A.D. 1691
Whereas by a statute made in Ireland in the second year of the reign of our late sovereign lady Queen Elizabeth, intituled, An act for restoring to the crown the ancient jurisdiction over the estate ecclesiastical and spiritual, and abolishing all foreign power repugnant to the same, the persons therein mentioned are thereby obliged to take the oath in the said act expressed:
II. be it 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 the commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by authority of the same, That from henceforth no person whatsoever residing in Ireland shall be obliged to take the said oath by force or virtue of the said recited statute, or any other statute whatsoever; but that the said statute, and every other statute, for so much only as concerns the said oath, shall be and are hereby repealed, utterly abrogated and made void.
III. And be it further enacted, That the oaths appointed, intended, or required by this act to be taken, from and after the first day of January next, in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred ninety one, be taken by the person herein and hereafter mentioned, and by every such other person and persons, as were appointed and required by the said recited act, or any other statute whatsoever made in Ireland, to take the said abrogated oath, before such person or persons, and in such court as hereafter in this act is expressed (that is to say) all and every archbishop and bishop of the realm of Ireland, that now is, and all and every person of or above the degree of baron of parliament there, and all and every other person and persons inhabitants of or residing within the said realm of Ireland, now having any promotion, office, or employment ecclesiastical, civil, or military, or receiving any pay, salary, fee or wages, by reason of any patent or grant of their Majesties, or any of their predecessors, or being master, governor, head, or fellow of the college or university of Dublin, or master of any hospital, or school, or barrister at law, clerk of chancery, attorney, or professor of law, physick, or other science, that shall inhabit, be, or reside within the city of Dublin, or within thirty miles of the same, on the first day of Hilary term next, or at any time during the said term, in their Majesties high court of Chancery in that kingdom, or in the court of King's Bench there, in publick and open court, between the hours of nine of the clock and twelve in the forenoon; and all the said persons which inhabit at greater distance from the said city, at the general quarter sessions to be holden for that county, barony, or place in Ireland aforesaid, where he or they shall be or reside, in open court between the
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said hours of nine and twelve in the forenoon, at any time before the five and twentieth day of July next; and shall likewise make and subscribe, and audibly repeat, the declaration herein and hereafter mentioned, and expressed; all which shall be put on record in the said respective courts; and every person taking the same shall pay to the clerk for recording thereof, one shilling, and no more. And if any archbishop or bishop, or any other person having any ecclesiastical dignity or promotion, or being a lecturer or curate, shall neglect or refuse to take the said oaths, and make and subscribe the said declaration, as aforesaid, then he or they shall be ipso facto deprived, and is and are hereby adjudged to be deprived of his and their offices, dignities, and promotions ecclesiastical, and incapable to be lecturer or curate in any place or cure whatsoever; and all and every other person having any office, or receiving any pay, salary, fee, or wages, by reason as aforesaid, or being master, governor, head, or fellow of the said university or college, or master of any hospital, or school, barrister at law, clerk in chancery, attorney, or professor of law, physick, or other science, as aforesaid, that shall neglect or refuse to take the said oaths, and make and subscribe the said declaration within the time, and in the manner aforesaid respectively, shall be ipso facto thenceforth adjudged uncapable and disabled in law, to all intents and purposes whatsoever, to have, occupy or enjoy such office, pay, salary, fee, wages, mastership, governor's place, headship, fellowship, employment or employments, or any part of them, or any matter or thing aforesaid, or any profit or advantage appertaining to them, or any of them; and every such office and place shall be void, and is hereby adjudged to be void.
IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That every person that shall become a barrister at law, attorney, clerk, or officer in chancery, or any other court, their deputy or deputies, or shall succeed or practise as much in Ireland, at any time after the last day of Hilary Term next, shall and is hereby required to take the said oaths, and make and subscribe the said declaration, in the court of King's Bench at Dublin, in open court in term time, between the hours aforesaid, to be recorded as aforesaid, before he shall be admitted to enjoy or exercise any place or office, or to practise or plead in any court of law or equity, or any other court of record, or not of record; and that all persons that shall after the first day of March next be admitted into any office or employment, ecclesiastical or civil, or come into any capacity, in respect or by reason whereof they should have been obliged to take the said abrogated oath in the said recited act mentioned, shall take the said oaths, and make and subscribe the said declaration hereby appointed, hereafter expressed, in such manner, at such times, and before such persons, as they should or ought to have taken the said former oath, by virtue of the said recited act, in case the same had not been hereby abrogated as aforesaid.
