act of settlement
Act of Settlement. Hist. An act of Parliament (12 & 13 Will. 3, ch. 2 (1701)) that resolved the question of royal succession unsettled after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. • The question was resolved by limiting the Crown to Protestant members of the House of Hanover. The Act also provided that the sovereign must be a member of the Church of England, and it established that judges would hold office during good behavior rather than at the will of the sovereign.