Not quite “law and religion” – but not entirely irrelevant
Parliament … election … Parliament
The Government announced today that Parliament has now been prorogued and will automatically dissolve on 30 March under the provisions of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011. The new Parliament will meet on Monday 18 May for members to elect the Speaker and swear or affirm. The State Opening will follow on Wednesday 27 May.
Succession to the Crown
In another curiosity for constitutional anoraks, the Deputy Prime Minister announced in a Written Statement that the provisions of the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 came into force today.
The Act brings to an end the system under which male heirs automatically inherited the throne in preference to female heirs. It also removes the bar on a person who marries a Roman Catholic becoming Monarch and replaces the blanket provision of the Royal Marriages Act 1772, with the result that, henceforth, only the first six persons in line to the Throne will need consent of the Monarch to marry.
The changes were agreed at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Perth, Australia, in October 2011. The Government has worked closely with the 15 other countries where the Queen is Head of State to make the necessary arrangements to give effect to the changes. The changes came into effect across every Realm.
Six Realms in addition to the United Kingdom chose to legislate for the changes: Australia, Barbados, Canada, New Zealand, St Kitts and Nevis and St Vincent and the Grenadines. Nine concluded that the legislation was not necessary: Antigua and Barbuda; Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, St Lucia, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu. Anne Twomey, Professor of Constitutional Law at University of Sydney, has written an interesting post on the Succession issue primarily from an Australian perspective: Power to the princesses: Australia wraps up succession law changes.
With thanks to Bob Morris for alerting us.
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