The King's Sole Right over the Militia Act 1661 or the Militia Act 1661 (13 Cha. 2 St. 1. c. 6) was an act of the Parliament of England, long title "An Act declaring the sole Right of the Militia to be in King and for the present ordering & disposing the same." Following the English Civil War, this act finally declared that the king alone, as head of the state, was in supreme command of the army and navy for the defence of the realm.
The short bill, described as a "temporary Bill for settling the Militia", was rushed through the Commons and Lords on 16 July 1661 after the failure earlier in the session of a more comprehensive bill. A revised version of the failed bill was passed the following year.[1]
'Charles II, 1661: An Act declaring the sole Right of the Militia to be in King and for the present ordering & disposing the same.', Statutes of the Realm: volume 5: 1628-80 (1819), pp. 308–09. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=47290. Date accessed: 5 March 2007.
