The King's Sole Right over the Militia Act 1661 or the Militia Act 1661 (13 Cha. 2 St. 1. c. 6) was an act of the Parliament of England, long title "An Act declaring the sole Right of the Militia to be in King and for the present ordering & disposing the same." Following the English Civil War, this act finally declared that the king alone, as head of the state, was in supreme command of the army and navy for the defence of the realm.
The short bill, described as a "temporary Bill for settling the Militia", was rushed through the Commons and Lords on 16 July 1661 after the failure earlier in the session of a more comprehensive bill. A revised version of the failed bill was passed the following year.[1]
'Charles II, 1661: An Act declaring the sole Right of the Militia to be in King and for the present ordering & disposing the same.', Statutes of the Realm: volume 5: 1628-80 (1819), pp.308–09. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=47290. Date accessed: 5 March 2007.
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.
The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with their powers regulated by the British Constitution. The term may also refer to the role of the royal family within the UK's broader political structure. The monarch since 8 September 2022 is King Charles III, who ascended the throne on the death of Queen Elizabeth II, his mother.
Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in others that is a separate step. Under a modern constitutional monarchy, royal assent is considered little more than a formality. Even in nations such as the United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands, Liechtenstein and Monaco which still, in theory, permit their monarch to withhold assent to laws, the monarch almost never does so, except in a dire political emergency or on advice of government. While the power to veto by withholding royal assent was once exercised often by European monarchs, such an occurrence has been very rare since the eighteenth century.
The Test Acts were a series of penal laws originating in Restoration England, passed by the Parliament of England, that served as a religious test for public office and imposed various civil disabilities on Catholics and nonconformist Protestants.
The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. It was the longest English Parliament, and longer than any Great British or UK Parliament to date, enduring for nearly 18 years of the quarter-century reign of Charles II of England. Like its predecessor, the Convention Parliament, it was overwhelmingly Royalist and is also known as the Pensioner Parliament for the many pensions it granted to adherents of the King.
Poynings' Law or the Statute of Drogheda was a 1494 Act of the Parliament of Ireland which provided that the parliament could not meet until its proposed legislation had been approved both by Ireland's Lord Deputy and Privy Council and by England's monarch and Privy Council. It was a major grievance in 18th-century Ireland, was amended by the Constitution of 1782, rendered moot by the Acts of Union 1800, and repealed by the Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1878.
The Ecclesiastical Appeals Act 1532, also called the Statute in Restraint of Appeals, the Act of Appeals and the Act of Restraints in Appeals, was an Act of the Parliament of England.
The British peerage is governed by a body of law that has developed over several centuries. Much of this law has been established by a few important cases, and some of the more significant of these are addressed in this article.
The Habeas Corpus Act 1679 is an Act of Parliament in England during the reign of King Charles II. It was passed by what became known as the Habeas Corpus Parliament to define and strengthen the ancient prerogative writ of habeas corpus, which required a court to examine the lawfulness of a prisoner's detention and thus prevent unlawful or arbitrary imprisonment.
The Treason Act 1351 is an Act of the Parliament of England wherethrough, according to William Blackstone, common law treason offences were enumerated and no new offences were, by statute, created. It is one of the earliest English statutes still in force, although it has been very significantly amended. It was extended to Ireland in 1495 and to Scotland in 1708. The Act was passed at Westminster in the Hilary term of 1351, in the 25th year of the reign of Edward III and was entitled "A Declaration which Offences shall be adjudged Treason". It was passed to clarify precisely what was treason, as the definition under common law had been expanded rapidly by the courts until its scope was controversially wide. The Act was last used to prosecute William Joyce in 1945 for collaborating with Germany in World War II.
The Appointment of Bishops Act 1533, also known as the Act Concerning Ecclesiastical Appointments and Absolute Restraint of Annates, is an Act of the Parliament of England.
The Act of Uniformity 1548, the Act of Uniformity 1549, the Uniformity Act 1548, or the Act of Equality was an act of the Parliament of England, passed on 21 January 1549.
The Crown and Parliament Recognition Act 1689 was an Act of the Parliament of England, passed in April 1690 but backdated to the start of the parliamentary session, which started on 20 March 1690. It was designed to confirm the succession to the throne of King William III and Queen Mary II of England and to confirm the validity of the laws passed by the Convention Parliament which had been irregularly convened following the Glorious Revolution and the end of James II's reign.
The Sedition Act 1661 was an Act of the Parliament of England, although it was extended to Scotland in 1708. Passed shortly after the Restoration of Charles II, it is no longer in force, but some of its provisions continue to survive today in the Treason Act 1695 and the Treason Felony Act 1848. One clause which was included in the Treason Act 1695 was later adapted for the United States Constitution.
The Tumultuous Petitioning Act 1661 was an Act of the Parliament of England. Its long title was "An Act against Tumults and Disorders upon pretence of preparing or presenting publick Peticions or other Addresses to His Majesty or the Parliament".
The Treason Act 1554 was an Act of the Parliament of England. It is not to be confused with two other Acts about treason passed in the same year, 1 & 2 Ph. & M. cc. 9 and 11.
The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege, and immunity attached to the British monarch, recognised in the United Kingdom. The monarch is regarded internally as the absolute authority, or "sole prerogative", and the source of many of the executive powers of the British government.
The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege, and immunity recognized in common law as belonging to the sovereign, and which have become widely vested in the government. It is the means by which some of the executive powers of government, possessed by and vested in a monarch with regard to the process of governance of the state, are carried out.
The City of London Militia Act 1662 or Militia Act 1662 is an Act of the Parliament of England which codified the power of [lord-]lieutenants of places in England and Wales to raise the militia. In practice, most lieutenancy areas were counties, but the 1662 act made exemptions for the Constable of the Tower and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports to act as lieutenants within their jurisdictions. Most provisions of the 1662 act were implicitly repealed by subsequent Militia Acts, and the whole act was explicitly repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1863 except in relation to the City of London, Tower Hamlets, and Cinque Ports. The Territorial Army and Militia Act 1921 repealed the whole act except for section 1 in relation to the Lord Lieutenant of the City of London and section 26 in relation to levying rates for the City of London Militia. The restricted scope of its remaining provisions was reflected in the official short title City of London Militia Act 1662 assigned in 1948. Section 1 was repealed by the Reserve Forces Act 1980, while as of 2023 section 26 as amended remains in force in England and Wales.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
