Safety of the Queen, etc. Act 1584

United Kingdom legislation

Kingdom of England

DatesRoyal assent23 March 1587Text of statute as originally enacted

The Safety of the Queen, etc. Act 1584^[a] (27 Eliz. 1. c. 1), also known as the Act of Association 1584 was an act of the Parliament of England during the English Reformation. It required a tribunal of at least 24 peers and privy councillors to investigate "any open invasion or rebellion" in England, any attempt to injure Queen Elizabeth I, or any attempt by a pretender to seize the throne. Any person found to be guilty was to be disabled from inheriting the throne, and was to be "pursued to death by all the Queen's subjects." Also any act "whereby the Queen's life shall be shortened" was made a capital offence.

The act developed to include the Bond of Association, which was mindful of threats to Elizabeth posed by Mary, Queen of Scots.^[1] The Act for the Safety of the Queen, passed in March 1585, allowed that James VI of Scotland would not be held responsible for his mother's plots.^[2] James was occasionally troubled by incidents including the Valentine Thomas affair, which could have implicated him in plots against Elizabeth, and hindered his accession to the English throne.^[3]

Notes

^ The act was actually passed in March 1585 but is listed under 1584 because under the common law acts of Parliament took effect retrospectively from the beginning of the session in which they were passed, which in this case was 1584: see the article Acts of Parliament (Commencement) Act 1793 for the explanation as to why.

References

Statutes at Large, vol. VI, Cambridge University Press, 1763.

^ Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), p. 258.
^ Alexander Courtney, James VI, Britannic Prince: King of Scots and Elizabeth's Heir, 1566–1603 (Routledge, 2024), pp. 82–83, 214.
^ Elizabeth Tunstall, 'The Paradox of the Valentine Thomas Affair: English Diplomacy, Royal Correspondence and the Elizabethan Succession', Parergon, 38:1 (2021), pp. 65-87 doi:10.1353/pgn.2021.0004

Parliament of England	1225–1267 1275–1307 1308–1325 Temp. incert. 1327–1376 1377–1397 1399–1411 1413–1421 1422–1460 1461 1463 1464 1467 1468 1472 1474 1477 1482 1483 1485 1487 1488 1491 1495 1496 1503 1509 1511 1512 1513 1514 1515 1523 1529 1530 1531 1532 1533 1534 1535 1536 1539 1540 1541 1542 1543 1545 1546 1547 1548 1549 1551 1553 1554 1555 1557 1558 1562 1566 1571 1572 1575 1580 1584 1586 1588 1592 1597 1601 1603 1605 1606 1609 1620 1623 1625 1627 Petition of Right 1640 Interregnum (1642–1660) 1660 1661 1662 1663 1664 1665 1666 1667 1670 1672 1675 1677 1678 1679 Habeas Corpus Act 1680 1685 1688 1689 Bill of Rights 1690 1691 1692 1693 1694 1695 1696 1697 1698 1700 1701 1702 1703 1704 1705 1706
Parliament of Scotland	to 1707