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c. 72), introduced by Lord Chelmsford when again Lord Chancellor, and in consequence of the report of the Royal Commission on the subject appointed in the year 1866, and reappointed after the change of government in the same year, again modified the form of the oaths, and enacted the three very simple forms of the Oath of Allegiance, the Official Oath, and the Judicial Oath, which have already been set out, and which are still in force.

Oaths Act,

throws

open to

Finally, the Promissory Oaths Act of 1871 (34 and 35 The ProVict., c. 48), in addition to repealing the section in the missory Jewish Relief Act of 1858, which excluded Jews from some 1871, of the highest offices of state, formally repealed all the statutes establishing the old forms of oaths and declarations Jews the high offices which had been superseded and rendered obsolete by the from Promissory Oaths Act of 1868 or earlier Acts. This Act which they were passed through both Houses of Parliament without opposi- excluded tion, and almost without discussion. Since it became law by the Jews have been on precisely the same footing in regard to political rights as their Christian fellow subjects, with this exception only, that they cannot exercise any right of ecclesiastical patronage attaching to any office they may happen to hold.

Jewish

Relief Act

of 1858.

X

306

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.

1070. A number of Jews brought from Rouen by William I. 1194 (?). Exchequer of the Jews established by Richard I as a separate department, and Justices of the Jews appointed.

1232. Domus Conversorum opened by Henry III.

1271. Ordinance of Henry III prohibiting Jews from holding lands in fee, and having Christian servants.

1275. Statute de la Jeverie or de Judaismo. 1290. Banishment of the Jews by Edward I.

1401. Statute de Haeretico, 2 Hen. IV, c. 15.

1558. Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity (1 Eliz., c. 1 and c. 2).

1575. General expulsion of Aliens by Queen Elizabeth.

1580-1592. Legislation against recusants (23 Eliz., c. 1, 29 Eliz., c. 6, 35 Eliz., c. I & 2, &c.).

1605. Gunpowder Treason and Plot.

New legislation against Popish recusants.

The new Oath of Obedience and Allegiance "on the true faith of a Christian" (3 Jac. I, c. 4).

1608. Calvin's case.

1609. Applicants for naturalization required to take the sacrament of the Lord's Supper (7 Jac. I, c. 2).

1612. Last execution for heresy in England.

1617. The last claim of villenage in an English court.

1618 (?). The Jews fly from England in consequence of the issue of a commission for the execution of the laws against Jesuits, &c. 1625. Act for punishing divers abuses committed on the Lord's Day, commonly called Sunday (I Car. I, c. 1).

1627. Act for the further reformation of sundry abuses committed on the Lord's Day, commonly called Sunday (3 Car. I, c. 2). 1630. Treaty with Spain, by virtue of which Spanish subjects were exempted from the laws against recusants.

1635 (?). Carvajal settles in England.

1640. Court of High Commission abolished (16 Car. I, c. 11). 1648. The Independents obtain control of Parliament.

1649. Petition of the Cartwrights of Amsterdam for the re-admission

of the Jews.

Execution of Charles I.

1653. The Instrument of Government.

The law against recusants

relaxed, but not so far as to give immunity to persons not

believing in Christianity.

1655. Menasseh Ben Israel arrives in England. The Whitehall

Conference.

1656. War between England and Spain. Capture of Jamaica.

Case of Antonio Robles.

Commission to treat with the Jews of Amsterdam given by
Charles II to General Middleton.

1657. Departure and death of Menasseh Ben Israel.

1658. Death of Oliver Cromwell.

1660. Declaration of Breda.

Restoration of Charles II.

Navigation Act (12 Car. II, c. 18) excludes from the colonial
trade aliens unless naturalized or made denizens.

Petitions against the Jews referred to Parliament by the Privy
Council.

1661. Corporation Act (13 Car. II, st. 2, c. 1).

And following years. A number of Jews granted letters of

denization.

1662. Act of Uniformity (13 & 14 Car. II, c. 4).

Dec. 26. First Declaration of Indulgence.

1663. Public worship openly and regularly performed in the synagogue. Organization of the Jewish community.

1664. The Conventicle Act (16 Car. II, c. 4).

Threatened attack on the Jews by the Earl of Berkshire. Their petition to the king for protection favourably answered.

1665. The Five Mile Act (17 Car. II, c. 2).

1667. Robeley v. Langston. Jewish witness allowed to be sworn on the Old Testament.

1670. Second Conventicle Act (22 Car. II, c. 1).

1672. Second Declaration of Indulgence.

James, Duke of York, openly embraces Catholicism.

