Uniformity, Act of.-By 2 & 3 Edw. VI. c. 1 (Jan. 15, 1549), it was enacted that the order of divine worship contained in the book drawn up by the commissioners, "by the aid of the Holy Ghost," should be the only one used after the next Whitsuntide. Those who refused to use it, or who spoke or wrote against it, were fined for the first or second offence, and rendered subject to forfeiture of goods and imprisonment for life for the third. This statute was confirmed by 5 & 6 Edw. VI. c. 1 (1552), repealed by 1 Mary, c. 2 (1553), and restored by 1 Eliz. c. 2 (1559). It formed the basis of the Act of Uniformity, commonly so called, passed in 1662 (13 & 14 Car. II. c. 4), which contained stringent regulations with respect to the use of the Book of Common Prayer. This Act enjoined uniformity in matters of religion, and obliged all clergy to subscribe to the Thirty-nine Articles and use the same form of worship and same Book of Common Prayer; it received the royal assent May 19th, came into operation August 24, 1662, and was made perpetual as to the establishment of the church by 5 Anne, c. 5 (1706), and by the Act of Union, 5 Anne, c. 7. A similar Act was passed by the Irish Parliament (17 & 18 Car. II. c. 6) in 1665.

Union of England and Scotland.-Union, or The Union, by way of eminence, is more particularly used to express the Act 5 & 6 Anne, c. 8, by which the two separate kingdoms of England and Scotland were incorporated into one, under the title of the kingdom of Great Britain. This Union, in vain attempted by King James I., was at length effected in the year 1707, when twenty-five articles were agreed to by the Parliaments of both nations; the purport of the most considerable being as follows:

1. That on the 1st of May, 1707, and for ever after, the kingdoms of England and Scotland shall be united into one kingdom, by the name of Great Britain.

2. The succession to the monarchy of Great Britain shall be the same as was before settled with regard to that of England.

3. The United Kingdom shall be represented by one Parliament.

4. There shall be a communication of all rights and privileges between the subjects of both kingdoms, except where it is otherwise agreed.

9. When England raises £2,000,000 by a land-tax, Scotland shall raise £48,000.

16, 17. The standards of the coin, of weights, and of measures, shall be reduced to those of England throughout the United Kingdoms.

18. The laws relating to trade, customs, and the excise, shall be the same in Scotland as in England. But all the other laws of Scotland shall remain in force; but alterable by the Parliament of Great Britain. Yet with this caution, that laws relating to public policy are alterable at the discretion of the Parliament; laws relating to private right are not to be altered but for the evident utility of the people of Scotland.

22. Sixteen peers are to be chosen to represent the peerage of Scotland in Parliament, and forty-five members to sit in the House of Commons.

23. The sixteen peers of Scotland shall have all privileges of Parliament; and all peers of Scotland shall be peers of Great Britain, and rank next after those of the same degree at the time of the Union, and shall have all privileges of peers, except sitting in the House of Lords, and voting on the trial of

a peer.

These are the principal of the twenty-five articles of union, which are ratified and confirmed by statute 5 & 6 Anne, c. 8, in which statute there are also two Acts of Parliament recited; the one of Scotland, whereby the Church of Scotland, and also the four universities of that kingdom, are established for ever, and all succeeding sovereigns are to take an oath inviolably to maintain the same; the other of England, whereby the Acts of Uniformity of 13 Eliz., and 13 Car. II.,

