ABSTRACT
WHEREAS various acts of parliament have been passed, imposing on his Majesty’s subjects professing the popish or Roman catholick religion, many restraints and disabilities, to which other subjects of this realm are not liable; and from the peaceable and loyal demeanor of his Majesty’s popish, or Roman Catholick subjects, it is fit that such restraints and disabilities shall be discontinued: Be it therefore enacted by the King’s most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That his Majesty’s subjects being papists, or persons professing the popish or Roman catholick religion, or married to papists, or persons professing the popish or Roman catholick religion, or educating any of their children in that religion, shall not be liable or subject to any penalties, forfeitures, disabilities, or incapacities, or to any laws for the limitation, charging, or discovering of their estates and property, real or personal, or touching the acquiring of property, or securities affecting property, save such as his Majesty’s subjects of the protestant religion are liable and subject to; and that such parts of all oaths as are required to be taken by persons in order to qualify themselves for voting at elections of members to serve in parliament; and also such parts of all oaths required to be taken by persons voting at elections for members to serve in parliament, as import to deny that the person taking the same is a papist or married to a papist, or educates his children in the popish religion, shall not hereafter be required to be taken by any voter, but shall be omitted by the person administering the same; and that it shall not be necessary, in order to entitle a papist, or person professing the popish or Roman 138catholick religion to vote at an election of members to serve in parliament, that he should at, or previous to his voting, take the oaths of allegiance and abjuration, any statute now in force to the contrary of any of the said matters in any wise notwithstanding. /
Provided always, and be it further enacted, That all papists, or persons professing the popish, or Roman catholick religion, who may claim to have a right of voting for members to serve in parliament, or of voting for magistrates in any city, town-corporate, or borough, within this kingdom, be hereby required to perform all qualifications, registries, and other requisites, which are now required of his Majesty’s protestant subjects, in like cases, by any law or laws now of force in this kingdom, save and except such oaths and parts of oaths as are herein before excepted.
And provided always, That nothing herein before contained shall extend, or be construed to extend to repeal, or alter any law or act of parliament now in force, by which certain qualifications are required to be performed by persons enjoying any offices or places of trust under his Majesty, his heirs and successors, other than as herein after is enacted.
Provided also, That nothing herein contained, shall extend, or be construed to extend, to give papists, or persons professing the popish religion, a right to vote at any parish vestry, for levying of money to rebuild or repair any parish church, or respecting the demising or disposal of the income of any estate belonging to any church or parish, or for the salary of the parish clerk, or at the election of any church warden.
Provided always, That nothing contained in this act, shall extend to, or be construed to affect any action, or suit now depending, which shall have been brought or instituted previous to the commencement of this session of parliament.
Provided also, That nothing herein contained, shall extend to authorize any papist, or person professing the popish or Roman catholick religion, to have or keep in his hands or possession, any arms, armour, ammunition, or any warlike stores, sword-blades, barrels, locks, or stocks of guns, or fire arms, or to exempt such person from any forfeiture, or penalty inflicted by any act respecting arms, armour, or ammunition, in the hands or possession of any papist, or respecting papists having or keeping such warlike stores, save and except papists, or persons of the popish or Roman catholick religion, seized of a freehold estate of one hundred pounds a year, or possessed of a personal estate of one thousand pounds or upwards, who are hereby authorized to keep arms and ammunition as protestants now by law may; and / also save and except papists or Roman catholicks, possessing a freehold estate of ten pounds yearly value, and less than one hundred pounds, or a personal estate of three hundred, and less than one thousand pounds, who shall have at the session of the peace in the county in which they reside, taken the oath of allegiance prescribed to be taken by an act passed in the 139thirteenth and fourteenth years of his present Majesty’s reign, entitled, An act to enable his Majesty’s subjects, of whatever persuasion, to testify their allegiance to him; and also in open court, swear and subscribe an affidavit, that they are possessed of a freehold estate, yielding a clear yearly profit to the person making the same of ten pounds, or a personal property of three hundred pounds above his just debts, specifying therein the name and nature of such freehold, and nature of such personal property, which affidavits shall be carefully preserved by the clerk of the peace, who shall have for his trouble a fee of six pence, and no more, for every such affidavit; and the person making such affidavits, and possessing such property, may keep and use arms and ammunition as protestants may, so long as they shall respectively possess a property of the annual value of ten pounds, and upwards, if freehold, or the value of three hundred pounds, if personal, any statute to the contrary notwithstanding.
