Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol I).djvu/232

216 Clearly therefore thee princes were ucceively in poeion of the crown by a title different from the uual coure of decent. was towards the end of king William’s reign, when all hopes of any urviving iue from any of thee princes died with the duke of Gloceter, that the king and parliament thought it neceary again to exert their power of limiting and appointing the ucceion, in order to prevent another vacancy of the throne; which mut have enued upon their deaths, as no farther proviion was made at the revolution, than for the iue of king William, queen Mary, and queen Anne. The parliament had previouly by the tatute of 1 W. & M. t. 2. c. 2. enacted, that every peron who hould be reconciled to, or hold communion with, the ee of Rome, hould profes the popih religion, or hould marry a papit, hould be excluded and for ever incapable to inherit, poes, or enjoy, the crown; and that in uch cae the people hould be abolved from their allegiance, and the crown hould decend to uch perons, being protetants, as would have inherited the ame, in cae the peron o reconciled, holding communion, profeing, or marrying, were naturally dead. To act therefore conitently with themelves, and at the ame time pay as much regard to the old hereditary line as their former reolutions would admit, they turned their eyes on the princes Sophia, electres and duches dowager of Hanover, the mot accomplihed princes of her age. For, upon the impending extinction of the protetant poterity of Charles the firt, the old law of regal decent directed them to recur to the decendants of James the firt; and the princes Sophia, being the younget daughter of Elizabeth queen of Bohemia, who was the daughter of James the firt, was the nearet of the antient blood royal, who was not incapacitated by proeing the popih religion. On her therefore, and the heirs of her body, being protetants, the remainder of the crown,