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V. And forasmuch as great disquiet and many dangerous attempts have been made, to deprive their Majesties and their royal predecessors of the said realm of Ireland, by the liberty which the popish recusants there have had and taken to sit and vote in parliament; be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That from and after the last day of January next, no person that now is, or shall be hereafter a peer of that realm, or member of the house of peers there, shall vote or make his proxy in the said house of peers, or sit there during any debate in the said house; nor any person that after the said last day of January shall be a member of the house of commons, shall be capable to vote in the said house, or sit there during any debate in the same, after their speaker is chosen, until he first take the oaths herein and hereafter mentioned and expressed, and make, subscribe, and audibly repeat this declaration following:
I A.B. 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. And I do solemnly in the presence of God profess, testify, and declare, That I do make this declaration, and every part thereof, in the plain and ordinary sense of the words read unto me, as they are commonly understood by protestants, without any evasion, equivocation, or mental reservation whatsoever, and without any dispensation already granted me for this purpose by the pope, or any other authority or person whatsoever, or without any hope of any such dispensation from any person or authority whatsoever, or without believing that I am or can be acquitted before God or man, or absolved of this declaration, or any part thereof, although the pope, or any other person or persons, or power whatsoever, should dispense with or annul the same, or declare that it was null and void from the beginning.
VI. Which said oaths and declaration shall be in the next and every succeeding parliament to be held in Ireland, solemnly and publickly made and subscribed, betwixt the hours of nine in the morning and four in the afternoon, by every such peer and member of the house of peers there, at the table in the middle of the said house, before he take his place in the said house of peers, and whilst a full house of peers is there present, and their speaker in his place; and by every such member of the house of commons, at the table in the middle of the said house, and whilst a full house of commons is there duly sitting with their speaker in his chair; and that the same be done in either house in such like order or method as whereby each house is called over respectively; and during the making and subscribing thereof, and taking the said oaths, all business and debates in either house respectively shall cease; and the clerk of such house respectively is hereby required to record the same in rolls prepared for that purpose
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and every member of either house shall pay to such respective clerk, for recording thereof, one shilling, and no more.
VII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any person that now is, or hereafter shall be, a peer of Ireland, or member of the house of peers, or member of the house of commons there, or that shall become a barrister at law, attorney, clerk, or officer of chancery, or any other court, and all and every deputy and deputies in any office whatsoever, shall presume to offend, contrary to this act; that then every such peer and member, and such other person and persons so offending, shall be thenceforth disabled to hold or execute any office or place of profit, or trust, ecclesiastical, civil, or military, in any of their Majesties realms of Ireland or England, or dominion of Wales, or town of Berwick upon Tweed, or in any of their Majesties islands or foreign plantations, to the said realms belonging; and shall be disabled from thenceforth to sit or vote in either house of parliament of the said realm of Ireland, or make a proxy in the house of peers there, or to sue or use any action, bill, plaint, or information in course of law, or to prosecute any suit in any court of equity, or to be guardian of any child, or executor or administrator of any person, or capable of any legacy or deed of gift, and shall forfeit, for every wilful offence against this act, the sum of five hundred pounds, to be recovered and received by him, her, or them that will sue for the same, by any action of debt, bill, plaint, or information, in any of their Majesties courts of record at Dublin, wherein no essoin, protection, or wager of law shall lie or be allowed, nor any more than one imparlance.
VIII. And be it further enacted, That the oaths that are intended and required to be taken by this act, are the oaths in these express words hereafter following:
I A.B. do sincerely promise and swear, That I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to their Majesties King William and Queen Mary:
So help me God, &c.
I A.B. do swear, That I do from my heart abhor, detest, and 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 jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm:
So help me God, &c.
IX. Provided always, and be it enacted, That this act shall not extend to any person now chaplain, secretary, or attendant to any of their Majesties ambassadors, envoys, ministers, or residents in any foreign courts, or preacher to any English factory,
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or to any chaplains in their Majesties service by sea or land, out of the kingdom of Ireland, so as they take the oaths, and make and subscribe the said declaration hereby required, within three months after their return; nor to any other person of the protestant religion, now in office or place of trust or profit out of the kingdoms of Ireland or England, who shall return into the said realm of Ireland, and take the same at any time before the five and twentieth day of December, one thousand six hundred ninety two, in the court of King's Bench there, the next term after their respective arrival in that kingdom. Provided always, That nothing in this act contained shall extend to the taking away the office or place of vice treasurer of Ireland from William Harbord esquire, who is now employed by their Majesties as their ambassador extraordinary to mediate a peace between the Christians and the Turks, but that he the said William Harbord shall have liberty to take the said oaths, and subscribe the said declaration, as are directed by this present act, any time within two months after his return into the said kingdom of Ireland; any thing in this act to the contrary notwithstanding.
