and declaration of William and Mary as King and Queen.  VIII.  Repetition of the settlement of the Crown and limitations of the succession.  IX.  Exclusion from the Crown of all persons holding communion with the “Church of Rome” or who “profess the Popish religion” or who “shall marry a Papist.”  X. Every King or Queen hereafter succeeding to the Crown to assent to the Act [i.e.  Disabling Act of 1678 (S478)] “disabling Papists from sitting in either House of Parliament.”  XI.  The King and Queen assent to all the articles of the Bill of Rights.  XII.  The Dispensing Power (S488, note 1) abolished.  XIII.  Exception made in favor of charters, grants, and pardons made before October 23, 1689.

The Act of Settlement, 1700-1701.[2]

Excludes Roman Catholics from succession to the Crown; and declares that if a Roman Catholic obtains th eCrown, “the people of these realms shall be and are thereby absolved of their allegiance.”  Settles the Crown on the Electress Sophia,[3] and “the heirs of her body being Protestants.”  Requires the sovereign to join in communion with the Church of England.  No war to be undertaken in defence of any territories not belonging to the English Crown except with the consent of Parliament.  Judges to hold their office during good behavior.  No pardon by the Crown to be pleadable against an impeachment by the House of Commons (S488).

[2] This act, says Taswell-Langmead, is “the Title Deed of the reigning Dynasty, and a veritable original contract between the Crown and the People.” [3] The Electress Sophia was the granddaughter of James I:  she married the Elector of Hanover, and became mother of George I. See genealogical table of Descent of the English Sovereigns in the Appendix.

MISCELLANEOUS ACTS AND LAWS

I. The Constitutions of Clarendon, 1164.

These measures (S165), says Bishop Stubbs, were “really a part of a great scheme of administrative reform.”  They were drawn up by a committee of bishops and barons, with the Justiciar or Chief Minister at the head.  The object of the Constitutions was “to assert the supremacy of the State over clergy and laity alike.”  They limited the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts; they established a more uniform system of justice; and, in certain cases, they provided for a kind of jury trial (see Stubb’s “Constitutional History,” I, 525; or, for a brief abstract of the Constitutions, see Acland and Ransome’s “Political History,” p. 24).

II.  Bill of Attainder, 1321.

This was a bill (first used apparently in 1321) passed by Parliament, which might in itself decree sentence of death (SS351, 356).  Originally, the blood of a person held to be convicted of treason or felony was declared to be attainted or corrupted so that his power to inherit, transmit, or hold property was destroyed.  After Henry VIII’s reign the law was modified so as not to work “corruption of blood” in the case of new felonies.  Under the Stuarts, Bills of Attainder were generally brought only in cases where the Commons believed that impeachment would fail,—­as in the cases of Strafford and Laud.  It should be noticed that in an Impeachment the Commons bring the accusation, and the Lords act as judges; but that in a Bill of Attainder the Commons—­that is, the accusers—­themselves act as judges, as well as the Lords.