Cromwell's Act of Grace

[citation needed] The Act had its origins in the English written constitution of December 1653, called the Instrument of Government.

Between December 1653 and the calling of the First Protectorate Parliament that sat for the first time in September 1654, the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell and his Council of State were granted under the Instrument of Government the power "to make laws and ordinances for the peace and welfare of these nations where it shall be necessary" and on 12 April 1654 the regime passed a number of ordinances pertaining to the government of Scotland:[3] The content of the Act of Grace contained:[4] The first and second paragraphs drew a line under Wars of the Three Kingdoms.

Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, and the Dominions of those nations, ordained that on 1 May 1654, with the exceptions laid out in paragraphs that followed "in this Ordinance", that the People of Scotland were pardoned for any crimes they might have committed during the preceding wars and that there would be no further financial or other punishments.

Also, almost as a post script to the paragraph, a twenty-fifth man, James, 1st Lord Mordington, had his estates of "Maudlain Field, Sunck, Cony-garth, Constables-Batt, Two Watermills, and a Wind-mill lying within Barwick bounds."

[4] The final paragraph negated any reading of the ordinance that might be construed to reduce the revenues that formerly went to the Crown and should now go to the Lord Protector.

[9][10] The following list of prominent opponents of the Commonwealth were exempted from the general pardon and had their estates forfeited:[11] The following people were fined:[12]