X. And be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all and every archbishop and bishop in the said realm of Ireland, and every other person and persons now having any ecclesiastical office, dignity, or promotion, or being a lecturer or curate in the said kingdom, that shall happen to be in this realm of England the first day of Hilary Term, which shall be in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred ninety and one, shall take the said oaths, and make, subscribe, and audibly repeat the said declaration, before the end of the said term, in their Majesties court of Chancery, or in the court of King's Bench, in this realm of England, and shall again take the said oaths, and make, subscribe, and audibly repeat the said declaration before the five and twentieth day of July, which shall be in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred ninety and two, in the court of Chancery, or the court of King's Bench, in the said kingdom of Ireland, in the morning, and between the hours of nine and twelve, where the same shall be put upon record in the said respective courts, in manner as aforesaid. And if any such archbishop, or bishop, or other person in any ecclesiastical office, dignity, or promotion, or being a lecturer or curate in the said kingdom of Ireland, happening to be within this realm at the time aforesaid, shall neglect or refuse to take the said oaths, and to make, subscribe, and repeat the said declaration, within either of the times before mentioned; then he or they shall be ipso facto deprived, and is and are hereby adjudged to be deprived, of his or their archbishopricks, bishopricks, and ecclesiastical offices, dignities, and promotions, and incapable to be lecturer or curate in any place or cure whatsoever. And all and every other person or persons having any office, or receiving any pay, salary, fee, or wages, by reason of any patent or grant from their Majesties, or any of their predecessors, or being master, governor, head of any college in the university of Dublin, or master of any hospital
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or school, or barrister at law, clerk in chancery, attorney, or professor of law or physick, or other science, that shall reside or inhabit in this realm on the first day of the said Hilary Term, shall before the end of the said term take the said oaths, and make, subscribe, and audibly repeat the said declaration, in their Majesties court of Chancery, or court of King's Bench, in this realm of England. And in case such other person or persons, so resident and inhabiting in this realm of England, shall neglect or refuse to take the said oaths, and make, subscribe, and repeat the said declaration, before the end of the said Hilary Term, he or they shall be ipso facto thenceforth adjudged incapable, and disabled in law, to all intents and purposes whatsoever, to have, occupy and enjoy such office, pay, salary, fee, wages, mastership, governor's-place, headship, fellowship, and employment or employments, or any part of them; and every such office or place shall be void, and is hereby adjudged to be void; and if such other person or persons so residing or inhabiting in the realm of England, on the said first day of Hilary Term, shall take the said oaths, and make and subscribe the said declaration as aforesaid, it shall be as effectual to all intents and purposes, as if he or they had been then resident in Ireland, and had in manner, and in the time before mentioned, taken the said oaths, and made, subscribed, and repeated the said declaration, in any of the said courts of the said realm of Ireland.
XI. Provided always, That this act, or any thing herein contained, shall not extend to hinder or disable any person or persons, who on the third of October, one thousand six hundred ninety one, were inhabiting or residing in Lymerick, or any other garrison then in the possession of the Irish, or any officers or soldiers then in arms, by virtue of any commission of the late King James, or those authorized by him to grant the same, in the several counties of Lymerick, Clare, Kerry, Cork, and Mayow, or any of them, or any commissioned officers then in their Majesties quarters, that did belong to the Irish regiments then in being, or were then treated with, or who were not prisoners of war, and who had not then taken protection, and have since returned and submitted to their Majesties obedience, from using, exercising, and practicing his or their profession of calling of barrister at law, clerk in chancery, or attorney or practicer of law or physick; but they may freely use, exercise, and practice the same, as they did in the reign of the late King Charles the Second; any thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.
XII. Provided nevertheless, That every such barrister at law, clerk in chancery, or attorney or practicer of law or physick, who shall claim any benefit hereby, to be exempted from taking the oaths, and making, subscribing, and repeating the declaration in this act mentioned, in the court, and in the manner hereby appointed, shall make out his claim thereunto, according to the respective qualifications herein before expressed, before the court of King's Bench in Ireland, in open court there
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in term time, between the hours of nine and twelve in the morning, on or before the last day of Michaelmas term next, to be there allowed and recorded; for the entry whereof upon record there shall be one shilling paid, and no more; and in default of such claim made, to be excluded from the same.
