If there had not been the Act of Settlement in 1701 who were more genealogicaly senior to George of Hanover to suceed to the British throne? I believe about 50 people were dispaced by the Act of Settlement - does anyone have a full list of those dusplaced because of their religion?
Prior to the Act of Settlement, there was no statutory rule of succession to the English/British throne. There is no doubt that King James II/VII and his infant son James were displaced because of their religion, but even if religion had never been an issue, there would probably have been debate over who ought to succeed to the throne if James II and his son both died without having any further legitimate male issue.
During the Anglo-Saxon period there was no normative rule on succession, which was instead claimed on a range of bases, including inheritance, but also nomination by the previous monarch, conquest or election. In practice, the King tended to be the person who could secure the Crown, not a person who was emplaced according to an abstract principle.
The Normans continued broadly similar practice, with the early Kings nominating their successors from their own children or their nephews (generally women were not nominated, although this too was not an absolute rule). In this, the Kings did not respect primogeniture. William I, for instance, bequeathed the Crown to his second son, also called William, who was succeeded by his younger brother, Henry, despite an agreement to pass the Crown to his older brother, Robert. The situation remained complex, if viewed in terms of age, with just one extended period of primogeniture covering four successions (from Henry III to Edward III), until it finally collapsed into the War of the Roses. Even after this period, there was still a tendency to choose a successor rather than to follow a principle, with the authority to do so gradually moving from the reigning monarch to Parliament.
These periods of English history could be characterised as having a political monarchy in which succession took account of heredity in the male line, but was primarily determined by the realities of power. The deviation from this approach, under which male preference primogeniture became the controlling principle, happened when Parliament decided to entrench the succession in statute, as mentioned above, by conferring it on the heirs to the body of Princess Sophia:
Is your real question perhaps "If the Act of Settlement in 1701 had not included a clause banning non-Protestants from the throne, which 50 or so people would have been senior to George of Hanover in the line of succession in 1714?"
