The Statute in Restraint of Appeals was an English parliamentary Act of 1533, considered by many historians to be the key legal foundation of the English Reformation.
The act, drafted by Thomas Cromwell on behalf of King Henry VIII of England, forbade all appeals to the Pope in Rome on religious or other matters, making the King the final legal authority in all such matters in England, Wales, and other English possessions. This far-reaching measure made accepting papal authority, or following papal rulings in church, faith or other matters illegal.
The act enabled Thomas Cranmer to finally grant King Henry his long-desired divorce from Queen Catherine of Aragon, so that he could marry Anne Boleyn.
Extract
- And if any person or persons, at any time after the said Feast of Easter, provoke or sue any manner of appeals, of what nature or condition soever they be of, to the said Bishop of Rome, or to the see of Rome, or do procure or execute any manner of process from the see of Rome, or by authority thereof, to the derogation or let of the due execution of this Act, or contrary to the same, that then every such person or persons so doing, their aiders, counsellors, and abettors, shall incur and run into the dangers, pains, and penalties contained and limited in the Act of Provision and Praemunire made in the sixteenth year of the king's most noble progenitor, King Richard II…
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