Act of Security 1704
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The Act of Security 1704 (c. 3), also referred to as the Act for the Security of the Kingdom, was a response by the
Parliament of Scotland In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
to the
Parliament of England The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the Great Council of England, great council of Lords Spi ...
's
Act of Settlement 1701 The Act of Settlement ( 12 & 13 Will. 3. c. 2) is an act of the Parliament of England that settled the succession to the English and Irish crowns to only Protestants, which passed in 1701. More specifically, anyone who became a Roman Catho ...
. 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 Sophia (born Princess Sophia of the Palatinate; – ) was Electress of Hanover from 19 December 1692 until 23 January 1698 as the consort of Prince-Elector Ernest Augustus. She was later the heiress presumptive to the thrones of England and ...
, granddaughter of King
James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 M ...
, without consulting the Scottish Parliament. The response of the Scottish Parliament was to pass a bill in 1703 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 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 othe ...
by the
Lord High Commissioner to the Parliament of Scotland The Lord High Commissioner to the Parliament of Scotland was the List of Scottish monarchs, monarch of Scotland's high commissioner, personal representative to the Parliament of Scotland. From the accession of James I of England, James VI of Sc ...
. 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 The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict fought between 1701 and 1714. The immediate cause was the death of the childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700, which led to a struggle for control of the Spanish E ...
unless royal assent was given. The
English Parliament The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised th ...
retaliated with the
Alien Act 1705 The Alien Act 1705 ( 3 & 4 Ann. c. 6) was a law passed by the Parliament of England in February 1705, as a response to the Parliament of Scotland's Act of Security 1704, which in turn was partially a response to the English Act of Settlement 1701 ...
, threatening to cut trade and free movement between the two countries, 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 Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
into the
Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain, also known as the Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in Western Europe from 1707 to the end of 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, which united the Kingd ...
in 1707, approximately one hundred years after the
Union of the Crowns The Union of the Crowns (; ) was the accession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of the Kingdom of England as James I and the practical unification of some functions (such as overseas diplomacy) of the two separate realms under a single ...
. The
Parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union 1707, Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a ...
passed an act, the
Repeal of Certain Scotch Acts 1707 The Repeal of Certain Scottish Acts (6 Ann. (GB), 6 Ann. c. 36) was a repeal of several acts originating in the Scottish and English parliaments, supplementing the Acts of Union 1707, passed by the Parliament of Great Britain. The acts repealed ...
( 6 Ann. c. 32) explicitly repealing this act together with the Peace and War Act 1703 (c. 6) (S)).


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See also

1704 in law 1704 in Scotland Acts of the Parliament of Scotland Religion and politics Constitutional laws of Scotland Heads of state of Scotland Succession to the British crown England–Scotland relations Scottish monarchy Political history of Scotland Economic history of Scotland History of Christianity in Scotland Taxation in Scotland {{Scotland-poli-stub