SETTLEMENT, ACT OF, the name given to the act of parliament passed in June 1701, which, since that date, has regu lated the succession to the throne of Great Britain. Towards the end of 1700 William III. was ill and childless; his sister-in-law, the prospective queen, Anne, had just lost her only surviving child, William, duke of Gloucester; and abroad the supporters of the exiled king, James II., were numerous and active. The need for the act was obvious. It decreed that, in default of issue to either William or Anne, the crown was to pass to "the most excel lent princess Sophia, electress and duchess dowager of Hanover," a grand-daughter of James I., and "the heirs of her body being Protestants." The act is thus responsible for the accession of the house of Hanover to the British throne. In addition to settling the crown, the act contained some important constitutional pro visions (many of which are manifest censures on the policy of William III.), of which the following are still in force. (I) That whosoever shall hereafter come to the possession of this crown shall join in communion with the Church of England as by law established. (2) That in case the crown and imperial dignity of this realm shall hereafter come to any person not being a native of this kingdom of England, this nation be not obliged to engage in any war for the defence of any dominions or territories which do not belong to the Crown of England, without the consent of parliament. (3) That after the said limitation shall take effect as aforesaid, judges' commissions be made quamdiu se bene gesserint (during good behaviour), and their salaries ascertained and estab lished ; but upon the address of both Houses of Parliament it may be lawful to remove them. This clause established the inde pendence of the judicial bench. (4) That no pardon under the great seal of England be pleadable to an impeachment by the Commons in parliament.
The act as originally passed contained four other clauses. One of these provided that "all matters properly cognizable in the Privy Council . . . shall be transacted there," and that all resolutions "shall be signed by such of the Privy Council as shall advise and consent to the same." Another declared that all office-holders and pensioners under the Crown shall be incapa ble of sitting in the House of Commons. The first of these clauses, which was an attempt to destroy the growing power of the Cab inet, was repealed, and the second seriously modified in 1706. Another clause, repealed in the reign of George I., forbade the sovereign to leave England, Scotland, or Ireland without the con sent of parliament. Finally a clause said that "no person born out of the kingdoms of England, Scotland, or Ireland, or the do minions thereunto belonging (although he be naturalized or made a denizen), except such as are born of English parents, shall be capable to be of the Privy Council, or a member of either House of Parliament, or enjoy any office or place of trust, either civil or military, or to have any grant of lands, tenements, or heredita ments from the Crown to himself, or to any other or others in trust for him." By the Naturalization Act of 187o this clause is virtually repealed for all persons who obtain a certificate of naturalization.
The importance of the Act of Settlement appears from the fact that, in all the regency acts, it is mentioned as one of the acts to the repeal of which the regent may not assent. To maintain or affirm the right of any person to the crown, contrary to the pro visions of the act, is high treason by an act of 1707.