cellor, lord treasurer, lord privy seal or principal secretary to be one, upon knowledge thereof, shall require such person or persons to take the said oath: and if any other person or persons whatsoever, of and above the said age, and under the said degree, now stand or at any time hereafter shall stand, and be presented, indicted or convicted for not coming to church or receiving the holy communion or sacrament of the Lord's supper, according to the laws and statutes of this realm, before the ordinary or any other having lawful power to take such presentment or indictment; or if the minister, petty constable and churchwardens, or any two of them, shall at any time hereafter complain to any justice of peace, near adjoining to the place where any person complained of shall dwell, and the said justice shall find cause of suspicion; that then any one justice of peace, within whose commission or power such person or persons shall at any time hereafter be, or to whom complaint shall be made as aforesaid, shall upon notice thereof require such person or persons to take the said oath and that if any person or persons, being of the age of eighteen years or above, shall refuse to take the said oath, duly tendered to him or her, according to the true intent and meaning of this statute, that then the persons authorized by this law to give the said oath, shall and may commit the same offender to the common gaol, there to remain without bail or mainprize, until the next assizes or general quarter sessions to be holden for the said shire, division, limit or liberty; where the said oath shall be again in the said open sessions required of such person by the said justices of assize or justices of the peace then and there present, or the greater number of them and if the said person or persons, of the age of eighteen The penalty years or above, shall refuse to take the said oath, being tendered to for refusing him or her by the said justices of assize and gaol delivery, in their said oath. open assizes or gaol delivery, or the justices of peace or the greater part of them in their general or quarter sessions, every person so refusing shall incur the danger and penalty of premunire, mentioned in a statute made in the sixteenth year of the reign of king Richard the second, (except women covert, who shall be committed only to 12 prison, there to remain without bail or mainprize till they will take 1 the said oath.) to take the Co. 132. Roll 91. 16 R. 2. c. 5. execute or XXVII. And be it further enacted, that every person refusing to Disabled to take the said oath as above, shall be disabled to all intents and pur- practise cerposes, to execute any public place of judicature, or bear any other tain offices office (being no office of inheritance or ministerial function) within this or sciences. woman recu shall not come to the XXVIII. And be it further enacted, that if any married woman The penalty (being lawfully convicted as a popish recusant for not coming to of a married church) shall not within three months next after such conviction sant that conform herself, and repair to the church and receive the sacrament of the Lord's supper, according to the former laws and statutes made and provided in that behalf touching recusants; that then she shall be committed to prison by one of the privy council of your highness, church and receive the sacrament. your heirs or successors, or by the bishop of the diocese, if she be a baroness, or if she be under that degree, by two justices of the peace of the same county, whereof one to be of the quorum, there to remain without bail or mainprize until she shall conform herself and come to church, and receive the sacrament of the Lord's supper, unless the husband of such wife shall pay to the king's majesty, his heirs or successors, for the offence of his said wife, for every month ten pounds of lawful money of England, or else the third part (in three parts to be divided) of all his land and tenements, at the choice of the husband whose wife is so convicted as aforesaid, for and during See further, so long time as she remaining a recusant convicted, shall continue out of prison, during which time (and no longer) she may be at liberty. 25 Car. 2, c. 2, and 16 Geo.2, c. 30. The convention declared 17 CHARLES 2, CAP. 2.-An act for restraining non conformists from inhabiting in corporations.-See Title-" NON CONFORMISTS," vol. iii. p. 416. 1 WILLIAM & MARY, SESS. 1, CAP. 1.-An act for removing and preventing all questions and disputes concerning the assembling and sitting of this present parliament.-For preventing all doubts and scruples which may in anywise arise concerning the meeting, sitting, and proceeding of this present parliament; be it declared and enacted by the king's and queen's most excellent majesties, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons now assembled, and by authority of the same: II. That the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, convened a parliament at Westminster, the two and twentieth day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred eighty-eight, and there sitting on the thirteenth day of February following, are the two houses of parliament, and so shall be, and are hereby declared, enacted, and adjudged to be, to all intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever, notwithstanding any want of writ or writs of summons, or any other defect of form or default whatsoever, as if they had been summoned according to the usual form: and that this present act, and all other acts, to which the royal assent shall at any time be given before the next prorogation