An Act for preventing the Mischiefs and Dangers that may arise by certain Persons
called Quakers and others, refusing to take lawful Oaths. [1661]
‘Whereas of late Times
certain Persons under the Names of Quakers,
and other Names of Separation, have taken up and maintained sundry dangerous
Opinions and Tenents, and (amongst others) that the taking of an
Oath in any Case whatsoever, although before a lawful Magistrate, is altogether
unlawful and contrary to the Word of God ; and the said Persons do daily refuse
to take an Oath, though lawfully tendred, whereby it
often happens that the Truth is wholly suppressed, and the Administration of
Justice much obstructed : And whereas the said Persons, under a Pretence of
Religious Worship, do often assemble themselves in great Numbers in several
Parts of this Realm, to the great Endangering of the publick
Peace and Safety, and to the Terror of the People, by maintaining a secret and strict Correspondence amongst themselves, and
in the mean time separating and dividing themselves from the Rest of his
Majesty’s good and loyal Subjects, and from the publick
Congregations and usual Places of Divine Worship :’
II. For the Redressing therefore,
and better preventing the many Mischiefs and Dangers
that do and may arise by such dangerous Tenents and
such unlawful Assemblies, (2) 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, assembled in
Parliament, and by Authority of the same, That if any Person or Persons, who
maintain that the Taking of an Oath in any case whatsoever, (although before a
lawful Magistrate) is altogether unlawful, and contrary to the Word of God,
from and after the four and twentieth Day of March in
this present Year
of our Lord one thousand six hundred sixty and one, shall wilfully
and obstinately refuse to take an Oath, whereby the Laws of the Realm he or she
is or shall be bound to take the same, being lawfully and duly tendered ; (3) or
shall endeavour to persuade any other Person to whom
any such Oath shall in like Manner be duly and lawfully tendered, to refuse and
forbear the Taking of the same ; or shall by Printing, Writing or otherwise, go about to maintain and
defend that the Taking of an Oath in any case whatsoever, is altogether
unlawful : (5) And if the said Persons commonly called Quakers, shall at any Time after the said four and twentieth Day of
March depart from the Places of their
several Habitations, and assemble themselves to the Number of five or more, of
the Age of sixteen Years or upwards, at an one Time, in any Place, under
Pretence of joining in a Religious Worship, not authorised
by the Laws of this Realm ; (6) that then in all and every such Cases, the
Party so offending being thereof lawfully convict by Verdict of twelve Men, or
by his own Confession, or by the notorious Evidence of the Fact, shall lose and
forfeit to the King’s Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, for the first Offence,
such Sum as shall be imposed upon him or her, not exceeding five Pounds ; (7)
and if any Person or Persons, being once convicted of any such Offence, shall
again offend therein, and shall in Form aforesaid be thereof lawfully convicted,
shall for the second Offence forfeit to the King Our Sovereign Lord, his Heirs
and Successors, such Sum as shall be imposed upon him or her, nor exceeding ten
Pounds : (8) The said respective Penalties to be levied by Distress and Sale of
the Parties Goods so convicted, by Warrant of the Parties before whom they shall
be so convicted, rendering the Overplus to the
Owners, if any be ; (9) and for want of such Distress or Nonpayment of the said
Penalty within one Week after such Conviction, that then the said Parties so convicted
shall for the first Offence be committed to the common Gaol
or House of Correction for the Space of three Months ; and for the second
Offence, during six Months, without Bail or Mainprise,
there to be kept at hard Labour ; (10) which said
Monies so to be levied, shall be paid to such Person or Persons as shall be
appointed by those before whom they shall be convicted, to be employed for the
Increase of the Stock of the House of Correction to which they shall be committed,
and providing Materials to set them on Work : (11) And if any Person after he,
in Form aforesaid, hath been twice convict of any of the said Offences, shall
offend the third Time, and be thereof, in Form aforesaid, lawfully convict,
that then every Person so offending and convict shall for his or her third
Offence abjure the Realm ; or otherwise it shall and may be lawful to and for
his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, to give Order, and to cause him, her or
them to be transported in any Ship or Ships, to any of his Majesty’s
Plantations beyond the Seas.
III. And it is ordained and enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That all and every justice of Oyer and Terminer, Justices of Assize and Gaol-delivery, and the Justices of the Peace, shall have full Power and Authority in every of their open and General Sessions, to inquire, hear and determine all and every the said Offences within the Limits of their Commission to them directed, and to make Process for the Execution of the same, as they may do against any Person being indicted before them of Trespass, or lawfully convicted thereof.
IV. And be it also enacted, That it shall and may be lawful to and for any Justice of the Peace, Mayor, or other Chief Officer of any Corporation, within their several Jurisdictions, to commit to the common. Gaol, or bind over with sufficient Sureties to the Quarter-Sessions, any Person or Persons offending in the Premises, in order to his or their Conviction aforesaid.
V. Provided always, and be it hereby further enacted, That if any of the said Persons shall after such Conviction as aforesaid, take such Oath or Oaths, for which he or she stands committed, and also give Security, that he or she shall for the Time to come forbear to meet in any such unlawful Assembly as aforesaid, that then and, from thenceforth, such Person and Persons shall be discharged from all the Penalties aforesaid ; any Thing in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding.
VI. Provided
always, and be it ordained and enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That all and singular Lords of the Parliament, for every
third Offence committed against the Tenor of this Act, shall be tried by their
Peers, and not otherwise.
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Guy Etchells © 2005
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