Declaratory Act
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The Declaratory Act (short title 6 George III, c. 12), was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain in 1766, during America's colonial period; one of a series of resolutions passed attempting to regulate the behavior of the colonies. American rebels had organized a boycott in response to the Stamp Act which called into question the right of a distant power to tax them. The Declaratory Act asserted Britain's exclusive right to legislate on and tax its colonies. The taxes were mainly used to finance war debt which had been accumulated during a recent series of wars, part of which (known as the French and Indian War in America) were fought in the colonies.
Colonists responded by loosely interpretating this Act and believed that this Act did not give Britain the power to tax and the Act was just a face-saving measure by Britain after the repeal of the Stamp Act 1765.
This is one of the many British "Acts" that led to colonial unrest and eventually the American Revolution.