act of supremacy
Act of Supremacy. Hist. A statute that named the English sovereign as supreme head of the Church of England (26 Hen. 8, ch. 1). • The Act was passed in 1534 during Henry VIII’s reign and confirmed in 1559 (1 Eliz., ch. 1) to counteract pro-Catholic legislation enacted during the reign of Mary Tudor. In addition to making the monarch both head of state and head of the church, the Act defined some of the monarch’s powers as head of the church, such as the power to issue injunctions relating to ecclesiastical affairs.