Act of Parliament | |
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Long title | An Act for Establishing the Coronation Oath. [2] |
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Citation | 1 Will. & Mar. c. 6
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Dates | |
Royal assent | 9 April 1689 |
Other legislation | |
Amended by | |
Status: Amended | |
Text of statute as originally enacted | |
Text of the Coronation Oath Act 1688 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk. |
The Coronation Oath Act 1688 (1 Will. & Mar. c. 6) is an Act of the Parliament of England. It was passed in 1689.
The preamble noted that "by the Law and Ancient Usage of this Realm" the monarchs of England had taken a solemn oath at their coronation to maintain the statute laws and customs of the country and of its inhabitants, but the text of this oath had become partly meaningless over time, "framed in doubtful Words and Expressions with relation to ancient Laws and Constitutions at this time unknown". [3] It established a single uniform oath to be taken by future monarchs at their coronation, and also established that this oath was to be taken by William III and Mary II when they were crowned.
The oath was fundamentally different from the traditional coronation oath which recognized laws as being the grant of the king whereas the Act's oath sought to bind the king to rule according to the law agreed in Parliament. [4] At the forefront of the oath, then, is the distillation of the core principle of the Glorious Revolution of 1688, namely an assertion of the constitutional supremacy of Parliament, a principle that remains the basis of public law in the United Kingdom. [5]
The oath was shorter than the one used in 1660, removing a number of awkward phrases and references to past monarchs; a significant alteration was the explicit inclusion of an oath to maintain "the true Profession of the Gospel and the Protestant Reformed Religion Established by Law", rather than the somewhat more vague promise to "Protect and Defend the Bishops and Churches under [my] Government."
Section 2 of the Act of Settlement 1701 reiterated the requirement to take the oath. [6] This Act mostly remains in force as of 2019 [update] . (Section 4, from "bee it" to "enacted that" was repealed by section 1(1) of, and Part I of the Schedule to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1888.) [7] The Scottish Claim of Right Act 1689 says that the monarch cannot "exercise the regal power until he or she swear the Coronation Oath." [8]
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, became disqualified to inherit the throne. This had the effect of deposing the remaining descendants of Charles I, other than his Protestant granddaughter Anne, as the next Protestant in line to the throne was Sophia of Hanover. Born into the House of Wittelsbach, she was a granddaughter of James VI and I from his most junior surviving line, with the crowns descending only to her non-Catholic heirs. Sophia died less than two months before Queen Anne, and Sophia's son succeeded to the throne as King George I, starting the Hanoverian dynasty in Britain.
The Bill of Rights 1689 is an Act of the Parliament of England that set out certain basic civil rights and changed the succession to the English Crown. It remains a crucial statute in English constitutional law.
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"I [here insert the name of the Sovereign] do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of God profess, testify, and declare that I am a faithful Protestant, and that I will, according to the true intent of the enactments which secure the Protestant succession to the Throne of my Realm, uphold and maintain the said enactments to the best of my powers according to law."
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Whereas by the Law and Ancient Usage of this Realme the Kings and Queens thereof have taken a Solemne Oath upon the Evangelists at Their respective Coronations to maintaine the Statutes Laws and Customs of the said Realme and all the People and Inhabitants thereof in their Spirituall and Civill Rights and Properties BUT forasmuch as the Oath itselfe on such Occasion Administred hath heretofore beene framed in doubtfull Words and Expressions with relation to ancient Laws and Constitutions at this time unknowne To the end therefore that One Uniforme Oath may be in all Times to come taken by the Kings and Queens of this Realme and to Them respectively Administred at the times of Their and every of Their Coronation.