It required a tribunal of at least 24 peers and privy councillors to investigate "any open invasion or rebellion" in England, any attempt to injure Queen Elizabeth I, or any attempt by a pretender to seize the throne.

Any person found to be guilty was to be disabled from inheriting the throne, and was to be "pursued to death by all the Queen's subjects."

Also any act "whereby the Queen's life shall be shortened" was made a capital offence.

The act developed to include the Bond of Association, which was mindful of threats to Elizabeth posed by Mary, Queen of Scots.

[4] James was occasionally troubled by incidents including the Valentine Thomas affair, which could have implicated him in plots against Elizabeth, and hindered his accession to the English throne.