... 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 the said sixteen peers and forty-five members ... be named and chosen in such manner as by a subsequent act in this present session of parliament in Scotland should be settled ...: therefore her majesty, with advice and consent of the estates of parliament ... , enacts and ordains that the said sixteen peers ... shall be named by the said peers of Scotland ... out of their own number, and that by open election and plurality of voices of the peers present and of the proxies for such as shall be absent ...; and that of the said forty-five representatives ... thirty shall be chosen by the shires or stewardries and fifteen by the royal boroughs as follows....[3]
Ibid., VIII, 566 f.: 6 Anne, c. 11.
An act for the security of her majesty's person and government and of the succession to the crown of Great Britain in the Protestant line....[4]
And be it further enacted ... that this present parliament, or any other parliament which shall hereafter be summoned ... by her majesty, Queen Anne, her heirs, or successors, shall not be determined or dissolved by the death ... of her said majesty, her heirs, or successors; but such parliament shall ... continue and is hereby empowered and required, if sitting at the time of such demise, immediately to proceed to act ... for and during the term of six months, and no longer, unless the same shall be sooner prorogued or dissolved by such person to whom the crown of this realm of Great Britain shall come.... And be it further enacted ... that, in case there is no parliament in being at the time of such demise ... , then the last preceding parliament shall immediately convene and sit at Westminster and be a parliament to continue as aforesaid....
And be it further enacted ... that the privy council of her majesty, her heirs, or successors for the kingdom of Great Britain shall not be determined or dissolved by the death ... of her majesty, her heirs, or successors; but such privy council shall continue and act as such by the space of six months next after such demise, unless sooner determined by the next successor.... Nor shall any office, place, or employment, civil or military, within the kingdoms of Great Britain or Ireland, dominion of Wales, town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, isles of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark, or any of her majesty's plantations become void by reason of the ... death of her present majesty, her heirs, or successors ...; but ... every ... person ... in any of the offices, places, and employments aforesaid shall continue ... for the space of six months next after such death ... , unless sooner removed ... by the next in succession as aforesaid.
And be it further enacted ... that, whensoever her majesty ... shall happen to demise ... without issue of her body, the privy council for Great Britain in being at the time of such demise ... shall with all convenient speed cause the next Protestant successor ... to be openly and solemnly proclaimed in Great Britain and Ireland ...; and that all and every member and members of the said privy council wilfully neglecting or refusing to cause such proclamation to be made shall be guilty of high treason....
And be it further enacted ... that no person who shall have ... any new office or place of profit whatsoever under the crown, which at any time since the 25th of October, 1705, have been created or erected or hereafter shall be created or erected ... ,[5] 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.... 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.... Provided, nevertheless, that such person shall be capable of being again elected....
Ibid., VIII, 738 f.: 6 Anne, c. 41.
[1] At this point the statute inserts the articles of union and the act of the Scottish parliament just referred to. For the sake of clarity they are placed below.
[2] This is the third document immediately following.
[3] The act concludes with detailed regulation of constituencies and electoral procedure.
[4] In large part a re-enactment of a statute passed two years earlier, but altered so as to apply to the united kingdom. The first two articles reaffirm the Protestant succession and impose the penalties for high treason upon any one who maintains the contrary in writing or by advised speaking.
[5] At this point the act mentions a number of other offices, the holding of which was a bar to election. From time to time the list was modified by later statutes.