Barristers, &c. shall take the oaths of allegi. ance, &c.

Persons refusing to take the

oaths, shall incur all the penalties of popish recusants convict.

observe the same, or such as shall openly and advisedly deprave any of the rites and ceremonies to be used in such Church, or shall say or hear private Mass; and such persons shall be compelled to take the Oath upon the second tender thereof, and incur the penalty for not taking the same. s. 20.

If any person shall act as Serjeant at Law, Counsellor at Law, Barrister, Advocate, Attorney, Solicitor, Proctor, Clerk or Notary, by practising in any manner as such in any Court whatsoever, not having before the Time of such acting taken in the Court of Chancery, or King's Bench or Quarter Sessions where he lives, the Oaths mentioned in 1 W. & M. stat. 1. c. 8. and made and subscribed the Declaration appointed in 25 Car. 2. c, 2. he shall incur a Præmunire. 7, 8, W. 3. c. 24.

(1)

All and every person and persons who shall refuse to take the Oaths mentioned and appointed to be taken in 1 W. & M. stat. 1. c. 8. or either of them, when tendered by any person lawfully authorized so to do, or shall refuse or neglect to appear when lawfully summoned to have the Oaths tendered, shall until he or they have taken such Oaths incur all the Pains and Penalties of Popish recusants convict; and the persons so tendering the said Oaths shall, upon every such Refusal or Default of Appearance, record and enter in Parchment the Christian and Surname and Place of Abode of the Party so refusing or not appearing with the Time of such Tender, Refual or Default of Appearance; and certify such Record to the Justices of Assise, Oyer, Terminer, and Gaol Delivery, at their next Sessions within the said County, who shall estreat and certify the same into the Court of Exchequer, to be there entered of Record, that the said Court may issue such Process against the Lands and Goods of the person mentioned in such Certificate, as may be issued against the Lands or Goods of a Popish Recusant convict. 7, 8, W. 3. c. 27. s. 1.

By s. 12. Quakers scrupling to take such Oaths, may make, and subscribe the Declarations of Fidelity mentioned in 1 W. & M. st. 1. c. 18.

By the Stat. 30 Car. 2. st. 2. c. 1. s. 56. 1 G. 1. st. 2. c. 13. s. 16, 17, 22, no Peer or Member of the House of Peers shall vote or make his Proxy, or sit there during any Debate, and no Member of the House of Commons shall sit or vote there during any Debate, after the Speaker is chosen, until such Peer

(1) Repealed as relates to Roman Catholics by 31 G. 3. c. 32. s. 22. as to such as bring themselves within that Act.

or Member shall take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, and make a Declaration therein specified of his Belief, that there is no Transubstantiation in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, 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, &c. on pain that every such Offender shall be adjudged a Popish Recusant convict, and disabled to hold or execute any Office, or from thenceforth to sit or vote in either House of Parliament, or to sue in Law or Equity, or to be Guardian, Executor or Administrator, or capable of any Legacy or Deed of Gift, and shall forfeit for every such wilful Offence the Sum of Five hundred Pounds. (And see the Statute 1 G. 1. st. 2. c. 13. s. 16, 17. post, page 652.)

The 9th, 10th, and 13th Clauses of the above-mentioned Stat. of Charles the Second, requiring every sworn Servant to the King to take the Oaths, and make and subscribe the Declaration, are repealed by the Stat 2. G. 2. c. 31. s. 9.

By the Statute 1 W. & M. c. 9. every Justice of the Peace in London and Westminster, and within ten miles thereof, shall cause to be arrested and brought before him all reputed Papists, (except Foreigners being Merchants, or menial Servants to some Ambassador or public Agent, &c.) and shall tender the abovementioned Declaration to every such Person; and every such Person refusing the same, and afterwards remaining within the above Limits, or being certified by Justices out of those limits to B. R. or the Quarter Sessions for such Refusal, and neglecting to make the said Declaration in such Court, shall suffer as a Popish Recusant convict. See s. 10. of 1 G. 1. st. 2. c. 13. post, page 652.

By the Stat. 1 W. & M. c. 15. supposed Papists required by two Justices of Peace to make the said Declaration, and neglecting so to do, are restricted in the privilege of keeping Arms, Ammunition, and Horses at their pleasure, and by Stat. 1 W. & M. c. 26. from presenting to any Benefice. See post. s. 10. of 1 G. 1. st. 2. c. 13.

By Stat. 31 G. 3. c. 32. s. 18. (1) no Papist making and subscribing the Oath and Declaration therein contained, shall be prosecuted on the former Statutes.

The Stat. 1 G. 1. st. 2. c. 13. contains the form of the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance required by that Act to be taken by all Officers, Civil and Military, and all Ecclesiastical Persons

and Members of Colleges (being Eighteen Years of Age), and by all Teachers or Readers in any University or elsewhere; and by all Schoolmasters and Ushers, Teachers and Preachers of separate Congregations, Constables, Serjeants at Law, Counsellors, Barristers, Advocates, Attornies, Solicitors, Proctors, Clerks, or Notaries practising in any Court, which Oaths are to be taken within Three Months (1) after they have been admitted into or entered upon any such Preferment, &c. or taken upon themselves such Employment, Practice or Business within one of the Courts at Westminster, or at the Quarter Sessions of the County where they reside, under Pain of Disability to hold or exercise such Offices, &c. upon neglect or refusal to take the said Oaths; and persons convicted in any of the Courts at Westminster, or at the Assises, of exercising such Offices or Employments without taking such Oaths, shall be disabled to sue, or to be Guardian, or Executor, or Administrator, or capable of any Legacy or Deed of Gift, or to be in any Office in Great Britain, or to vote for Members of Parliament, and shall forfeit 500%, to be recovered by action, &c.

