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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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