| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act concerning the establishment of the King's Majesty's Succession in the Imperial Crown of the Realm. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 35 Hen. 8. c. 1 |
| Territorial extent | England and Wales |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 29 March 1544 |
| Commencement | 14 January 1544 [O.S. 1543][a] |
| Repealed | 30 July 1948 |
| Other legislation | |
| Amended by | |
| Repealed by | Statute Law Revision Act 1948 |
| Relates to | |
Status: Repealed | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
TheThird Succession Act (35 Hen. 8. c. 1) was anact passed by theParliament of England during KingHenry VIII's reign that returned his daughtersMary andElizabeth to the line of the succession behind their half-brotherEdward. Born in 1537, Edward was the son of Henry VIII and his third wife,Jane Seymour, and heir apparent to the throne.
The act did not have a title in the modern sense. It is formally cited as35 Hen. 8 c. 1 (meaning the first act passed in the 35th year of Henry VIII's reign), and referred to by historians as theSuccession to the Crown Act 1543 or theAct of Succession 1543.[1] Theroyal assent was given to this bill in the spring of 1544 at the conclusion of the 1544 parliament, but until 1793 acts were dated to the beginning of the session of Parliament in which they were passed, in this case in January 1544; prior to 1750 the change of the legal year in Great Britain was on 25 March, as such the act is also often dated 1544. Henry VIII used statutes to make the adjustments to the succession that his complicated matrimonial history necessitated. The first Act (25 Hen. 8 c. 22) declared Mary illegitimate as a consequence of the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. The second (28 Hen. 8 c. 7) after Anne Boleyn's execution declared both Mary and Elizabeth illegitimate and vested the succession in any future offspring of Henry's new wife, Jane Seymour.
The Third Succession Act superseded theFirst Succession Act (1533) and theSecond Succession Act (1536), whose effects had been to declare bastards Henry's daughtersMary andElizabeth, and to remove them from succession to the throne.[2][3] This new act returned both Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession behindEdward, any potential children of Edward, and any potential children of Henry by his then wife,Catherine Parr, or any future wife Henry might have.
With the 1536 act, Henry VIII was authorised to dispose of the Crown byletters patent or by will, in default of any legitimate heirs after Mary and Elizabeth. Mary and Elizabeth, who had both been declaredillegitimate and incapable to inherit, were not restored to legitimacy in the 1543/44 Act; they were only restored to succession of the Crown (with several provisos stipulated inhis will of 1547, such as they could not marry without thePrivy Council's approval). This meant that the place in the succession of Mary and Elizabeth remained doubtful.
TheTreason Act 1547 (1 Edw. 6. c. 12) made ithigh treason to interrupt the line of succession to the throne established by the Act of Succession.Edward VI meant to bypass this act in his "Devise for the Succession", issued as letters patent on 21 June 1553, in which he namedLady Jane Grey as his successor.[4][5] Prevailing over Lady Jane Grey, Mary ascended the throne under the terms of the Third Succession Act.
According toChronological table of the Statutes, 1235–2001 "Succession to the Crown Act":
The residue was repealed ("The whole Act so far as unrepealed.") byStatute Law Revision Act 1948 (11 & 12 Geo. 6 c. 62).