By s. 10. Two Justices of the Peace, or other Persons specially commissioned, may tender the said Oaths to any person whom they suspect to be dangerous or disaffected to his Majesty or his Government, and on their neglect or refusal to take the said Oaths, may certify the same to the next Quarter Sessions, which being there recorded, shall be from thence certified by the Clerk of the Peace into the Courts of Chancery or King's Bench; and every person so neglecting or refusing to take the said Oaths shall, from the Time of his Neglect or Refusal, be adjudged a Popish Recusant convict, and as such to forfeit and be proceeded against. By s. 11. the same Punishment attaches against such persons as, being lawfully summoned to appear and take the Oaths, neglect or refuse so to do.

These Provisions, so far as they relate to the summoning persons to take the Oaths of Supremacy and make the Declaration against Transubstantiation, required by 25. Car. 2. c. 2., are repealed by 31 G. 3. c. 32. s. 18.

By s. 16 & 17. no Peer of this Realm or Member of the House of Peers shall vote or make his Proxy, or sit there during Debate, and no Member of the House of Commons shall any vote or sit there during any Debate, after the Speaker is chosen, until such Peer or Member shall have taken the Oath of Abjura

(1) Extended to six months by Stat. 9 G. 2. c. 26. s. 4.

tion thereby required, and the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, and made the Declaration against Transubstantiation, on pain of being disabled to sue, or to be a Guardian or Executor or Administrator, or capable of any Legacy, Deed, or Gift. or to be in any Office within Great Britain, or to vote at any Election for Members to serve in Parliament, and of forfeiting £500, to be recovered by Action, &c.

By s. 20. this Disability is not to extend to the Offices of any Tythingman, Headborough, Overseer of the Poor, Churchwarden, Surveyor of the Highways, or any like inferior Civil Office, or to any Office of Forester or Keeper of any Park, or certain other inferior or private Officers therein mentioned. By s. 22. persons obliged by any Law to receive the Sacrament, or make the Declaration against Transubstantiation, shall continue bound so to do.

§ 2. Administering or taking unlawful Oaths.

The Statute 37 G. 3. c. 123. intituled "An Act for more effectually preventing the administering or, taking of unlawful Oaths," recites that divers wicked and evil-disposed persons have of late attempted to seduce persons serving in his Majesty's Forces by Sea and Land, and others of his Majesty's Subjects, from their Duty and Allegiance to his Majesty, and to incite them to Acts of Mutiny and Sedition, and have endeavoured to give effect to their wicked and traiterous Proceedings, by imposing upon the persons whom they have attempted to seduce, the pretended Obligation of Oaths unlawfully administered; and then enacts, that any person or persons who shall in any Manner or Form whatsoever administer, or cause to be administered, or be aiding or assisting at, or present at and consenting to the administering or taking of any Oath or Engagement, purporting or intended to bind the person taking the same to engage in any mutinous or seditious purpose; or to disturb the public peace; or to be of any Association, Society, or Confederacy, formed for any such purpose; or to obey the Orders or Commands of any Committee or Body of Men not lawfully constituted; or of any Leader or Commander, or other person not having Authority by Law for that purpose; or not to inform or give Evidence against any Associate, Confederate, or other person; or not to reveal or discover any unlawful Combination or Confederacy; or not to reveal or discover any illegal Act done or to be done;

Persons compelled to take such oaths, not justified, unless they declare the

same within four days.

Persons aiding, &c. at taking such oaths, or causing them to be administered, though not present, shall be

deemed principals.

In indictments

it shall be suffi

cient to set forth the purport of such oaths.

Engagements in

the nature of an oath, to be deemed an oath.

which may have been administered or tendered to or taken by such person or persons, or to or by any other person or persons, or the import of any such Oath or Engagement; shall, on Conviction thereof by due course of Law, be adjudged guilty of Felony, and may be transported for any Term of Years not exceeding Seven Years; and every person who shall take any such Oath or Engagement, not being compelled thereto, shall, on Conviction thereof by due course of Law, be adjudged guilty of Felony, and may be transported for any Term of Years not exceeding Seven Years. s. 1.

Provided always, that Compulsion shall not justify or excuse any person taking such Oath or Engagement, unless he or she shall, within Four Days after the taking thereof, if not prevented by actual Force or Sickness, and then within Four Days after the hindrance produced by such Force or Sickness shall cease, declare the same, together with the whole of what he or she shall know touching the same, and the person or persons by whom and in whose presence, and when and where such Oath or Engagement was administered or taken, by Information on Oath before One of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace, or One of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, or his Majesty's Privy Council; or in case the person taking such Oath or Engagement shall be in actual Service in his Majesty's Forces by Sea or Land, then by such Information on Oath as aforesaid, or by Information to his Commanding Officer. s. 2.

Persons aiding and assisting at, or present at and consenting to the administering or taking of any such Oath or Engagement as aforesaid, and persons causing any such Oath or Engagement to be administered or taken, though not present at the administering or taking thereof, shall be deemed principal Offenders, and shall be tried as such, although the persons or person who actually administered such Oath or Engagement, if any such there shall be, shall not have been tried or convicted. s. 3.

It shall not be necessary in any Indictment against any person or persons administering, or causing to be administered or taken, or taking any such Oath or Engagement as aforesaid, or aiding or assisting at, or present at and consenting to the administering or taking thereof, to set forth the Words of such Oath or Engagement; and that it shall be sufficient to set forth the purport of such Oath or Engagement, or some material part thereof. s. 4.

Provided always, that any Engagement or Obligation whatsoever, in the nature of an Oath, shall be deemed an Oath within