Dublin Core
Title
Bigoted Bedrock of Our Law
Subject
Act of Settlement (1701), Anne Boleyn (c.1500-1536), anti-Catholicism, Australian constitution, British throne, Charles III (b.1948), Commonwealth, constitution, constitutional law, David Cameron (b.1966), Elizabeth II (b.1926), feudal principle, inheritance, Kate Middleton (b.1982), law, laws, legal, monarch, monarchy, primogeniture, protestantism, republican campaign, republicanism, royal tradition, Saxe-Coburg Gotha, succession, Thomas Paine (1737-1809), throne, Tony Blair (b.1953), treason, Treason Act (1351), William V (b.1982), Windsor
Description
Amidst media fervour over the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton (Princess Catherine), Geoffrey Robertson raises the Australian republican question in this opinion piece. Beginning with reference to Thomas Paine’s denunciation of hereditary monarchy and the religious bias of the 1701 Act of Settlement which prevents non-Protestant heirs from succeeding to the British throne, Robertson suggests that Australia’s enduring penchant for royal tradition is what keeps it part of the commonwealth. He goes on to cite examples of what he refers to as ‘medieval nonsense’ that ‘still applies in Australia’, including the feudal principle of primogeniture, the 1351 Treason Act and obsolete but unrepealed laws such as one that vests the ownership of wild swans with the monarch.
Creator
Robertson, Geoffrey QC
Source
The Age
Publisher
The Age
Date
29 April 2011
Rights
The Age
Format
Online Newspaper Article
Language
English