mentioned. Queen of England, France and Ireland, and the dominions Mary, accord thereunto belonging, to hold the Crown and royal dignity of the ing to limitations said kingdoms and dominions to them the said Prince and Princess during their lives, and the life of the survivor of them; and that the sole and full exercise of the regal power be only in, and executed by, the said Prince of Orange, in the names of the said Prince and Princess, during their joint lives; and after their deceases, the said Crown and royal dignity of the said kingdoms and dominions, to be to the heirs of the body of the said Princess; and for default of such issue to the Princess Anne of Denmark, and the heirs of her body; and for default of such issue to the heirs of the body of the said Prince of Orange. And the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, do pray the said Prince and Princess to accept the same accordingly. III. And that the oaths hereafter mentioned be taken by all persons of whom the oaths of allegiance and supremacy might be required by law, instead of them; and that the said oaths of allegiance and supremacy be abrogated. I, A.B., do sincerely promise and swear, That I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to their Majesties King William and Queen Mary: So help me God. I, A.B., do swear, That I do from my heart abhor, detest, and abjure as impious and heretical, that damnable doctrine and position, that Princes excommunicated or deprived by the Pope, or any authority of the See of Rome, may be deposed or murdered by their subjects, or any other whatsoever. And I do declare, That no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate hath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm: So help me God. IV. Upon which their said Majesties did accept the Crown and royal dignity of the kingdoms of England, France, and Ireland, and the dominions thereunto belonging, according to the resolution and desire of the said Lords and Commons contained in the said declaration. V. And thereupon their Majesties were pleased, that the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, being the two Houses of Parliament, should continue to sit, and with their Majesties' royal concurrence make effectual provision for the settlement of the religion, laws, and liberties of this kingdom, so that the same for the future might not be in danger again of being subverted; to which the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, did agree and proceed to act accordingly. New oaths in lieu of the old oaths of allegiance and supremacy. Acceptance of the Crown by William and Agreement between their Majesties and the Convention that the latter, being the two Houses of Par liament, should continue to sit. SS Formal ratification and confirmation of Declaration of Right. Recognition and declaration of their Majesties' title as King and Queen of England, France and Ireland, and the dominions thereunto belonging. Settlement of limitations of the succession. VI. Now in pursuance of the premises, the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in Parliament assembled, for the ratifying, confirming, and establishing the said declaration, and the articles, clauses, matters, and things therein contained, by the force of a law made in due form by authority of Parliament, do pray that it may be declared and enacted, That all and singular the rights and liberties asserted and claimed in the said declaration, are the true, ancient, and indubitable rights and liberties of the people of this kingdom, and so shall be esteemed, allowed, adjudged, deemed, and taken to be, and that all and every the particulars aforesaid shall be firmly and strictly holden and observed, as they are expressed in the said declaration; and all officers and ministers whatsoever shall serve their Majesties and their successors according to the same in all times to come. VII. And the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, seriously considering how it hath pleased Almighty God, in his marvellous providence, and merciful goodness to this nation, to provide and preserve their said Majesties' royal persons most happily to reign over us upon the throne of their ancestors, for which they render unto Him from the bottom of their hearts their humblest thanks and praises, do truly, firmly, assuredly, and in the sincerity of their hearts, think, and do hereby recognize, acknowledge, and declare, that King James II. having abdicated the government, and their Majesties having accepted the Crown and royal dignity aforesaid, their said Majesties did become, were, are, and of right ought to be, by the laws of this realm, our sovereign liege Lord and Lady, King and Queen of England, France, and Ireland, and the dominions thereunto belonging, in and to whose princely persons the royal State, Crown, and dignity of the same realms, with all honours, styles, titles, regalities, prerogatives, powers, jurisdictions and authorities to the same belonging and appertaining, are most fully, rightfully, and entirely invested and incorporated, united, and annexed. VIII. And for preventing all questions and divisions in this the Crown and realm, by reason of any pretended titles to the Crown, and for preserving a certainty in the succession thereof, in and up on which the unity, peace, tranquillity, and safety of this nation doth, under God, wholly consist and depend, the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, do beseech their Majesties that it may be enacted, established, and declared, that the Crown and regal government of the said kingdoms and dominions, with all and singular the premises thereunto belonging and appertaining, shall be and continue to their sid Majesties, and the survivor of them, during their lives, and the life of the survivor of them. And that the entire, perfect, ard full exercise of the regal power and government be only in, and executed by, his Majesty, in the names of both their Majesties during their joint lives; and after their deceases the said Crown and premises shall be and remain to the heirs of the body of her Majesty; and for default of such issue, to her Royal Highness the Princess Anne of Denmark, and the heirs of her body; and for default of such issue, to the heirs of the body of his said Majesty: and thereunto the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, do, in the name of all the people aforesaid, most humbly and faithfully submit