Test Act

 

1673, English statute that excluded from public office (both military and civil) all those who refused to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, who refused to receive the communion according to the rites of the Church of England, or who refused to renounce belief in the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation. Although directed primarily against Roman Catholics, it also excluded Protestant nonconformists. In 1678 it was extended to members of Parliament. The law was modified by the Act of Toleration of 1689, which enabled most non-Catholics to qualify. However, some Protestants did not conform and were disqualified from office until the repeal of the act at the time of Catholic Emancipation. See Penal Laws.

The Test Acts were a series of English penal laws that served as a religious test for public office and imposed various civil disabilities on Roman Catholics and Nonconformists. The principle that none but persons professing the Established Church were eligible for public employment and the severe penalties pronounced against recusants, whether Roman Catholic or Nonconformist, were affirmations of this principle.

The Act of James I provided that all such as were naturalized or restored in blood should receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. It was not, however, until the reign of Charles II that actually receiving of the communion of the Church of England was made a precondition for holding public office. The earliest imposition of this test was by the Corporation Act of 1661 requiring that, besides taking the Oath of Supremacy, all members of corporations were within one year after election to receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper according to the rites of the Church of England.

1673 Act

This act was followed by the Test Act of 1672 (25 Car. II. c. 2) (the long title of which is "An act for preventing dangers which may happen from popish recusants" ^[1]). This act enforced upon all persons filling any office, civil or military, the obligation of taking the oaths of supremacy and allegiance and subscribing to a declaration against transubstantiation and also of receiving the sacrament within three months after admittance to office. The oath for the Test Act of 1672 was:

"I, N, do declare that I do believe that there is not any transubstantion in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, or in the elements of the bread and wine, at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsovever."

1678 Act

The act did not extend to peers; but in 1678 the act was extended by a further act (30 Car. II. st. 2 ^[2]) which required that all peers and members of the House of Commons should make a declaration against transubstantiation, invocation of saints, and the sacrifice of the mass ^[3]:

"I, N, do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of God profess, testify, and declare, that I do believe that in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper there is not any Transubstantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever: and that the invocation or adoration of the Virgin Mary or any other Saint, and the Sacrifice of the Mass, as they are now used in the Church of Rome, are superstitious and idolatrous…"

Repeal

The necessity of receiving the sacrament as a qualification for office was abolished by George IV and all acts requiring the taking of oaths and declarations against transubstantiation etc. were repealed by the Catholic Relief Act 1829.

United States

Test Acts are banned in the United States by Article VI of the Constitution.

References

1. ^ 'Charles II, 1672: An Act for preventing Dangers which may happen from Popish Recusants.', Statutes of the Realm: volume 5: 1628-80 (1819), pp. 782-85. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=47451. Date accessed: 06 March 2007.
2. ^ 'Charles II, 1678: (Stat. 2.) An Act for the more effectuall preserving the Kings Person and Government by disableing Papists from sitting in either House of Parlyament.', Statutes of the Realm: volume 5: 1628-80 (1819), pp. 894-96. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=47482. Date accessed: 06 March 2007.
3. ^ 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica, Test Acts

External links

• Committees for the Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts: the minutes of two committees for the repeal of the Act. First published by the London Record Society, available as part of British History Online.

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