The Royal Assent by Commission Act 1541 ( 33 Hen. 8. c. 21) was an act of 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 ...

, passed in 1542, which attainted Queen

Catherine Howard Catherine Howard ( – 13 February 1542) was Queen of England from July 1540 until November 1541 as the fifth wife of King Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a first cousin to Anne Boleyn (the second ...

for adultery, thereby authorising her

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in ...

. It also provided that all of Queen Catherine's assets were to be forfeited to

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

while also creating a new method in which

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 ...

could be granted to legislation. Queen Catherine was to be convicted by

bill of attainder A bill of attainder (also known as an act of attainder, writ of attainder, or bill of pains and penalties) is an act of a legislature declaring a person, or a group of people, guilty of some crime, and providing for a punishment, often without a ...

, rather than by ordinary prosecution in a court of law. However, until 1542 royal assent could be granted only by the king in person, at a ceremony in which the whole text of the bill would be read aloud. King Henry decided that "the repetition of so grievous a Story and the recital of so infamous a Crime" in his presence "might reopen a Wound already closing in the Royal Bosom".Quennell, Peter (1951). "History Today", Stanford University. p767. To avoid this, Parliament inserted a clause in the bill of attainder, which provided that royal assent could be granted by commissioners appointed for the purpose, instead of by the king in person. Initially used sparingly, the new procedure gradually became used more often until it became the usual way. The last monarch to grant royal assent in person was

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

in 1854.Richardson, Jessica. "Modernisation of Royal Assent in Canada". ''Canadian Parliamentary Review''. The act was repealed by section 2(2) of the

Royal Assent Act 1967 The Royal Assent Act 1967 (c. 23) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that amends the law relating to the signification of royal assent to allow laws from the Parliament of the United Kingdom to be enacted through the pronunciati ...

(c. 23), which however preserved the Commissioners' role. This act was repealed for the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

by section
2(1)
an

of, an

of Schedule 2 to the Statute Law Revision Act 2007.

Other provisions

The 1541 act was more than an act of attainder, however. It also made it

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its d ...

for any person who married the King (or his successors) to conceal from the monarch their previous sexual history. It became treason for any third party to conceal such knowledge for longer than 20 days after the marriage, or to incite another to have "carnal knowledge" of the queen consort, or of the wife of the monarch's son, or for the queen or princess to incite somebody to do so. These provisions were repealed by the section 2 of the

Treason Act 1547 The Treason Act 1547 ( 1 Edw. 6. c. 12) was an act of the Parliament of England. It is mainly notable for being the first instance of the rule that two witnesses are needed to prove a charge of treason, a rule which still exists today in the U ...

( 1 Edw. 6. c. 12).

Notes

References

External links

*List of repeals in the Republic of Ireland from th
Irish Statute Book
{{Authority control Acts of the Parliament of England 1541 Repealed English legislation Catherine Howard Constitutional laws of England Constitution of the United Kingdom Treason in England

Other provisions

See also

Notes

References

External links