Act anent Peace and War 1703 Act anent Peace and War 1703 The Act anent Peace and War (Scots "anent" means "about" or "concerning") was an act of the Parliament of Scotland passed in 1703. The Act concerned foreign policy and the royal prerogative: it provided that following the death of Queen Anne without direct heirs, no future monarch of Scotland and England could take Scotland to war without the explicit consent of the parliament. It was a response to the English Act of Settlement which had made members of the House of Hanover heirs to the throne of England. The Scots, already unhappy with the
Constitution of the United Kingdom House of Lords; the monarch formally forms a third element of Parliament (see Queen-in-Parliament). The House of Commons, which unlike the House of Lords is democratically elected, has supremacy by virtue of the Parliament Act 1911 and Parliament Act 1949. An Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom is primary legislation and Parliament can (and does) alter the British constitution by passing such Acts. Under the British constitution, sweeping executive powers, known as the royal prerogative, are nominally vested in the monarch. In exercising these powers the monarch normally defers to the advice of the prime minister or other ministers.