(except as the same had been altered by Parliament at that time), and all other Acts then in force for the preservation of the Church of England, are declared perpetual; and it is stipulated, that every subsequent king and queen shall take an oath inviolably to maintain the same within England, Ireland, Wales, and the town of Berwick upon Tweed. And it is enacted, that these two Acts "shall for ever be observed as fundamental and essential conditions of the union." Upon these articles and Act of Union, it is to be observed, 1. That the two kingdoms are so inseparably united, that nothing can ever disunite them; except the mutual consent of both, or the successful resistance of either, upon apprehending an infringement of those points which, when they were separate and independent nations, it was mutually stipulated should be "fundamental and essential conditions of the union." 2. That whatever else may be deemed "fundamental and essential conditions," the preservation of the two churches, of England and Scotland, in the same state that they were in at the time of the Union, and the maintenance of the Acts of Uniformity which established the liturgy, are expressly declared so to be. 3. That therefore any alteration in the constitution of either of these churches, or in the liturgy of the Church of England (unless with the consent of the respective churches, collectively or representatively given), would be an infringement of these "fundamental and essential conditions," and greatly endanger the union. 4. That the municipal laws of Scotland are ordained to be still observed in that part of the island, unless altered by Parliament; and as the Parliament has not yet thought fit, except in a few particulars, to alter them, they are to remain in full force as before the Union, except in those aforesaid particulars.

Union of England and Ireland.-The legislative Union of Great Britain and Ireland was alluded to by George III. in his speech at the opening of Parliament, Jan.

22, 1800. A bill (39 & 40 Geo. III. c. 47), embodying articles of union, was introduced by Pitt, and received the royal assent July 2, 1800. The statute (40 Geo. III. c. 38) passed the Irish Parliament June 13, 1800, and the Union took effect from Jan. 1, 1801. The purport of the eight articles is as follows:

I. Ireland and Great Britain to be united by the name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. II. The succession to the United Kingdom to be the same as it stood before the Union.

III. The United Kingdom to be represented in one Parliament.

IV. Four lords spiritual of Ireland by rotation of sessions,

An

and twenty-eight lords temporal of Ireland, elected
for life by the peers of Ireland, to sit in the House of
Lords. One hundred commoners to sit and vote in
the House of Commons on the part of Ireland.
Irish peer not elected for the House of Lords can
serve in the Commons, but not for an Irish con-
stituency. No creation of an Irish peerage to take
place till three Irish peerages be extinct, until their
number is reduced to one hundred.

V. The Churches of England and Ireland to be united
into one Protestant Episcopal Church, and the doc-
trine, worship, discipline, and government to be the
same as established in England. The preservation of
the united church to be a fundamental part of the
Union.

VI. The subjects of Great Britain and Ireland to have the same rights and privileges in trade and navigation, and also in treaties with foreign powers.

VII. The interest of the national debt of each country is to

be defrayed by each separately.

VIII. All laws and courts of each kingdom are to remain as

before the Union, subject, however, to alterations by

the united Parliament.

The Union of England and Wales.-The finishing stroke to the independence of Wales, which had been almost abolished by the conquest of that principality by Edward I., was given by the statute 27 Hen. VIII. c. 26, which enacted:I. That the dominion of Wales shall be for ever united to

the kingdom of England.

II. That all Welshmen born shall have the same liberties as other the king's subjects.

III. That lands in Wales shall be inheritable according to the English tenures and rules of descent.

IV. That the laws of England, and none other, shall be used in Wales, besides many other regulations of the police

of this principality.

And the statute 34 & 35 Hen. VIII. c. 26, confirms the above, adding further regulations, and dividing Wales into twelve shires. After this act Wales still had courts within itself, independent of the process of Westminster Hall; till the statute 11 Geo. IV. & 1 Will. IV. c. 70, abolished those courts, and rendered the administration of justice in the principality uniform with that of England. By 8 & 9 Vict. c. 11, the manner of assigning sheriffs in Wales is regulated by and assimilated to that of England. The 26 & 27 Vict. c. 82, empowers the bishops of Welsh dioceses to facilitate the making provision for English services in certain parishes in Wales.

University Courts.-The Chancellor's Courts in the two Universities enjoy the sole jurisdiction, in exclusion of the Queen's Courts, over all actions and suits whatsoever, excepting where a right of freehold is concerned, and of all injuries and trespasses against the peace, mayhem and felony excepted, when a scholar or privileged person is one of the parties. By the University charter they are at liberty to try and determine these suits, either according to the common law of the land,