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The
Articles of Union 1706 - 1707
Extracts
I. That the Two Kingdoms of England and Scotland shall upon
the First day of May which shall be in the year One thousand
seven hundred and seven, and for ever after, be united into
one Kingdom by the name of Great Britain and that the Ensigns
Armorial of the said United Kingdom be such as Her Majesty shall
appoint, and the Crosses of St. George and St. Andrew be conjoined
in such manner as Her Majesty shall think fit, and used in all
Flags, Banners, Standards and Ensigns, both at Sea and Land.
II. That the Succession of the Monarchy to the United Kingdom
of Great Britain, and of the Dominions thereunto belonging,
after Her most Sacred Majesty, and in default of Issue of her
Majesty, be, remain, and continue to the most excellent Princess
Sophia, Electoress and Duchess Dowager of Hanover, and the Heirs
of her Body being Protestants, upon whom the Crown of England
is settled by an Act of Parliament made in England in the Twelfth
year of the Reign of his late Majesty King William the Third,
intituled, An Act for the further Limitation of the Crown) and
better securing the Rights and Liberties of the Subject 1 And
that all Papists, and persons marrying Papists, shall be excluded
from, and for ever incapable to inherit, possess, or enjoy the
Imperial Crown of Great Britain, and the Dominions thereunto
belonging, or any part thereof; and in every such case the Crown
and Government shall from time to time descend to, and be enjoyed
by such Person, being a Protestant, as should
have inherited and enjoyed the same in case such Papist, or
Person marrying a Papist, was naturally dead, according to a
Provision for the Descent of the Crown of England made by another
Act of Parliament in England in the First year of the Reign
of their late Majesties King William and Queen Mary, intituled,
An Act declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject, and
Settling the Succession of the Crown.
III. That the United Kingdom of Great Britain be represented
by One and the same Parliament, to be stiled, the Parliament
of Great Britain...
IV. That all the Subjects of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
shall, from and after the Union, have full Freedom and Intercourse
of Trade and Navigation to and from any Port or Place within
the said United Kingdom, and the Dominions and Plantations thereunto
belonging; and that there be a communication of all other Rights,
Privileges, and Advantages, which do or may belong to the Subjects
of either Kingdom ; except where it is otherwise expressly agreed
in these Articles.
V. That all ships or vessels belonging to Her Majesty's Subjects
of Scotland, at the time of ratifying the Treaty of Union of
the two Kingdoms in the Parliament of Scotland, though foreign
built, be deemed, and pass as ships of the build of Great Britain.
VI. That all parts of the United Kingdom for ever from and after
the Union shall have the same allowances, encouragements and
drawbacks, and be under the same prohibitions, restrictions
and regulations of trade, and lyable to the same customs and
duties on import and export...; and that from and after the
Union no Scots cattle carried into England shall be lyable to
any other duties than these duties to which the cattle of England
are or shall be lyable.
VII. That all parts of the United Kingdom be for ever from and
after the Union lyable to the same excises upon all excisable
liquors.
VIII. . . . Scotland shall for the space of seven years from
the said Union be exempted from paying in Scotland for salt
made there the dutie or excise now payable for salt made in
England.
IX. That whenever the sum of [£1,997,763, 8s. 4 1/2d.]
shall be enacted... to be raised in that part of the United
Kingdom now called England, on land and other things usually
charged in Acts of Parliament there for granting an aid to the
Crown by a land tax, that part of the United Kingdom now called
Scotland shall be charged by the same Act with a further sum
of [£48,000] free of all charges, as the quota of Scotland
to such tax, and so proportionably. ...
X-XIII. [Scotland exempted from existing English duties on stamped
paper, vellum and parchment, windows and lights, coal, culm
and cinders, and malt.]
XIV.. . . That any malt to be made and consumed in that part
of the United Kingdom now called Scotland shall not be charged
with any imposition upon malt during this present war.
XV. [Whereas Scotland will become liable to customs and excise
duties which will be applicable to the payment of England's
existing National Debt, and whereas the yield of these duties
will increase and a portion of the increase will be applied
to the same end, Scotland is to receive as an 'Equivalent' (1)
a lump sum of £398,085, 10s., 'due and payable from the
time of the Union' and (2) the increase in Scotland's customs
and excise revenue for the first seven years after the Union,
and thereafter such part of the increase as would be required
for the debt. This 'Equivalent' is to be devoted to, (a) recompensing
those who lost through the standardising of the coinage, (b)
payment of the capital (with interest) advanced for the Darien
Company (which is to be dissolved), (c) the payment for the
public debts of the Scottish Crown, and (d) payment of £2000
yearly for seven years to encourage the wool manufacture and
thereafter to promote fisheries and other 'manufactures and
improvements'.]
XVI. That from and after the Union, the Coin shall be of the
same standard and value throughout the United Kingdom, as now
in England, and a Mint shall be continued in Scotland, under
the same Rules as the Mint in England, and the present Officers
of the Mint continued, subject to such Regulations and Alterations
as Her Majesty, Her Heirs or Successors, or the Parliament of
Great Britain shall think fit.
XVII. That from and after the Union, the same Weights and Measures
shall be used throughout the United Kingdom, as are established
in England, and Standards of Weights and Measures shall be kept
by those Burghs in Scotland, to whom the keeping the Standards
of Weights and Measures, now in use there, does of special right
belong. All which Standards shall be sent down to such respective
Burghs, from the Standards kept in the Exchequers at Westminster,
subject nevertheless to such Regulations as the Parliament of
Great Britain shall think fit.
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