Safety of the Queen, etc. Act 1584

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.

Safety of the Queen, etc. Act 1584

Act of Parliament
Parliament of England
Long title	An Act for Provision to be made for the Surety of the Queen's Majesty's most Royal Person, and the Continuance of the Realm in Peace.
Citation	27 Eliz. 1. c. 1
Territorial extent	Kingdom of England
Dates
Royal assent	23 March 1587
Repealed	28 July 1863
Other legislation
Repealed by	Statute Law Revision Act 1863
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

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,^[2] allowed that James VI of Scotland would not be held responsible for his mother's plots.^[3] 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.^[4]

Notes

1. 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.

1. Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), p. 258.
2. John Guy, My Heart is My Own: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots (London: Fourth Estate, 2009), p. 475.
3. Alexander Courtney, James VI, Britannic Prince: King of Scots and Elizabeth's Heir, 1566–1603 (Routledge, 2024), pp. 82–83, 214.
4. 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

See also

• Jesuits, etc. Act 1584 (27 Eliz. 1. c. 2)