The Treasons Act 1571 ( 13 Eliz. 1. c. 1) 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 ...

during the reign of

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...

. It restored the provisions of the Treasons Act 1534, which had been passed by Parliament during the reign of her father,

King 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 six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagreement w ...

, and then repealed by the Treason Act 1547 ( 1 Edw. 6. c. 12) at the beginning of the reign of her half-brother,

King Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. The only surviving son of Henry VIII by his thi ...

The act

It became

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 ...

to intend bodily harm to the Queen, or to levy war against her, or incite others to levy war against her, or to say that she ought not to enjoy the Crown, or publish in writing that she is a heretic, tyrant or usurper, or to claim a right to the Crown or usurp it during the Queen's life, or to assert that somebody else has the right of succession to the throne, or to say that the laws enacted by Parliament do not govern the succession to the throne.

Legacy

The whole act was repealed on 28 July 1863 by section 1 of, and the schedule to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1863 ( 26 & 27 Vict. c. 125). However until 1967 it remained treason under the Succession to the Crown Act 1707 ( 6 Ann. c. 41) to say that Parliament could not control the succession to the Crown. Some of the wording of section 5 of the act has drawn attention for its description of the legal line of succession. In the twenty-first century, academic scholarship and proponents of the Oxfordian theory of Shakespearean authorship noted the departure of the terms "heirs of the body" to the introduction of the phrase "natural issue" to refer to the line of succession, or Queen's heir to the throne: Proponents contend this wording meant that any illegitimate child, or "natural issue", born to Queen Elizabeth I, would then be legal successor to the monarchy. As of 2016, scholarship continues to debate the implications of the change in the legal language, but agree its inclusion in the Act was meant to prevent a crisis of succession.

Notes

References

External links

Treasons Act 1570
Danby Pickering, The Statutes at Large, 1763, vol. 6, p. 257 (from Google Book Search) *Regnier, Thomas. "Did Tudor Succession Law Permit Royal Bastards to Inherit the Crown?" 2012-2013. ''Brief Chronicles'' IV

pp. 39–58. *Tanner, J. D. Tudor Constitutional Documents, A.D. 1485-1603. 1922. University of Cambridge Press, London. pp. 413–417. ''Internet Archive,'

1570 in law 1570 in England Acts of the Parliament of England 1571 Repealed English legislation Treason in England Treason Acts {{England-statute-stub

The act

Legacy

See also

Notes

References

External links