Settlement, Act Of

(June 12, 1701) Act of Parliament that thereafter regulated the succession to the English throne.

It decreed that if King William III or Princess (later Queen) Anne died without issue, the crown was to pass to James I's granddaughter Sophie of Hanover (1630–1714) and her Protestant heirs. The act resulted in the accession of the house of Hanover in 1714. It also decreed that future monarchs must belong to the Church of England, that judges were to hold office on the basis of good behaviour rather than at the sovereign's pleasure, and that impeachment by the House of Commons was not subject to pardon by the sovereign.