XIII. Provided nevertheless, and be it enacted, That if any such person, before he hath taken the said oath to be faithful, and bear true allegiance to their Majesties, in the court of King's Bench in Ireland, or at the general quarter sessions of the peace in the county city or place, where such person shall inhabit, and procured the same to be recorded, and obtained the certificate thereof, shall use, exercise, or practice such his calling or profession, shall forfeit the sum of five hundred pounds to such person as will sue for the same in any of their Majesties courts of record in Ireland, by action of debt, bill, plaint, or information, wherein no essoin, protection, or wager of law shall be allowed; and further, such person so using or exercising his profession or calling, shall be adjudged uncapable ever to use or exercise the said profession or calling.
XIV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful for two or more justices of the peace, whereof one shall be of the quorum, within any county, city, or town corporate in the said kingdom of Ireland, and they are hereby required, to direct their warrant or warrants to any constable, tythingman, headborough, or other officer, to summon any person of the age of eighteen years or upwards, to appear before such justices, at such time and place as shall be mentioned in such warrant, to take the oath before mentioned, to be faithful and bear true allegiance to their Majesties: and if such person, being so summoned, shall not appear at the time and place, having no lawful let or impediment, or appearing shall refuse to take the said oath, being tendred to him or her by the said justices; the said justices shall commit such person making default, or refusing to take the said oath, to the common gaol or house of correction, there to remain without bail or mainprize for the space of three months, unless such offender shall pay down to the justices, or any of them, such sum of money, not exceeding forty shillings, as the said justices shall require such offender to pay; which money shall be paid to the church-wardens or overseers of the poor of such parish or place where such offender did last inhabit; and at some time after the end of three months after such default or refusal, two or more of such justices, as aforesaid, shall have power, and are hereby required, to direct their warrant in manner as aforesaid, to summon such offender to appear before them to take the said oath; and if such offender shall be summoned, and make default at the time and place appointed, not having any lawful let or impediment, or appearing, shall refuse to take the said oath, being tendred to him or her; the said justices shall commit such offender to the common gaol or house of correction, there to remain for the space of six months without bail or mainprize, unless
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such offender shall pay down to the said justices, or any of them, such sum of money, not exceeding ten pounds, nor under five pounds, as the said justices shall require, which said money shall be disposed of to the relief of the poor of such parish or place, in manner as aforesaid; and unless such offender shall become bound with two sufficient sureties, with condition to appear at the next assizes or general gaol delivery, to be holden for such county where such offender shall inhabit or reside, and in the mean time to be of the good behaviour; at which assizes or gaol delivery the said oath shall be tendred to such offender by the justices of assize of general gaol delivery, in their open assizes or session; and if upon such tender such offender shall refuse to take the said oath, he shall incur the danger and penalty of præmunire, mentioned in the statute of præmunire in the sixteenth year of the reign of King Richard the Second, except women covert, who upon refusal of the said oath shall be by the said justices of assize, in their open assize or general goal delivery, committed only to the common gaol, there to remain without bail or mainprize, till they will take the said oath.
XV. Provided nevertheless, That whereas there are certain dissenters in Ireland commonly called Quakers, who scruple the taking any oath, it shall be sufficient for every such dissenter, he or she producing a certificate under the hands and seals of six or more sufficient men of the congregation, to which he or she belongs, owning him or her for one of them, to make and subscribe the following declaration:
I A.B. do sincerely promise and solemnly declare before God and the world, That I will be true and faithful to King William and Queen Mary; and I do solemnly profess and declare, that I do from my heart abhor, detest, and renounce, 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:
And every such dissenter so subscribing shall be and is hereby exempted from the penalties mentioned in this act.
XVI. Provided nevertheless, That no such person called Quaker, shall by such declaration and subscription be capable to take, have, or hold, any office, employment, place, pay, salary, fee, grant, wages, or any other place of profit or trust, whereunto any person taking the said oaths, and making and subscribing the declaration in the courts aforesaid, shall or may be intitled; any thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.
XVII. Provided always, and be it enacted, That this act shall not be dispensed with by any warrant or letters patents under
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the great seal of England or Ireland; but that all such warrants, and clauses of dispensation thereof in any such warrants or letters patents, are hereby declared to be null and void, and of no effect; any law, statute, or usage to the contrary notwithstanding.
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