THE YEARS 1713-1758
The English penal laws against Catholics were in effect in the peninsula
of Nova Scotia during the years 1713- 1758 and after 1758 they were in
effect in both the mainland and Cape Breton Island. (Johnston, p. 79)
MAY 1758
Before the first Legislative Assembly in the Province of Nova Scotia
was about to convene in 1758, the following regulation was agreed upon
in May, 1758: “In the regulations for the election of a House of
Representatives, the governor’s council decreed in May 1758 that no person
shall be chosen a member of the said House, or shall have a right of voting
who shall be a Popish Recusant.” (Johnston, p. 79)
OCTOBER 2, 1758
On October 2, 1758 the first Legislative Assembly of the Province of
Nova Scotia passed an Act
confirming titles to land. This act states that no Papist shall
hold or be entitled to any lands other than by grants from the Crown; these
grants were a long time in coming.
THE STATUTES AT LARGE, PASSED IN THE SEVERAL GENERAL ASSEMBLIES HELD
IN HIS MAJESTY’S PROVINCE OF NOVA SCOTIA FROM THE FIRST ASSEMBLY, WHICH
MET AT HALIFAX THE SECOND DAY OF OCTOBER, IN THE THIRTY-SECOND YEAR OF
HIS LATE MAJESTY GEORGE II AD. 1758 TO THE FORTY-FOURTH YEAR OF HIS PRESENT
MAJESTY GEORGE III AD 1804, INCLUSIVE WITH A COMPLETE INDEX AND ABRIDGEMENT
OF THE WHOLE
PUBLISHED BY THE ORDER OF THE GOVERNOR, COUNCIL, AND HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
BY RICHARD JOHN UNIACKE
HALIFAX
PRINTED BY JOHN HOWE AND SON, PRINTERS TO THE KING’S MOST EXCELLENT
MAJESTY, 1805
CAP. II.
An ACT for confirming Titles to Lands and quieting Possessions.
Be it enacted, by His Excellency the Governor, Council and Assembly,
and by the Authority of the same it is hereby enacted, That all persons
claiming or deriving any right or title to any lands or tenements, by virtue
of any grants or deeds entered in the public registry of this province,
or by virtue of any last will or testament, shall have, hold, and enjoy
such lands and tenements, according to the tenor and effect of such grants
or deeds registered, and of such last will and testament, whether the estate
be in his or their own right, or in right of, or in trust for another;
and that all possessions by virtue thereof shall be, and are hereby confirmed,
any want of legal form in such grants, deeds, or will, notwithstanding.
II. Provided, That no Papist, hereafter, shall have any right
or title to hold, possess, or enjoy any lands or tenements, other than
by virtue of any grant or grants from the Crown, but that all deeds or
wills, hereafter made conveying lands or tenements to any Papist, or in
trust for any Papist, shall be utterly null and void: And such lands or
tenements shall not revert to the persons granting the same to any Papist,
or in trust for any Papist, but such lands or tenements shall, upon conviction
of such Papist, be vested in His Majesty, his heirs and successors for
ever.
III. And it is hereby enacted, That before the registry of any
grand or deed of any lands or tenements, other than by virtue of any grant
or grants from the Crown, the person or persons to whom, or for whose use
such grant or deeds are made, shall take the oaths appointed to be taken
instead of the oaths of supremacy and allegiance, and make and subscribe
the declaration, before the Register of the province or his deputy, who
are hereby empowered to administer the same: And if any person shall refuse
to take the said oaths, and subscribe the said declaration, the grants
or deeds made to such persons shall be null and void to all intents and
purposes whatsoever.
