After the ignominious fight of James II to France, the throne of England was lying vacant. In 1689, the convention of Parliament offered the crown to William and Mary jointly.
William was not appointed according to the hereditary principles. He had to hereditary claim to the English throne. He was, infact, elected by the wish of Parliament. Thus a precedent was laid that in future, kings were to be elected by the Parliament and that is matters of accession and legality to the throne of England.
Final authority and power vested with the Parliament. In 1694 Mary died authority and power vested with Parliament. In 1694 Mary died of Small Pox.
So far, both were reigning jointly. After Mary’s death William went on reigning up to 1702 when he died. The reign of William is known for the improvement of administration and passage of some important laws which have even now great significance. These laws have become fundamentals of British social and political life.
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The greatest importance of William’s reign lies in fact that king’s absolutism was abolished and the Parliament became all-powerful. Supremacy of Parliament was established beyond all doubts and in all matters of social and political life of England. British Parliament began to be held in very high esteem.
The Bill of Rights (1689):
Soon after the flight of James II, the convention quickly passed a document, declaring all the arbitrary practices of James II illegal. This document was known as the Declaration of Rights. When the convention was transformed into a regular Parliament, the Declaration of Rights was converted to the Bill of Rights on the 25th October, 1689. Many salutary clauses were incorporated in the Bill.
First, the Bill of Rights declared William III and Mary to be the King and Queen of England. Further more, succession to the English throne was settled upon their children and failing them upon James II’s second daughter, Anne, who had married Prince George of Denmark in 1680. The Bill also laid down that a Roman Catholic or a person marrying a Roman Catholic would not succeed to the English throne.
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Secondly, the Bill in corporated a clause which limited the prerogative power of the king in certain matters. It declared to be illegal the (a) King’s pretended power of suspending the laws of the realm, (b) his power of dispensing with laws, (c) the Ecclesiastical Court of High Commission and similar courts.
Thirdly, the Bill declared Parliament to be freely elected and its members to enjoy freedom of speech. Taxation without the sanction of the Parliament was declared illegal.
Fourthly, the Bill declared a standing army in time of peace without the consent of the Parliament.
Thus, the Bill of Right was the third great, charter of England, Magna Charta being the first, Petition of Right, the second. This Bill rendered the royal despotism impossible in England.
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1) The Triennial Act (1689):
The remarkable Act that was passed during William’s reign was the Triennial Act. The Whigs who had a majority in the House of commons strove to increase their powers by effecting the Triennial Act, which laid down that Parliament must meet every three years, and it must not sit for more than three years.
2) The Army Annual Act (1689):
In order to keep an effective control over the Army the Parliament passed an Army Act which authorised the king to maintain a standing Army, but this Act must be renewed every year in the Parliament. For this provision the king would never be in a position to rule with out summoning a Parliament.
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3) The Toleration Act-(1689):
The ecclesiastical policy in the reign of William III ran Parael to the constitutional policy. Both the king and the Parliament realised importance of making religious restriction less severe. So the Parliament in 1689 passed the Toleration Act which guaranteed liberty of worship to all protestant Non-conformists.
They were allowed to have their own place of worship their own teachers and preachers. But there were a few churchmen, called the non-jurors, who refused to accept the principles of toleration.
About the importance of the Toleration Act, it is said. “The Toleration Act takes the same place in the history of church and state, which the Bill of Rights holds in the history of the relation of king and people.”
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4) The Licensing Act (1695):
The Revolution had secured an effective step in guaranteeing people their freedom of thought. Hither to all publications were subject to rigorous censorship under an annual licensing Act. In 1695, the House decided not to renew the Act so as to give the authors a free hand in their library activity. Thus this Act secured the liberty of press. It marked the beginning of the newspapers.
6) The Treason Act (1696):
For regulation the trials for treason, in 1696 was passed a Treason Act. Along with other provisions, it mainly declared that two witnesses to offence were to be present at the trial.
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7) The Act of Settlement (1701):
Equal to the Bill or Rights in significance a document of great constitutional prominence was passed in the closing phase of William’s reign. It was the Act of Settlement.
The circumstances demanded a quick settlement of succession question. Mary died issue less in 1694 William did not marry as his health and inclination were against it. All the children of Anne had died young.
So under these circumstances, it was anticipated and rightly so that if nothing was done, another turn of Fortune’s wheel might bring back the exilled Stuart king, James II.
To guard against this eventuality the Parliament in 1701 passed the Act of settlement which provided that not only Anne should succeed William, but also in the event of her death without issue, the, throne should go to the protestant representative of the Stuarts, Electress of Sophia and her descendants.
She was the grand-daughter of James. I and the wife of the Elector of Hanover in Germany. The Crown of England was thus settled upon the most excellent princess Sophia and the heir of her body, being protestant.”
Besides the settlement of succession, some more clauses were instituted in the Act of Settlement. They appear to have been incorporated to insult William III for his unpopularity.
They were as follows:
1. The monarch was not to leave Great Britain without the consent of the Parliament.
2. No foreign born monarch should involve England in a war without the consent of the English Parliament.
3. Every future sovereign should be a protestant and should necessarily be member of the Church of England.
4. No foreigners in England should be given grants of land nor should them the bellowed to remain as members of the Parliament of the Privy Council.
5. The judges should not be removed from the office by the crown except on an address from both House of the Parliament. This was a significant clause in the sense that it made the judges practically independent of the Parliament. The judges hereafter should hold their offices only on the basis of their good behaviour and the pleasure of the king.
6. Lastly, the was not allowed to plead pardon at the impeachments of kings Ministers made by the House of Commons. So it established the responsibility of king’s Ministers to the Parliament for all their actions.
Thus in the words of G. N. Clarck, “That Act dealt not only with the succession, it was also an Act for better securing rights and liberties of the subjects.”
The Acts passed the revolution secured for the individual Englishman, his political liberty. A fresh breath of freedom touched the English and their institutions.