after the said thirteenth of February, shall be understood, taken, and adjudged in law, to begin and commence upon the said thirteenth of February, on which day their said majesties, at the request, and by the advice of the lords and commons, did accept the crown and royal dignity of king and queen of England, France, and Ireland, and the dominions and territories thereunto belonging. The old oaths of allegiance, III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that &c. not to be the act made in the thirtieth year of king Charles the second, taken by intituled, an act for the more effectual preserving the king's person and 30 Car. 2, st. government, by disabling of papists from sitting in either house of par members, 2, c. 1. liament, and all other acts of parliament, as to so much of the said act or acts only, as concerns the taking the oaths of supremacy and allegiance, or either of them, in the said act or acts respectively mentioned, by any member or members of either house of parliament, with relation to their sitting and voting in parliament, shall be, and are hereby repealed to all intents and purposes; any thing in the said recited act or acts to the contrary notwithstanding. substituted IV. And be it further enacted, that the taking the oaths herein- New oaths after mentioned, and the making, subscribing, and repeating the in the place declaration in the said act of the thirtieth year of king Charles the of the old. second mentioned, by every member of either house of this present parliament, from and after the first day of March next ensuing, in such manner as the taking the said oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and the making, subscribing, and repeating the said declaration in the said last mentioned act are required, shall be good and effectual to all intents and purposes, as if the said oaths of allegiance and supremacy had been taken, and the said declaration had been made, subscribed, and repeated in such manner, and at such time, as by the said act or acts, or any of them, they are required. And that, in all future parliaments, the oaths hereinafter mentioned, and the declaration in the said act, made in the thirtieth year of king Charles the second mentioned, shall be taken, made, subscribed, and repeated by every member of either house of parliament, within the time, and in the same manner and form, and under the penalties and disabilities, as the said oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and the said declaration, by the said act of the thirtieth year of king Charles the second are limited, ordained, and appointed to be taken, made, subscribed, and repeated, and not at any other time, or in any other manner, to enable them to sit and vote in parliament; any thing in the said act or acts, or any of them, to the contrary notwithstanding. V. And it is hereby further enacted and declared by the authority The oaths. aforesaid, that the oaths above appointed by this act, to be taken in the stead and place of the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, shall be in the words following, and no other. VI. IA A. B. do sincerely promise and swear, that I will be faithful, Allegiance. and bear true allegiance to their majesties king William and queen Mary: VII. So help me God. 4. B. do swear, that I do from my heart abhor, detest, and supremacy. abjure, as impious and heretical, that damnable doctrine and position, that princes excommunicated or deprived by the pope, or any authority of the see of Rome, may be deposed or murdered by their subjects, or any other whatsoever. And I do declare, that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate hath, or ought to have, any power, jurisdiction, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm: So help me God. VIII. Provided always, and be it declared, that this present parliament may be dissolved after the usual manner, as if the same had been summoned and called by writ. 1 WILLIAM & MARY, SESS. 1, CAP. 6.-An act for establishing the coronation oath.-Whereas by the law and ancient usage of this realm, the kings and queens thereof have taken a solemn oath upon the evangelists at their respective coronations, to maintain the statutes, laws, and customs of the said realm, and all the people and inhabitants thereof, in their spiritual and civil rights and properties: but forasmuch as the oath itself on such occasion administered, hath heretofore been framed in doubtful words and expressions, with relation to ancient laws and constitutions at this time unknown: to the end therefore that one uniform oath may be in all times to come taken by the kings and queens of this realm, and to them Parliament dissolved as formerly. An oath to be taken by queen, respectively administered at the times of their and every of their coronation may it please your majesties that it may be enacted: II. And be it enacted by the king's and queen's most excellent the king and majesties, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and the commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that the oath herein mentioned, and hereafter expressed, shall and may be administered to their most excellent majesties king William and queen Mary (whom God long preserve) at the time of their coronation, in the presence of all persons that shall be then and there present at the solemnizing thereof, by the archbishop of Canterbury, or the archbishop of York, or either of them, or any other bishop of this realm, whom the king's majesty shall thereunto appoint, and who shall be hereby thereunto respectively authorized; which oath followeth, and shall be administered in this manner; that is to say, Coronation oath. All kings, &c. to take the oath. The archbishop or bishop shall say, III. Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the people of this kingdom of England, and the dominions thereto belonging, according to the statutes in parliament agreed on, and the laws and customs of the same ? The king and queen shall say, I solemnly promise so to do. Will you to your power cause law and justice in mercy to be executed in all your judgments? King and queen. I will. Archbishop or bishop. Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the laws of God, the true profession of the gospel and the protestant reformed religion established by law? And will you preserve unto the bishops and clergy of this realm, and to the churches committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges as by law do or shall appertain unto them, or any of them? King and queen. All this I promise to do. After this, the king and queen laying his and her hand upon the holy gospels, shall say, King and queen. The things which I have here before promised, I will perform and keep. So help me God. Then the king and queen shall kiss the book. IV. And be if further enacted, that the said oath shall be in like manner administered to every king or queen, who shall succeed to the imperial crown of this realm, at their respective coronations, by one of the archbishops or bishops of this realm of England, for the time being, to be thereunto appointed by such king or queen respectively, and in the presence of all persons that shall be attending, assisting, or otherwise present at such their respective coronations; any law, statute, or usage to the contrary notwithstanding. 1 WILLIAM & MARY, SESS. 1, CAP. 8.—An act for the abrogating of the oaths of supremacy and allegiance, and appointing other oaths. Whereas by a statute made in the first year of the reign of our late 1 Eliz. c. 1. Sovereign lady queen Elizabeth, intituled an act to restore to the crown the ancient jurisdiction over the estate ecclesiastical and spiritual, and abolishing all foreign powers repugnant to the same, the persons therein mentioned were obliged to take an oath therein mentioned, commonly called the oath of supremacy; and whereas by another statute made in the third year of the reign of our late sovereign lord king 3 Jac. 1, c. 4. James the first, intituled, an act for the better discovering and repressing popish recusants, another oath, commonly called the oath of allegiance or obedience; was required to be taken by the persons therein mentioned: gated. 62. oaths and how to be II. Be it enacted by the king's and queen's most excellent majes- The old oaths ties, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and tem- and supreof allegiance poral, and the commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by macy abrothe authority of the same, that from henceforth no person whatsoever shall be obliged to take the said oaths, or either of them, by force or virtue of the said statutes, or either of them, or any other statute whatsoever, but that the said statutes, and every other statute, for so 1 Hale's P. C. much only as concerns the said oaths, and the said oaths themselves, shall be and are hereby repealed, utterly abrogated, and made void. III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the The new oaths appointed by this present act to be taken, and the declaration declaration likewise appointed by this present act to be made, repeated, and by whom and subscribed, shall, from and after the first day of May in the year one taken. thousand six hundred eighty-nine, be taken, made, repeated, and subscribed by every such person and persons as were appointed and required by any act or acts whatsoever, to take the said abrogated oaths of supremacy and allegiance, or either of them, before such person or persons, as hereafter in this act is expressed; that is to say, all and every archbishop and bishop that now is, and all and every person, of or above the degree of a baron of parliament, in their majesties' high court of chancery, or in their majesties' court of king's bench, in public and open court, between the hours of nine of the clock and twelve in the forenoon, before the end of Trinity term next, or at the general quarter sessions to be holden for that county or place where he or they shall be, inhabit, or reside, in open court, between the said hours of nine and twelve of the clock in the forenoon, before the first day of August next; all which shall be put on record in the respective courts. the new and declara subscribed. IV. And all and every other such person and persons shall take Before whom the said oaths, and make, repeat, and subscribe the said declaration oaths are to by this present act required to be taken, made, and subscribed, before be taken, such person or persons respectively, as by any act or acts were tion to be authorized or empowered to tender the said oath of allegiance now made and abrogated and made void; which said person or persons so respectively authorized to minister or tender the said oaths and declaration, are hereby required to minister and tender the same accordingly. V. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that all All persons persons (other than such concerning whom other provision shall be be in office, made in this act, or in any other act of this present session of parlia- shall take ment) that shall hereafter be admitted into any office or employment &c. ecclesiastical or civil, or come into any capacity, in respect or by which shall the oaths, |