1778: 18 George 3 c.60: An Act for relieving his Majesty’s Subjects professing the Popish Religion from certain Penalties and Disabilities imposed on them by an Act, made in the eleventh and twelfth Years of the Reign of King William the Third, intituled, An Act for the further preventing the Growth of Popery.

[Preamble.]

‘WHEREAS it is expedient to repeal certain Provisions in an Act of the eleventh and twelfth Years of the Reign of King William the Third,’

[Act 11 and 12 Gul. III.]

‘intituled, An Act for the further preventing the Growth of Popery, whereby certain Penalties and Disabilities are imposed on Persons professing the Popish Religion;’ may it please your Majesty that it may be enacted; and be it 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,

[Certain Clauses in the said Act, relating to the prosecuting Popish Bishops, &c.; and imprisoning for Life Papists who keep Schools; and disabling Papists to inherit Lands by Descent, &c. in England or Wales, &c. &c.]

That so much of the said Act as relates to the apprehending, taking, or prosecuting, of Popish Bishops, Priests, or Jesuits; and also so much of the said Act as subjects Popish Bishops, Priests, or Jesuits, and Papists, or Persons professing the Popish Religion, and keeping School, or taking upon themselves the Education or Government or Boarding of Youth, within this Realm, or the Dominions thereto belonging, to perpetual Imprisonment; and also so much of the said Act as disables Persons educated in the Popish Religion, or professing the same, under the Circumstances therein mentioned, to inherit or take by Descent, Devise, or Limitation, in Possession, Reversion, or Remainder, any Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments, within the Kingdom of England, Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick upon Tweed, and gives to the next of Kin, being a Protestant, a Right to have and enjoy such Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments; and also so much of the said Act as disables Papists, or Persons professing the Popish Religion, to purchase any Manors, Lands, Profits out of Lands, Tenements, Rents, Terms, on Hereditaments, within the Kingdom of England, Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick upon Tweed, and makes void all and singular Estates, Terms, and other Interests or Profits whatsoever out of Lands, to be made, suffered, or done, from and after the Day therein mentioned, to or for the Use or Behoof of any such Person or Persons, or upon any Trust or Confidence, mediately or immediately, for the Relief of any such Person or Persons;

[repealed.]

shall be, and the same, and every Clause and Matter and Thing herein-before mentioned, is and are hereby repealed.

[Persons having or claiming any Lands, &c. under Titles not hitherto litigated, shall hold the same, notwithstanding the said Act.]

II. And be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That every Person and Persons having or claiming any Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments, under Titles not hitherto litigated, though derived from any Descent, Devise, Limitation, or Purchase, shall have, take, hold, and enjoy the same, as if the said Act, or any Thing therein contained, had not been made; any Thing in the said Act contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

[This Act not to affect any Action now depending, &c.; nor to extend to any Person who shall not, within six Months after passing this Act, or coming of Age, &c. take the following Oath.]

III. Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing herein contained shall extend, or be construed to affect any Action or Suit now depending, which shall be prosecuted with Effect, and without Delay.

IV. Provided also, That nothing herein contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to any Person or Persons but such who shall, within the Space of six Calendar Months after the passing of this Act, or of accruing of his, her, or their Title, being of the Age of twenty-one Years, or who, being under the Age of twenty-one Years, shall, within six Months after he or the shall attain the Age of twenty-one Years, or being of unsound Mind, or in Prison, or beyond the Seas, then within six Months after such Disability removed, take and subscribe an Oath in the Words following:

[The Oath.]

‘I A.B. do sincerely promise and swear, That I will be faithful and bear true Allegiance to his Majesty King George the Third, and him will defend, to the utmost of my Power, against all Conspiracies and Attempts whatever that shall be made against his Person, Crown, or Dignity; and will do my utmost Endeavour to disclose and make known to his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, all Treasons and traiterous Conspiracies which may be formed against him or them; and I do faithfully promise to maintain, support, and defend, to the utmost of my Power, the Succession of the Crown in his Majesty’s Family, against any Person or Persons whatsoever; hereby utterly renouncing and abjuring any Obedience or Allegiance unto the Person taking upon himself the Stile and Title of Prince of Wales, in the Lifetime of his Father, and who, since his Death, is said to have assumed the Stile and Title of King of Great Britain, by the Name of Charles the Third, and to any other Person claiming or pretending a Right to the Crown of these Realms; and I do swear, that I do reject and detest, as an unchristian and impious Position, That it is lawful to murder or destroy any Person or Persons whatsoever, for or under Pretence of their being Heretics; and also that unchristian and impious Principle, That no Faith is to be kept with Heretics: I further declare, that it is no Article of my Faith, and that I do renounce, reject, and abjure, the Opinion, That Princes excommunicated by the Pope and Council, or by any Authority of the See of Rome, or by any Authority whatsoever, may be deposed or murdered by their Subjects, or any Person whatsoever: And I do declare, that I do not believe that the Pope of Rome, or any other foreign Prince, Prelate, State, or Potentate, hath, or ought to have, any temporal or civil Jurisdiction, Power, Superiority, or Pre-eminence, directly or indirectly, within this Realm. 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 of this Oath; without any Evasion, Equivocation, or mental Reservation whatever, and without any Dispensation already granted by the rope, or any Authority of the See of Rome, or any Person whatever; and without thinking 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 Persons or Authority whatsoever, shall dispense with or annul the same, or declare that it was null or void.’

[Court of Chancery, Courts of Record at Westminster, Courts of Great Sessions in Wales, &c. may administer the Oath.]

Which Oath it shall be competent to his Majesty’s High Court of Chancery, or to any of his Majesty’s Courts of Record at Westminster, the Courts of Great Sessions within the Principality of Wales and County Palatine of Chester, the Courts of Chancery or Common Pleas within the Counties Palatine of Lancaster and Durham, or to any Court of General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace of any County, Riding, Liberty, City, Borough, Town, or Place, in the Kingdom of England, or in the Principality of Wales, to administer, and they are hereby required to administer the same accordingly:

[A Register to be kept of the taking and subscribing the same.]

Of the taking and subscribing of which Oaths a Register shall be kept and preserved, in the Manner prescribed by the Laws now in being requiring Oaths from Persons taking Offices or Employments.

[This Act not to extend to any Popish Bishop, &c. who shall not have taken the said Oath before he was apprehended, &c.]

V. Provided always, and it is hereby enacted and declared, That nothing in this Act contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to any Popish Bishop, Priest, Jesuit, or Schoolmaster, who shall not have taken and subscribed the above Oath in the above Words before he shall have been apprehended or any Prosecution commenced against him.

Source: Ruffhead, Statutes at Large, vol. 13.

Further reading: Wikipedia.