Its preamble sets forth, "That the legal supputation of the year in England, which begins on the twenty-fifth of March, hath been attended with divers inconveniences," (strange that this was not rectified long ago!) "as it differs from other nations, and the legal method of computation in Scotland, and the common usage throughout the whole kingdom; and that thereby frequent mistakes in the dates of deeds and other writings are occasioned, and disputes arise therefrom and that the Julian Calendar, now in use throughout the British dominions, hath been discovered to be erroneous, by means whereof, the vernal equinox, which at the time of the Council of Nice, in the year 325, happened on or about the twenty-first of March, now happens on the ninth or tenth of the same month: and the error still increasing, and, if not remedied, would, in time, occasion the several equinoxes and solstices to fall at very different times in the civil year from what they formerly did, which might tend to mislead persons ignorant of such alteration. And as a method of correcting the calendar, so as that the equinoxes and solstices may for the future fall on the same nominal days on which they happened at the time of the said General Council, hath been established, and is now generally practised by almost all other nations of Europe: and, as it will be of general convenience to merchants, and other persons corresponding with other nations and countries and will tend to prevent mistakes and disputes concerning the dates of letters and accounts, if the like correction be received and established in his Majesty's dominions."