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General Pardon Act 1716

Act of Parliament
Parliament of Great Britain
Long title	An act for the King's most gracious, general and free pardon.
Citation	3 Geo. 1. c. 19
Dates
Royal assent	15 July 1717
Repealed	15 July 1867
Other legislation
Repealed by	Statute Law Revision Act 1867
Status: Repealed

English, Scottish, Irish and Great Britain legislation
Acts of parliaments of states preceding the United Kingdom
Of the Kingdom of EnglandRoyal statutes, etc. issued before the development of Parliament 1225–1267 1275–1307 1308–1325 Temp. incert. 1327–1376 1377–1397 1399–1411 1413–1421 1422–1460 1461 1462 1463 1464 1465 1466 1467 1468 1469 1470 1471 1472 1473 1474 1475 1476 1477 1478 1479 1480 1481 1482 1483 1484 1485 1486 1487 1488 1489 1490 1491 1492 1493 1494 1495 1496 1497 1498 1499 1500 1501 1502 1503 1504 1505 1506 1507 1508 1509 1510 1511 1512 1513 1514 1515 1516 1517 1518 1519 1520 1521 1522 1523 1524 1525 1526 1527 1528 1529 1530 1531 1532 1533 1534 1535 1536 1537 1538 1539 1540 1541 1542 1543 1544 1545 1546 1547 1548 1549 1550 1551 1552 1553 1554 1555 1556 1557 1558 1559 1560 1561 1562 1563 1564 1565 1566 1567 1568 1569 1570 1571 1572 1573 1574 1575 1576 1577 1578 1579 1580 1581 1582 1583 1584 1585 1586 1587 1588 1589 1590 1591 1592 1593 1594 1595 1596 1597 1598 1599 1600 1601 1602 1603 1604 1605 1606 1607 1608 1609 1610 1611 1612 1613 1604 1615 1616 1617 1618 1619 1620 1621 1622 1623 1624 1625 1626 1627 1628 1629 1640 Interregnum (1642–1660) 1660 1661 1662 1663 1664 1665 1666 1667 1668 1669 1670 1671 1672 1673 1674 1675 1676 1677 1678 1679 1680 1681 1682 1683 1684 1685 1686 1687 1688 1689 1690 1691 1692 1693 1694 1695 1696 1697 1698 1699 1700 1701 1702 1703 1704 1705 1706
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Law of the United Kingdom List of acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
v t e

The Indemnity Act 1717 (3 Geo. 1. c. 19, also referred to as the Act of Grace and Free Pardon, is an act of the Parliament of Great Britain.

The act was passed by both houses of parliament in July 1717, the last enactment of the session. It followed almost two years after the Jacobite rising of 1715, during and after which many Jacobites were taken prisoner. Those later convicted of treason were condemned to death, and some were executed, but by the Act most of the surviving Jacobite prisoners were freed and were permitted to settle either at home or overseas.

Hundreds of Jacobites were freed by the act. The more notable included the Earl of Carnwath, Lord Nairne, and Lord Widdrington, together with seventeen gentlemen awaiting execution in the Newgate and twenty-six in Carlisle Castle. Some two hundred men captured at the Battle of Preston were released at Chester, also all remaining prisoners held in the castles of Edinburgh and Stirling. The Act did not undo the effect of any attainders, and confiscated estates worth £48,000 a year in England and £30,000 a year in Scotland; the dispossessed owners were not restored of their property.

There were some specific exceptions to the general pardon granted by the act: Matthew Prior and Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford, had been held in the Tower of London before the Rising of 1715, and Oxford's friend Lord Harcourt and his cousin Thomas Harley. All members of the Clan MacGregor were also excluded from the Act's benefits, one of the targets of this last exclusion being the famous Rob Roy MacGregor. Philip Henry Stanhope noted in the 1840s that "a modern reader is shocked to find excepted 'all and every person of the name and clan of Macgregor'".

The passage of the act was marked by the issuing of a silver medal, also struck in bronze, engraved by John Croker, chief engraver to the Royal Mint. On the obverse is the head of King George I, on the reverse is the winged figure of Clemency, who is standing, but leaning by her left elbow on a short stone pillar, surrounded by the words "CLEMENTIA AVGVSTI". In her left hand is an olive branch, while in her outstretched right hand she holds a caduceus, with which she touches the head of a fleeing snake, representing Rebellion. This image recalls the story of the caduceus of Mercury.

Notes

1. ^ Philip Henry Stanhope, Henry Reed, History of England from the Peace of Utrecht to the Peace of Versailles (1849), p. 206
2. ^ Peter Hume Brown, A History of Scotland to the Present Time, p. 154
3. The Numismatic Circular, volumes 30–32 (1922), p. 467
4. Medal (reverse), commemorating the Act of Grace of 1717 at web site of National Museums of Scotland, accessed 17 December 2013
5. New Gallery, London, Exhibition of the Royal House of Stuart (London: Richard Clay and Sons, 1889), p. 207

v t e Jacobitism
Scottish clans Clan chief Independent Highland Companies The Highlands Union of the Crowns Wars of the Three Kingdoms Restoration Covenanters The Killing Time James II & VII Glorious Revolution William III & II and Mary II Jacobite succession "James III & VIII", The Old Pretender "Charles III", The Young Pretender Queen Anne Act of Settlement 1701 Sophie, Electress of Hanover George I George II Toryism Neo-Jacobite Revival (Royal Stuart Society) Jacobite consorts
Jacobite risings	First rising (1689) Williamite War in Ireland Nine Years' War King William's War Viscount Dundee Sir Ewen Cameron Patrick Sarsfield General Hugh Mackay Battle of Killiecrankie Battle of Dunkeld Massacre of Glencoe Battle of the Boyne Declaration of Finglas Battle of Aughrim Siege of Limerick Treaty of Limerick The Fifteen (1715) …in Cornwall …in England 1715 general election Earl of Mar Rob Roy Lord Lovat Baronet Munro Battle of Preston Siege of Inverness Battle of Sheriffmuir The Nineteen (1719) War of the Quadruple Alliance Earl Marischal Marquess of Tullibardine General Joseph Wightman Anglo-French Alliance Capture of Eilean Donan Castle Battle of Glen Shiel Battle of Coille Bhan The Forty-Five (1745) War of the Austrian Succession Lord George Murray Lochiel Duke of Cumberland Battle of Prestonpans Siege of Carlisle Battle of Falkirk Muir Siege of Inverness Battle of Culloden Raids on Lochaber and Shiramore Abortive 1708 1744 1759	a Jacobite banner
Consequences and later events	Early Riot Act 1714 Clan Act 1715 Habeas Corpus Suspension Act 1715 Disarming Act 1715 and 1725 Indemnity Act 1717 The Forty-Five Jurors Act 1745 Act of Proscription 1746 Dress Act 1746 Heritable Jurisdictions Act 1746 Sheriffs Act 1747 Treason Outlawries Act 1748 Traitors Transported Act 1746 Old military roads of Scotland
Jacobite succession	"James III and VIII" "Charles III" "Henry IX and I" "Charles IV" Victor "Mary II" "Francis I" "Mary III" "Robert I and IV" Albert "Francis II" Max Sophie Joseph

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