1673. The Declaration of Indulgence cancelled.

The Test Act (25 Car. II, c. 2).

The principal Jews indicted for meeting together for the exercise of their religion.

Petition of Abraham Delivera and others. Order in Council to

stay all proceedings against the Jews.

1674. Rebuilding of the synagogue. Lease for twenty-five years taken. 1677. Act for the better observation of the Lord's Day, commonly called Sunday (29 Car. II, c. 7).

The Writ de haeretico comburendo abolished (29 Car. II, c. 9).

1678. The Parliamentary Test Act (30 Car. II, st. 2).

1684. A Jew's right to maintain an action recognized by the Court of King's Bench (Lilly's Practical Register, vol. I, p. 4).

1685. Death of Charles II, and accession of James II. Forty-eight Jews charged with recusancy.

Petition of Joseph Henriques and others to the king. Formal Order in Council to stay these proceedings. "His Majesty's intention being that they" (the Jews) "should not be troubled on this account, but quietly enjoy the free exercise of their religion, whilst they behave themselves dutifully and obediently to his government."

1687. Declaration of Indulgence.

1688. The Revolution. Deposition of James II.

1689. New and simplified oaths of supremacy and allegiance.

The dispensing power of the Crown, saving previous charters and grants, abolished.

The Toleration Act (1 Will. & Mary, c. 18), the benefit of which was restricted to Protestant Trinitarians [extended to Unitarians in 1813, Roman Catholics in 1832, and Jews in 1846]. Proposal to impose special taxation on the Jews. Their petition to Parliament not received. The projected tax withdrawn. 1694. Jewish marriages expressly included in the provisions for the tax upon marriages (6 & 7 Will. & Mary, c. 6).

1698. The Act against blasphemy and profaneness (9 Will. III, c. 35). 1701. The Act of Settlement (12 & 13 Will. III, c. 2).

Death of James II. His son's title to the English throne recognized by Louis XIV.

The oath of abjuration invented (13 & 14 Will. III, c. 6).

1702. Act to oblige Jews to maintain and provide for their Protestant children (1 Anne, c. 24).

1707. Voters at Parliamentary elections may be required to take the oath of abjuration (6 Anne, c. 78).

1708. The Foreign Protestants' Naturalization Act (7 Anne, c. 5).

1714. The requirement of taking the oath of abjuration imposed in 1701 on all public officers, &c., continued. Members of Parliament not to vote or sit before taking the said oath (1 Geo. I, st. 2, c. 13).

1718. The Religious Worship Act (5 Geo. I, c. 4) forbids attendance with the insignia of office at any Nonconformist place of worship.

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1723. Jewish landowners required to take the oath of abjuration allowed to omit the words "on the true faith of a Christian' (10 Geo. I, c. 4).

1728. First (Annual) Indemnity Act (1 Geo. II, st. 2, c. 23).

1730. British Nationality Act (4 Geo. II, c. 21).

1732. Attempt to arouse popular animosity against the Jews by the blood accusation frustrated (Rex v. Osborne).

1739. The custom of requiring the oath administered prior to receiving the citizenship of London to be taken on the New Testament held to be good (Rex v. Bosworth).

1740. The Plantation Act (13 Geo. II, c. 7) enables Jews to be naturalized in the colonies without taking the sacrament or pronouncing the final words of the oath of abjuration.

1743. Held in Da Costa v. De Paz that a legacy for instructing Jews in their religion could not be so applied.

1744. Held in Omychund v. Barker that all persons who believe in a Supreme Being are competent witnesses, and should be allowed to take the oath in the form binding upon them according to the tenets of their religion.

1753. Jewish marriages exempted from the provisions of Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act (26 Geo. II, c. 33).

The Jews Naturalization Act (26 Geo. II, c. 26) passed. Consequent agitation against the Jews.

1754. The Jews Naturalization Act repealed (27 Geo. II, c. 1).

1765. Death of the Old Pretender. The form of the oath of abjuration finally settled (6 Geo. III, c. 53).

1770. First Jews admitted as solicitors; being permitted to omit the final words of the oath of abjuration.

1772. British Nationality Act (13 Geo. III, c. 21).

1781. The Sunday Observance Act (21 Geo. III, c. 49). Places of amusement (admission to which is by payment) open on a Sunday to be deemed disorderly houses.

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