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The Act of Settlement, 1701

from
Various postings to soc.culture.scottish

Union of Kingdoms and Parliaments

Assertion

It has been announced that some members of the Scottish parliament may seek to have sections removed from the Act of Settlement barring Roman Catholics or those married to Roman Catholics from the throne. The Act of Settlement is viewed by some as the nearest thing Britain has to a written constitution and has been invoked twice in recent to remove members of the royal family from the line of accession to the throne.

When the Act was first introduced in 1701, it provoked outrage in the house and barely passed the vote in the Lords, scraping through by a single vote 302 - 301. It has been calculated that had the anti-papist section not been in place and Cotholic members removed from the line of accession, Edward 7th would have been a lowly 358th in line to accession, rather than first. The anti-Catholic section of the act has been widely critisised as institutional bigotry and described by Tory former Scottish secretary Michael, now Lord, Forsyth as "Britain's grubby little secret".

The move follows statements the previous week by the prominent Scots composer, James McMillan, who made strong claims that religious bigotry was still endemic in Scotland. Constitutional changes remain reserved powers for Westminster. However there are means by which Holyrood can petition Westminster to have such changes debated and made.

A Reply

Well, considering the monarch is the head of the Church of England, doesn't barring Catholics make sense? A Roman Catholic monarch would be a bit like a protestant Pope.

So before a Roman Catholic could take the throne the Church of England would have to be separated from the Crown.

An alternative would be to get rid of the monarchy completely.

Exchanges from the following sources:
From: The Nit Nurse
Newsgroups: soc.culture.scottish
Subject: Scots to Challenge Act of Settlement
Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999
Organization: Yes
From: Vagabond ("nospam" address)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.scottish
Subject: Re: Scots to Challenge Act of Settlement
Date: Sat, 21 Aug 1999
Organization: Popular Front for the Liberation of Mercia

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