Act of Security 1704

Act of Parliament
Parliament of Scotland
Long title	Act for the Security of the Kingdom.
Other legislation
Repealed by	Repeal of Certain Scotch Acts 1707
Status: Repealed

The Act of Security 1704 (also referred to as the Act for the Security of the Kingdom) was a response by the Parliament of Scotland to the Parliament of England's Act of Settlement 1701. Queen Anne's last surviving child, William, Duke of Gloucester, had died in 1700, and both parliaments needed to find a Protestant successor. The English Parliament had settled on Electress Sophia of Hanover, granddaughter of King James VI and I, without consulting the Scottish Parliament.

The response of the Scottish Parliament was to pass a bill in 1703^[1] requiring that, on the death of Queen Anne without issue, the three Estates of the Parliament were to appoint a Protestant successor from the descendants of the Scottish kings, but not the English successor unless various economic, political and religious conditions were met. The bill was refused royal assent by the Lord High Commissioner to the Parliament of Scotland.

The following year, 1704, the bill became an Act after the Scottish Parliament refused to raise taxes and sought to withdraw troops from the Duke of Marlborough's army in the War of the Spanish Succession unless royal assent was given.

The English Parliament retaliated with the Alien Act 1705,^[2] threatening to cut trade and free movement between the two countries,^[1] unless negotiations opened leading either to the repeal of the Act of Security, or (as in the event happened) to an Act of Union. The result was the Union of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707, approximately one hundred years after the Union of the Crowns.

The Parliament of Great Britain passed an Act (Repeal of Certain Scotch Acts 1707, 6 Ann. c. 32) explicitly repealing this Act together with the Act anent Peace and War.

References

See also

Pre-parliamentary legislationActs of parliaments of states preceding
the Kingdom of Great Britain

Parliament of England

1225–1267 1275–1307 1308–1325 Temp. incert. 1327–1411 1413–1460 1461 1463 1464 1467 1468 1472 1474 1477 1482 1483 1485–1503 1509–1535 1536 1539–1540 1541 1542 1543 1545 1546 1547 1548 1549 1551 1553 1554 1555 1557 1558–1575 1580 1584 1586 1588 1592 1597 1601 1603 1605 1606 1609 1620 1623 1625 1627 Petition of Right 1640 Interregnum (1642–1660) 1660 1661 1662 1663 1664 1665 1666 1667 1670 1672 1675 1677 1678 1679 Habeas Corpus Act 1680 1685 1688 1689 Bill of Rights 1690 1691 1692 1693 1694 1695 1696 1697 1698 1700 1701 1702 1703 1704 1705 1706

Parliament of Scotland

to 1707

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