themselves, their heirs and posterities, for ever: and do faithfully promise, That they will stand to, maintain, and defend their said Majesties, and also the limitation and succession of the Crown herein specified and contained, to the utmost of their powers, with their lives and estates, against all persons whatsoever that shall attempt anything to the contrary. marrying IX. And whereas it hath been found by experience, that it Exclusion from is inconsistent with the safety and welfare of this Protestant the succession kingdom, to be governed by a Popish prince, or by any king or of Papists and of persons queen marrying a Papist, the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, do further pray that it may be enacted, That all and every person and persons that is, are, or shall be reconciled to, or shall hold communion with, the See or Church of Rome, or shall profess the Popish religion, or shall marry a Papist, shall be excluded, and be for ever incapable to inherit, possess, or enjoy the Crown and government of this realm, and Ireland, and the dominions thereunto belonging, or any part of the same, or to have, use, or exercise any regal power, authority, or jurisdiction within the same; and in all and every such case or cases the people of these realms shall be and are hereby absolved of their allegiance, and the said Crown and government shall from time to time descend to, and be enjoyed by, such person or persons, being Protestants, as should have inherited and enjoyed the same, in case the said person or persons so reconciled, holding communion, or professing or marrying as aforesaid, were naturally dead.' X. And that every king and queen of this realm, who at Declaration to any time hereafter shall come to and succeed in the Imperial be made by Crown of this kingdom, shall, on the first day of the meeting every king or queen hereafter of the first Parliament, next after his or her coming to the succeeding to Crown, sitting in his or her throne in the House of Peers, in the crown. the presence of the Lords and Commons therein assembled, or at his or her coronation, before such person or persons who This provision, although not included in the Declaration of Right, was in accordance with the previous resolution of the Convention, that it was contrary to the interests of the kingdom to be governed by a Papist. 628 Enacting clause. Dispensing power abolished. Exception in favour of charters, grants, and pardons made before 23 Oct., 1689. From the Restoration to Bill of Rights. [CH. XV. shall administer the coronation oath to him or her, at the time of his or her taking the said oath (which shall first happen), make, subscribe, and audibly repeat the declaration mentioned in the statute made in the thirtieth year of the reign of King Charles II. intituled 'An Act for the more effectual preserving the King's person and government, by disabling Papists from sitting in either House of Parliament.' But if it shall happen, that such king or queen, upon his or her succession to the Crown of this realm, shall be under the age of twelve years, then every such king or queen shall make, subscribe, and audibly repeat the said declaration at his or her coronation, or the first day of meeting of the first Parliament as aforesaid, which shall first happen after such king or queen shall have attained the said age of twelve years.' XI. All which their Majesties are contented and pleased shall be declared, enacted, and established by authority of this present Parliament, and shall stand, remain, and be the law of this realm for ever; and the same are by their said Majesties, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, declared, enacted, and established accordingly. XII. And be it further declared and enacted by the authority aforesaid, That from and after this present session of Parliament, no dispensation by non obstante of or to any statute, or any part thereof, shall be allowed, but that the same shall be held void and of no effect, except a dispensation be allowed of in such statute, and except in such cases as shall be specially provided for by one or more bill or bills to be passed during this present session of Parliament.2 XIII. Provided that no charter, or grant, or pardon granted before the three-and-twentieth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred eighty nine, shall be any ways impeached or invalidated by this Act, but that the same shall be and remain of the same fórce and effect in law, and no other, than as if this Act had never been made. (Statutes of the Realm, vi. 142.) 1 This clause supplements the preceding by enacting that every English sovereign shall, as a test of non-popery, repeat and subscribe, in full Farliament or at the coronation, the Declaration against Transubstantiation, Adoration of the Virgin, and the Sacrifice of the Mass, contained in the Parliamentary Test Act of the 30th Car. II. st. 2, c. 1.-See supra, p. 597Supra, p. 623. CHAPTER XVI. PROGRESS OF THE CONSTITUTION SINCE THE REVOLUTION. tution. THE Revolution of 1688 marks at once a resting place The legal code and a fresh point of departure in the history of the of the constiEnglish Constitution. The Bill of Rights was the summing up, as it were, and final establishment of the legal bases of the Constitution. With Magna Charta and the Petition of Right it forms the legal constitutional code, to which no additions of equal importance (except the provisions of the Act of Settlement to be presently noticed) have since been made by legislative enactment. Political progress has indeed, from time to time, left its mark on the statute-book, in laws the importance of which can hardly be exaggerated. But even the greatest of these enactments-the Reform Act of 1832, supplemented by the Act of 1867-have been of the nature of amendments to the machinery of the Constitution, supplying defects and correcting abuses, rather than alterations in the great constitutional principles finally established by the Revolution, Growth of the customary unwritten or As might be expected in a living organism, the Constitution has not remained stationary during a period of nearly two centuries. But its greatest changes constitution. have been brought about not by legislative enactment. Whilst the legal code has remained substantially unaltered, there has grown up by its side a purely unwritten and conventional code,' which, firmly 1 See Freeman, Growth of Eng. Const., p. 112. |