And be it enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for papists, or persons professing the popish or Roman catholick religion, to hold, exercise, and enjoy all civil and military offices, or places of trust or profit under his Majesty, his heirs, and successors, in this kingdom; and to hold or take degrees, or any professorship in, or be masters, or fellows of any college, to be hereafter founded in this kingdom, provided that such college shall be a member of the university of Dublin, and shall not be founded exclusively for the education of papists, or persons professing the popish or Roman catholick religion, nor consist exclusively of masters, fellows, or other persons to be named or elected on the foundation of such college, being persons professing the popish or Roman catholick religion, or to hold any office or place of trust, in, and to be a member of any lay-body corporate, except the college of the holy and undivided Trinity of queen Elizabeth, near Dublin,1 without taking and subscribing the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, or abjuration, or making or subscribing the declaration required to be taken, made, and subscribed, / to enable any person to hold and enjoy any of such places, and without receiving the sacrament of the Lord’s supper, according to the rights and ceremonies of the church of Ireland, any law, statute, or bye-law of any corporation to the contrary notwithstanding; provided that every such person shall take and subscribe the oath appointed by the said act passed in the thirteenth and fourteenth years of his Majesty’s reign, entitled, An act to enable his Majesty’s subjects of whatever persuasion, to testify their allegiance to him; and also the oath and declaration following, that is to say,
A.B. do hereby declare, that I do profess the Roman catholick religion. I A.B. do swear, that I do abjure, condemn, and detest, as unchristian and impious, the principle that it is lawful to murder, destroy, or any ways injure any person whatsoever, for, or under the pretence of being an heretick; and I do declare solemnly before God, that I believe, that no act in itself unjust, immoral, or wicked, can ever be justified or excused by, or under pretence, or colour, that it was done either for 140the good of the church, or in obedience to any ecclesiastical power whatsoever. I also declare, that it is not an article of the catholick faith, neither am I thereby required to believe or profess that the pope is infallible, or that I am bound to obey any order in its own nature immoral, though the pope or any ecclesiastical power should issue or direct such order, but on the contrary, I hold, that it would be sinful in me to pay any respect or obedience thereto; I further declare, that I do not believe that any sin whatsoever, committed by me, can be forgiven at the mere will of any pope, or of any priest, or of any person or persons whatsoever; but that sincere sorrow for past sins, a firm and sincere resolution to avoid future guilt, and to atone to God, are previous and indispensable requisites to establish a well-founded expectation of forgiveness; and that any person who receives absolution without these previous requisites, so far from obtaining thereby any remission of his sins, incurs the additional guilt of violating a sacrament; and I do swear that I will defend to the utmost of my power, the settlement and arrangement of property in this country as established by the laws now in being; I do hereby disclaim, disavow, and solemnly abjure any intention to subvert the present church establishment, for the purpose of substituting a catholick establishment in its stead; and I do solemnly swear, that I will not exercise any privilege to which I am or may become entitled, to disturb and weaken / the protestant religion and protestant government in this kingdom.
So help me God.
And be it enacted, That papists, or persons professing the popish or Roman catholick religion, may be capable of being elected professors of medicine, upon the foundation of sir Patrick Dunn, any law or statute to the contrary notwithstanding.
Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing herein contained shall extend, or be construed to extend to enable any person to sit or vote in either house of parliament, or to hold, exercise, or enjoy the office of lord lieutenant, lord deputy, or other chief governor or governors of this kingdom, lord high chancellor or keeper, or commissioner of the great seal of this kingdom, lord high treasurer, chancellor of the exchequer, chief justice of the court of king’s-bench, or common pleas, lord chief baron of the court of exchequer, justice of the court of king’s-bench or commonpleas, or baron of the court of exchequer, judge of the high court of admiralty, master or keeper of the rolls, secretary of state, keeper of the privy seal, vice-treasurer, or deputy vice-treasurer, teller and cashier of the exchequer, or auditor-general, lieutenant or governor, or custos rotulorum of counties, secretary to the lord lieutenant, lord deputy, or other chief governor or governors of this kingdom, member of his Majesty’s most honourable privy council, prime serjeant, attorney-general, solicitor-general, second and third serjeants at law, or king’s council, masters in chancery, provost, or fellow of the college of the holy and undivided Trinity of queen Elizabeth, near Dublin; postmaster-general, master and lieutenant-general of his Majesty’s 141ordnance, commander in chief of his Majesty’s forces, generals on the staff, and sheriffs, and sub-sheriffs of any county in this kingdom; or any office contrary to the rules, orders and directions made and established by the lord lieutenant and council, in pursuance of the act passed in the seventeenth and eighteenth years of the reign of king Charles the second, entitled, An act for the explaining of some doubts arising upon an act, entitled, An act for the better execution of his Majesty’s gracious declaration for the settlement of his kingdom of Ireland, and satisfaction of the several interests of adventurers, soldiers, and other / his subjects there, and for making some alterations of, and additions unto the said act, for the more speedy and effectual settlement of this kingdom, unless he shall have taken, made, and subscribed the oaths and declaration, and performed the several requisites which by any law heretofore made, and now of force, are required to enable any person to sit or vote, or to hold, exercise, and enjoy the said offices respectively.
