The Act of Settlement is an act of the Parliament of England that was passed in 1701 to settle the succession to the English and Irish crowns and thrones on the Electress Sophia of Hanover ( a granddaughter of James I ) and her Protestant heirs.

Since the implementation of the Statute of Westminster 1931 in each of the Commonwealth realms ( on successive dates from 1931 onwards ), the Act of Settlement cannot be altered in any realm except by that realm's own parliament and, by convention, only with the consent of all the other realms, as it touches on the succession to the shared throne.

The Act of Settlement was thus passed and granted Royal Assent in 1701.

The Act of Settlement provided that the throne would pass to the Electress Sophia of Hanover – a granddaughter of James VI of Scotland and I of England, niece of Charles I of Scotland and England – and her Protestant descendants who had not married a Roman Catholic ; those who were Roman Catholic, and those who married a Roman Catholic, were barred from ascending the throne " for ever ".

For different reasons, various constitutionalists have praised the Act of Settlement: Henry Hallam called the act in the United Kingdom " the seal of our constitutional laws " and David Lindsay Keir placed its importance above the Bill of Rights 1689.

Naamani Tarkow has written: " If one is to make sweeping statements, one may say that, save Magna Carta ( more truly, its implications ), the Act of Settlement is probably the most significant statute in English history ".

The original Act of Settlement

The Act of Settlement was, in many ways, the major cause of the union of Scotland with England and Wales to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.

The Parliament of Scotland was not happy with the Act of Settlement and, in response, passed the Act of Security in 1704, through which Scotland reserved the right to choose its own successor to Queen Anne.

By virtue of Article II of the Treaty of Union, which defined the succession to the throne of Great Britain, the Act of Settlement became part of Scots Law as well.

Since the passage of the Act of Settlement, the most senior member of the Royal Family to have married a Roman Catholic, and thereby been removed from the line and later lines of succession, is Prince Michael of Kent, who married Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz in 1978 ; he was fifteenth in the lines of succession at the time of his marriage.

Under the Act of Settlement, male-preference primogeniture succession of an Anglican legitimate descendant of the Electress Sophia is automatic and immediate, neither depending on, nor waiting for, any proclamation.

In the Australian Capital Territory, the Act of Settlement was, on 11 May 1989, converted, from an act of the Parliament of England into an ACT enactment, by section 34 ( 4 ) of the Australian Capital Territory ( Self-Government ) Act 1988 ( Cwlth ), and then renamed The Act of Settlement 1700 by the Legislation Act 2001.

Challenges have been made against the Act of Settlement, especially its provisions regarding Roman Catholics and preference for males.

It was reported in October 2011 that the Australian federal government had reached an agreement with all of the states on potential changes to their laws in the wake of amendments to the Act of Settlement.

Canadian scholar Richard Toporoski theorised in 1998 that " if, let us say, an alteration were to be made in the United Kingdom to the Act of Settlement 1701, providing for the succession of the Crown ... t is my opinion that the domestic constitutional law of Australia or Papua New Guinea, for example, would provide for the succession in those countries of the same person who became Sovereign of the United Kingdom.

In Canada, where the Act of Settlement is now a part of Canadian constitutional law, Tony O ' Donohue, a Canadian civic politician, took issue with the provisions that exclude Roman Catholics from the throne, and which make the monarch of Canada the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, requiring him or her to be an Anglican.

The two primary exemptions in the Investment Company Act of 1940 that hedge funds relied on were ( a ) Section 3 ( c ) 1 which restricts funds to 100 or fewer investors and ( b ) Section 3 ( c ) 7, which requires all investors to meet a " qualified purchaser " criterion.

The Posse Comitatus Act severely restricts the use of the military for police activity, giving added importance to police SWAT units.

In Germany, the Psychotherapy Act ( PsychThG, 1998 ) restricts the practice of psychotherapy to the professions of psychology and psychiatry.

* May 8 – The Chinese Exclusion Act is the first important law which restricts immigration into the U. S. A.

The report describes this as a violation of the Hatch Act of 1939, which restricts the use of public funds for partisan gain, but no action was taken by any entity with responsibility for enforcing the Hatch Act.

She supports tax cuts and the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, which restricts bankruptcy filings by consumers.

The first doctrine states, in effect, that the detailed Pattern of the Creation is foreordained, and the second restricts the Divine Act to the creation of the Plan.

* The Parliament of England passes the first Printing Act of the Restoration era, the Licensing of the Press Act, which restricts London printers to a total of 24, each with no more than three presses and three apprentices.

