History of the formation of the United Kingdom into civil disorder, most notably by the notorious "Edinburgh Mob". The prospect of a union of the kingdoms was deeply unpopular among the Scottish population at large; however, following the financially disastrous Darien Scheme, the near-bankrupt Parliament of Scotland did accept the proposals. In 1707, the Acts of Union received their Royal assent, thereby abolishing the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland and their respective parliaments to create a unified Kingdom of Great Britain with a single Parliament of Great Britain. Anne formally became the first occupant of the unified British throne, and Scotland sent 45 MPs to
Acts of Union 1707 justices of the peace in each shire to carry out administration. In effect it took the day-to-day government of Scotland out of the hands of politicians and into those of the College of Justice. In the year following the Union, the Treason Act 1708 abolished the Scottish law of and extended the corresponding English law across Great Britain. Scotland benefited, says historian G.N. Clark, gaining "freedom of trade with England and the colonies" as well as "a great expansion of markets". The agreement guaranteed the permanent status of the Presbyterian church in Scotland, and the separate system of laws and