Word.ws English Dictionary

Henry VIII clause

Henry VIII clause noun: a provision in a bill before Parliament, that if enacted as an Act, would enable the Government to amend (including repeal) the Act or other primary legislation by secondary legislation.

Noun

Henry VIII clause (plural Henry VIII clauses)

  1. (Australia, India, New Zealand, UK) A provision in a bill before Parliament, that if enacted as an Act, would enable the Government to amend (including repeal) the Act or other primary legislation by secondary legislation.

Forms of Henry VIII clause

pluralHenry VIII clauses

Origin of Henry VIII clause

Named after English king Henry VIII, who passed the Statute of Proclamations in 1539 that empowered him to legislate by proclamation.

Questions about Henry VIII clause

What does Henry VIII clause mean?
Henry VIII clause means a provision in a bill before Parliament, that if enacted as an Act, would enable the Government to amend (including repeal) the Act or other primary legislation by secondary legislation.
What part of speech is Henry VIII clause?
Henry VIII clause is a noun.
What is the plural of Henry VIII clause?
The plural of Henry VIII clause is Henry VIII clauses.

Words near Henry VIII clause in the dictionary

  1. henroost
  2. henroosts
  3. henry
  4. Henry Clay
  5. Henry County
  6. Henry VIII clause
  7. Henry VIII clauses
  8. Henry's law
  9. Henry's law constant
  10. Henry's law constants
  11. Henry's pocket

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Henry VIII clause (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “Henry VIII clause.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/henry_viii_clause. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.