The Proclamation by the Crown Act 1539 (

31 Hen. 8 31 Hen. 8 The first session of the 7th Parliament of King Henry VIII, which met at Westminster from 28 April 1539 until 28 June 1539. This session was also traditionally cited as 31 H. 8. No acts were passed during the second session. Publi ...

. c. 8), also known as the Statute of Proclamations, was an act of the

English Reformation Parliament The English Reformation Parliament, which sat from 3 November 1529 to 14 April 1536, established the legal basis for the English Reformation, passing major pieces of legislation leading to the break with Rome and increasing the authority of the ...

passed by

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

. The act permitted the King to

rule by decree Rule by decree is a style of governance allowing quick, unchallenged promulgation of law by a single person or group of people, usually without legislative approval. While intended to allow rapid responses to a crisis, rule by decree is easily ab ...

, ordering that "traditional"

proclamations A proclamation (Lat. ''proclamare'', to make public by announcement) is an official declaration issued by a person of authority to make certain announcements known. Proclamations are currently used within the governing framework of some nations ...

(that is, any unable to impose the death penalty or forfeiture of goods) should be obeyed as "though they were made by act of parliament". In addition the act appointed machinery for their enforcement. G.R. Elton ''England Under The Tudors'' London: Methuen, 1955, revised edition 1974: Chapter VII The Tudor Revolution: 3 Parliament Sir

William Blackstone Sir William Blackstone (10 July 1723 – 14 February 1780) was an English jurist, Justice (title), justice, and Tory (British political party), Tory politician most noted for his ''Commentaries on the Laws of England'', which became the best-k ...

called the act "a statute, which was calculated to introduce the most despotic tyranny; and which must have proved fatal to the liberties of this kingdom, had it not been luckily repealed."Blackstone (1765-69) ''

Commentaries on the Laws of England The ''Commentaries on the Laws of England'' (commonly, but informally known as ''Blackstone's Commentaries'') are an influential 18th-century treatise on the common law of England by Sir William Blackstone, originally published by the Clarend ...

'', book 1, chapter 7 The act was once considered to be the height of

's despotism. The great efforts made by the King's chief minister,

Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; – 28 July 1540) was an English statesman and lawyer who served as List of English chief ministers, chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false cha ...

, when drafting the acts of this time show that he was aware of the importance of statute and Parliament. Cromwell's natural reaction to any problem of government was to draft a bill. However, there were times when an immediate decision or temporary policy was required without having to wait for Parliament. For example, in 1535 it was desired to prevent the export of currency from the realm; Cromwell insisted on finding a relevant statute, although he was relieved to hear from the judges that, in such matters, failing such a statute, the king had the power to issue a proclamation. Nevertheless, Cromwell felt unsatisfied, and hence the Proclamation by the Crown Act 1539, designed to give general legal sanction to royal proclamations. Cromwell originally intended to allow the common-law courts to enforce these proclamations. However, opposition from the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

forced him instead to accept a council as nominated in the act. This council proved so incapable of doing the work that in 1547, when this act was repealed, it made no difference to the legality of royal proclamations. Proclamations would continue to prove controversial, especially when it came to taxation in which it was seen as an arbitrary power, becoming one of the many reasons for the

Wars of the Three Kingdoms The Wars of the Three Kingdoms were a series of conflicts fought between 1639 and 1653 in the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, then separate entities in a personal union un ...

. Restored Stuart attempts at emulating French absolutism through revival of proclamations would be a factor in causing the eventual

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1688, was the deposition of James II and VII, James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II, Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange ...

, leading to the

Bill of Rights A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pri ...

that entrenched

parliamentary sovereignty Parliamentary sovereignty, also called parliamentary supremacy or legislative supremacy, is a concept in the constitutional law of some parliamentary democracies. It holds that the legislative body has absolute sovereignty and is supreme over al ...

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The text of the act

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See also