In particular the Act restricts the formation of such committees to only those which are deemed essential, limits their powers to provision of advice to officers and agencies in the executive branch of the Federal Government, and limits the length of term during which any such committee may operate.

Section 39 of the Youth Criminal Justice Act restricts the use of custodial sentences for young persons This means that the young person should not be taken into custody unless the young person or their offence meet certain criteria.

The remaining parts of the Act ( Information, Proceedings and Interpretation, Further Provisions for Northern Ireland, and Supplementary ) are largely technical, although the Northern Ireland provisions extend the right to search property, restricts remission for those convicted of statutory offences, and tightens control over the granting of licenses under the Explosives Act 1875 ( new explosives factories and magazines ).

The remaining parts of the Act ( Information, Proceedings and Interpretation, Further Provisions for Northern Ireland, and Supplementary ) are largely technical, although the Northern Ireland provisions extend the right to search property, restricts remission for those convicted of statutory offences, and tightens control over the granting of licenses under the Explosives Act 1875 ( new explosives factories and magazines ).

* Voted for the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in July 2006, which restricts credit card companies from processing payment towards Internet gambling companies.

* The Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005, a part of the renewal of the USA PATRIOT Act which restricts the sale of Methamphetamine precursor chemicals.

The creation of the agency was announced on 9 February 2004 as one of the elements of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005, which also restricts protests and demonstrations in central London, and alters powers of arrest and the use of search warrants.

* The Coinage Act 1971 introduced decimal currency, restricts usage of coins to pay debits

The Danish Act of Succession adopted on 27 March 1953 restricts the throne to those descended from King Christian X and his wife, Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, through approved marriages.

However, a late amendment to the Act as a result of these campaigns reads: " Nothing in this Part shall be read or given effect in a way which prohibits or restricts discussion, criticism or expressions of antipathy, dislike, ridicule, insult or abuse of particular religions or the beliefs or practices of their adherents, or of any other belief system or the beliefs or practices of its adherents, or proselytising or urging adherents of a different religion or belief system to cease practicing their religion or belief system.

The Peggys Cove Commission Act, passed in 1962, prohibits development in and around the surrounding village and restricts development within Peggys Cove.

However, legislating for alterations to the Act is a complex process, since the act is a common denominator in the shared succession of all the Commonwealth realms and the Statute of Westminster 1931 acknowledges by established convention that any changes to the rules of succession may be made only with the agreement of all of the states involved, with concurrent amendments to be made by each state's parliament or parliaments.

Or, third, it incorporates the United Kingdom rules of succession into the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, which itself can now be altered only by Australia, according to the Australia Act 1986 ; in that way, the British rules of succession have been patriated to Australia and, with regard to Australia, are subject to amendment or repeal solely by Australian law.

) Criticism of the Act of Settlement due to the Phillips-Kelly marriage was muted when Autumn Kelly converted to Anglicanism shortly before her marriage thus preserving her husband's place in the line of succession.

His will swept aside the Succession to the Crown Act 1543, excluded both Mary and Elizabeth from the succession, and instead declared as his heir Lady Jane Grey, granddaughter of Henry VIII's sister Mary, Duchess of Suffolk.

The treaty, which became the Act of Union 1707, confirmed the Hanoverian succession.

Under the act polygamy was illegal, and inheritance and succession would be governed by the Indian Succession Act, rather than the respective Muslim Personal Law.

Henry returned Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession, through the Act of Succession 1544, placing them after Edward.

Contradicting the Succession Act, which restored Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession, Edward named Dudley's daughter-in-law Lady Jane Grey, the granddaughter of Henry VIII's younger sister Mary, Queen of France, as his successor.

Over the next twenty years, a succession of further court decisions and federal laws, including the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act and measure to end mortgage discrimination in 1975, would completely invalidate de jure racial segregation and discrimination in the U. S., although de facto segregation and discrimination have proven more resilient.

In February 1937, the South African Parliament formally gave its " assent " by passing the Abdication Act, which declared that Edward had abdicated on 10 December 1936 ; that he and his descendants, if any, would have no right of succession to the throne ; and that the Royal Marriages Act would not apply to him or his descendants, if any.

* Third Succession Act: Elizabeth is restored to the order of succession to the throne of England.

It is one of the main constitutional laws governing the succession to the throne of the United Kingdom and — following British colonialism, the resultant doctrine of reception, and independence — to the thrones of those other Commonwealth realms, by willing deference to the Act as a British statute or as a patriated part of the particular realm's constitution.