Provided also, and be it enacted, That nothing in this act contained, shall enable any papist, or person professing the popish or Roman catholick religion, to exercise any right of presentation to any ecclesiastical benefice whatsoever.
And be it enacted, That no papist or person professing the popish, or Roman catholick religion, shall be liable to, or subject to any penalty for not attending divine service on the sabbath day, called Sunday, in his or her parish church.
Provided also, and be it enacted, That nothing herein contained, shall be construed to extend to authorize any popish priest, or reputed popish priest, to celebrate marriage between protestant and protestant, or between any person who hath been, or professed himself or herself to be a protestant at any time within twelve months before such celebration of marriage, and a papist, unless such protestant and papist shall have been first married by a clergyman of the protestant religion; and that every popish priest, or reputed popish priest, who shall celebrate any marriage between two protestants, or between any such protestant and papist, unless such protestant and papist shall have been first married by a clergyman of the protestant religion, shall forfeit the sum of five hundred pounds to his Majesty, upon conviction thereof.
And whereas it may be expedient, in case his Majesty, his heirs and successors, shall be pleased so to alter the statutes of the college of the holy and undivided Trinity near Dublin, and of the university of Dublin, as to enable persons professing the Roman catholick religion to enter into, or to take degrees in the said university, to remove any obstacle which now exists by statute law; be it enacted, That from and after the first day of June, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three, it shall not be necessary for any person upon taking any of the degrees usually conferred by / the said university, to make or subscribe any declaration, or to take any oath, save the oaths of allegiance and abjuration, any law or statute to the contrary notwithstanding.
142Provided always, That no papist or Roman catholick, or person professing the Roman catholick or popish religion, shall take any benefit by, or under this act, unless he shall have first taken and subscribed the oath and declaration in this act contained and set forth, and also the said oath appointed by the said act passed in the thirteenth and fourteenth years of his Majesty’s reign, entitled, An act to enable his Majesty’s subjects of whatever persuasion to testify their allegiance to him, in some one of his Majesty’s four courts in Dublin, or at the general sessions of the peace, or at any adjournment thereof to be holden for the county, city, or borough wherein such papist or Roman catholick, or person professing the Roman catholick or popish religion, doth inhabit or dwell, or before the going judge or judges of assize, in the county wherein such papist or Roman catholick, or person professing the Roman catholick or popish religion, doth inhabit and dwell, in open court.
Provided always, and be it enacted, That the names of such persons as shall so take and subscribe the said oaths and declaration, with their titles and additions, shall be entered upon the rolls, for that purpose to be appointed by said respective courts; and that the said rolls once in every year shall be transmitted to, and deposited in the rolls office in this kingdom, to remain amongst the records thereof; and the masters or keepers of the rolls in this kingdom, or their lawful deputy or deputies, are hereby empowered and required to give and deliver to such person or persons so taking and subscribing the said oaths and declaration, a certificate or certificates of such person or persons having taken and subscribed the said oaths and declaration, for each of which certificates the sum of one shilling and no more shall be paid.
And be it further provided and enacted, That from and after the first day of April, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three, no freeholder, burgess, freeman, or inhabitant of this kingdom, being a papist or Roman catholick, or person professing the Roman catholick or popish religion, shall at any time be capable of giving his vote for the electing of any knight or knights of any shire or county within / this kingdom, or citizen or burgess to serve in any parliament, until he shall have first produced and shewn to the high sheriff of the said county, or his deputy or deputies, at any election of a knight or knights of the said shire, and to the respective chief officer or officers of any city, borough, or town-corporate, to whom the return of any citizen or burgess to serve in parliament doth or shall respectively belong, at the election of any citizen or burgess to serve in parliament, such certificate of his having taken and subscribed the said oaths and declaration, either from the rolls-office, or from the proper officer of the court in which the said oaths and declaration shall be taken and subscribed; and such person being a freeholder, freeman, burgess or inhabitant so producing and shewing such certificate, shall be then permitted to vote as amply and fully as any protestant freeholder, freeman, burgess, or inhabitant of such county, city, borough, or town-corporate, but not otherwise.
