Western Australian Current Acts Western Australian Current Acts[s. 6]
An Act to change the law relating to royal succession and royal marriages, and
for related purposes
Preamble
On 28 October 2011, representatives of nations of which Her Majesty is the
Sovereign agreed that the rules on succession to, and possession of, the Crown
should be changed so as to make succession not depend on gender and to end the
disqualification arising from marrying a Roman Catholic.
The United Kingdom has further proposed to disqualify certain persons from
succeeding to the Crown as a result of marriage, to repeal the Royal Marriages
Act 1772 and to validate certain marriages made void by that Act.
For the purposes of paragraph 51(xxxviii) of the Constitution the Parliaments
of all the States have requested the Parliament of the Commonwealth of
Australia to enact an Act in the terms, or substantially in the terms, of this
Act.
The Parliament of Australia therefore enacts:
Part 1 — Preliminary
1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the Succession to the
Crown Act 2015 .
2 Commencement
(1) Each provision of
this Act specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have
commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in
column 2 has effect according to its terms.
|
Commencement information | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Column 1 |
Column 2 |
Column 3 |
|
Provision(s) |
Commencement |
Date/Details |
|
1. Sections 1 and 2 and anything in this Act not
elsewhere covered by this table |
The day this Act receives the Royal Assent. | |
|
2. Sections 3, |
The day this Act receives the Royal Assent. | |
|
3. Parts 2, 3 |
A time and day, or times and days, to be fixed by Proclamation. | |
|
4. Part 5 |
The day this Act receives the Royal Assent. | |
|
5. Schedule 1 |
A time and day, or times and days, to be fixed by Proclamation. | |
Note
This table relates only to the provisions of this
Act as originally enacted. It will not be amended to deal with any later
amendments of this Act.
(2) Any information in
column 3 of the table is not part of this Act. Information may be inserted in
this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of
this Act.
3 Object of this Act
The main object of
this Act is to change the law relating to the effect of gender and marriage on
royal succession consistently with changes made to that law in the United
Kingdom, so that the Sovereign of Australia is the same person as the
Sovereign of the United Kingdom.
4 Relationship with
Sovereign not affected
This Act is not
intended to affect the relationship between the Sovereign and the
Commonwealth, the States and the Territories as existing immediately before
its enactment.
5 Definition of Crown
In this Act:
Crown means the Crown
in all of its capacities.
Part 2 — Succession to the Crown not to depend on gender
6 Succession to the
Crown not to depend on gender
In determining the
succession to the Crown, the gender of a person born after 28 October 2011 (by
United Kingdom time) does not give that person, or that person’s
descendants, precedence over any other person (whenever born).
Part 3 — Marriage and succession to the Crown
7 Removal of
disqualification arising from marriage to a Roman Catholic
(1) A person is not
disqualified from succeeding to the Crown or from possessing it as a result of
marrying a person of the Roman Catholic faith.
(2) Subsection (1)
applies in relation to marriages occurring before the commencement of this
section if the person concerned is alive at that commencement (as well as in
relation to marriages occurring after that commencement).
8 Disqualification
arising from marriage
A person is
disqualified from succeeding to the Crown if the person is disqualified by
subsection 3(3) of the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 of the United Kingdom,
as in force at the commencement of this section, from succeeding to the Crown
in right of the United Kingdom.
9 Amendments and
repeal relating to marriage and succession to the Crown
Each Act of England or
Great Britain that is specified in Schedule 1, so far as that Act is part of
the law of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory, is amended or repealed as
set out in the applicable items in Schedule 1, and any other item in Schedule
1 has effect according to its terms.
Part 4 — Other modifications of parts of the law of the Commonwealth,
States and Territories
10 References to Bill
of Rights and Act of Settlement
References, however
expressed, in any law that forms part of the law of the Commonwealth or a
Territory, to the provisions of the Bill of Rights or the Act of Settlement
relating to succession to, or possession of, the Crown are to be read as
including references to the provisions of this Act.
11 Union legislation
affected by this Act
So far as they are
part of the law of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory, the following are
subject to this Act:
(a)
Article II of the Union with Scotland Act 1706 of England;
(b)
Article II of the Union with England Act 1707 of Scotland;
(c)
Article Second of the Union with Ireland Act 1800 of Great Britain;
(d)
Article Second of the Act of Union (Ireland) 1800 of Ireland.
Part 5 — Repeal or amendment of this Act
12 Repeal or amendment
of this Act
This Act may be
expressly or impliedly repealed or amended only by an Act passed at the
request or with the concurrence of the Parliaments of all the States.
Schedule 1 — Further provisions relating to marriage and succession to
the Crown
Part 1 — Amendments relating to marriage to a Roman Catholic
Act of Settlement
1 Preamble
Omit “or marry a papist”.
2 Preamble
Omit “or marrying”.
Omit “or shall marry a papist”.
Bill of Rights
Omit “or by any King or Queene marrying a
papist”.
Omit “or shall marry a papist”.
Omit “or marrying”.
7 Application of
amendments
The amendments made by
this Part apply in relation to marriages occurring before the commencement of
this Part where the person concerned is alive at that commencement (as well as
in relation to marriages occurring after that commencement).
Part 2 — Repeal of the Royal Marriages Act 1772
8 The whole of the Act
Repeal the Act.
9 Validation of some
marriages voided by the Royal Marriages Act 1772
(1) A marriage that
was void under the Royal Marriages Act 1772 of Great Britain, so far as that
Act was part of the law of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory, is to be
treated as never having been void if:
(a)
neither party to the marriage was one of the 6 persons next in the line of
succession to the Crown at the time of the marriage; and
(b) no
consent was sought under section 1 of that Act, or notice given under section
2 of that Act, in respect of the marriage; and
(c) in
all the circumstances it was reasonable for the person concerned not to have
been aware at the time of the marriage that the Act applied to it; and
(d) no
person acted, before the commencement of this item, on the basis that the
marriage was void.
(2) Subitem (1)
applies for all purposes except those relating to succession to the Crown.
