Following in Henry VIII's Footsteps?
Would a new Act in Restraint of Appeals such as Henry VIII enacted against Rome in 1533 achieve a similar objective for Eurosceptics today of ‘repatriating powers’ from the EU? asks Stephen Cooper.
In the early 1530s Henry VIII had a considerable legal problem. Only the pope could grant him a divorce, but Clement VII was unwilling to do so. The case coincided with a widespread feeling in England, at least among proto-Protestants, that too many cases were being decided in Europe, which ought properly to be decided at home. The result was Thomas Cromwell’s 1533 Act in Restraint of Appeals, prohibiting all appeals to Rome.
If one were to take a ‘Eurosceptic’ view of the European Union (EU) and of the separate European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) could a new Act in Restraint of Appeals achieve the objective of ‘repatriating powers’ from Europe?
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