Instrument of Government of 1653

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The Instrument of Government of 1653 was England’s first written constitution, establishing Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector and outlining the framework of the Protectorate government following the English Civil War.

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Surface form Occurrences
InstrumentOfGovernmentOf1653 0

Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf constitutional document
legal instrument
written constitution
appliesToJurisdiction Commonwealth of England NERFINISHED
Protectorate
authorAttributedTo John Lambert NERFINISHED
country England
dateAdopted 1653-12-16
draftedBy army officers
establishedBody Council of State NERFINISHED
establishedLegislature Protectorate Parliament NERFINISHED
establishedOffice Lord Protector NERFINISHED
excludedGroupsFromToleration Roman Catholics NERFINISHED
some radical sects
executivePowerSharedWith Council of State NERFINISHED
executivePowerVestedIn Lord Protector NERFINISHED
firstHolderOfOffice Oliver Cromwell NERFINISHED
governmentForm Protectorate
headOfStateDefinedAs Lord Protector
historicalContext after the English Civil War
historicalPeriod Interregnum NERFINISHED
inForceUntil 1657
language English
legalStatus supreme law of the Protectorate
legislativeBody Parliament NERFINISHED
single-chamber Parliament
limitedPowerOf Lord Protector by requiring Council consent in some areas
Parliament in matters of religion and the army
maximumDurationOfParliamentSessionPerYear 5 months
notableFeature codified powers of the Lord Protector and Parliament
first written constitution of England
set fixed revenue for government and army
numberOfChambers 1
politicalSystem republic
predecessor Barebone's Parliament NERFINISHED
Rump Parliament NERFINISHED
religiousPolicy Protestant religious toleration (with exceptions)
maintenance of a state-supported ministry
replacedBy Humble Petition and Advice of 1657 NERFINISHED
requiredIntervalBetweenParliaments no more than 3 years
requiredNavySize a fleet of ships (fixed establishment)
requiredStandingArmySize 30,000 soldiers (approximate)
seeAlso English Interregnum NERFINISHED
Humble Petition and Advice NERFINISHED
Oliver Cromwell NERFINISHED
successor Humble Petition and Advice NERFINISHED
suffrage limited male suffrage
termLengthOfParliament 3 years
yearAdopted 1653

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

First Protectorate Parliament legalBasis Instrument of Government of 1653