IV. Provided nevertheless, That it shall and may be lawful for
any person or persons, whose lands have been taken in execution, and sold
as aforesaid, his, her or their heirs, within twelve months from the second
day of October, 1758, to sue for and recover, by action in nature of an
action of account, from the person, or persons to whom the persons entitled
to such lands or tenements were indebted, and for satisfaction of whole
debts the said lands or tenements have been sold as aforesaid, upon payment
in manner herein after directed, or the principal money due with interest
for the same, at the rate of six pounds in the hundred for each year, and
all costs and damages awarded or sustained by the said judgments, and also
for all improvements of the said lands or tenements, and the Provost Marshal’s
proceedings thereon, with like interest for the principal money expended
in such improvements, upon a just account to be taken of the same on any
trial for the recovery of said lands or tenements, wherein a view, if required,
shall be directed: And if upon such trial it shall appear in evidence,
that such person or persons, to whom the land have been sold or conveyed
as aforesaid, have committed wilful waste thereon, or have received rents
or profits from the said lands or tenements, the said rents and profits,
and the value of such waste, shall be allowed in account to the person
so suing for the recovery of the said lands or tenements, and upon payment
of said principal money and interest, and of all damages and costs for
and on account of such debts and improvements, or upon taking such account
of rents and profits, or the value of such waste, and payment of the balance
due thereon, before any writ of execution shall issue upon any judgment
upon such trial, to the Clerk of the court where such trial shall be had;
that then, and in such case, it shall an may be lawful to award such writ
of execution for delivering possession of such lands or tenements, to the
persons so suing for the same; Provided, that if upon such trial it shall
appear that the rents and profits received, or the value of such waste
committed, or both of them, do exceed the value of the debt, interest,
costs and damages, and the value of improvements, that execution shall
issue for the recovering the said sum so received in rents and profits,
or the value of such waste commited beyond the value of such debt, interest,
costs and damages, together with the possession of the lands and tenements
so taken in execution as aforesaid.
MARCH, 1759
During that same first Legislative Assembly the government also passed
an “Act for the establishment of religious worship in the Province and
for suppressing Popery”. Section 1 establishes the Church of England
as the official religion and grants freedom of religious conviction to
all other protestant religions. Section 2 of that Act makes it a
crime for any “popish priest” to be found in this province and provides
for the punishment of those harbouring priests.
Brian Hanington in speaking about these Acts states: “The intent of
this legislation was to prevent any of the Acadians expelled three years
earlier from returning.” (Hanington, p. 39) and states that these acts
were “...enacted to prevent the ministry of catholic priest.” (Hanington,
p. 39) and “...discourage the local populace from hiding their local priests...”
(Hanington, p. 39)
CAP. V.
An Act for the establishment of religious public Worship in this
Province,
and for suppressing Popery, 1758
For as much as His Majesty upon the settlement of the Province, was
pleased, in His pious concern for the advancement of GOD’s glory, and the
more decent celebration of the divine ordinances amongst us, to erect a
Church for religious worship, according to the usage of the Church of England;
in humble imitation of his Royal example, and for the more effectual attainment
of his Majesty’s pious intentions, that we might in the exercise of religious
duties, be seeking for the divine favour and protection, be it therefore
enacted by his Excellency the Governor, Council and Assembly, That the
sacred rites and ceremonies of divine worship, according to the liturgy
of the Church established by the laws of England, shall be deemed the fixed
form of worship amongst us, and the place wherein such liturgy shall be
used, shall be respected and known by the name of the Church of England
as by law established. And that for the preservation of purity and
unity of doctrine and discipline in the church, and the right administration
of the sacraments, no minister shall be admitted to officiate as a minister
of the Church of England, but such as shall produce to the Governor, a
testimonial, that he hath been licenced by the Bishop of London, and shall
publickly declare his assent and consent to the book of common prayer,
and shall subscribe to be conformable to the orders and constitutions of
the Church of England, and the laws there established; upon which the Governor
is hereby requested to induct the said minister into any parish that shall
make presentation him. And if any other person pretending himself
a minister of the Church of England, shall, contrary to this act, presume
to teach or preach publicly or privately, the Governor and Council are
hereby desired and empowered to suspend and silence the person so offending.
II. Provided nevertheless, and it is the true intent and meaning
of this act, that Protestants, dissenting from the Church of England, whether
they be Calvinists, Lutherans, Quakers, or under what denomination forever,
shall have free liberty of conscience, and may erect and build meeting
houses for public worship, and may choose and elect ministers for the carrying
on divine service and administration of the sacraments, according to their
several opinions: and all contracts made between their ministers and their
congregations for the support of the ministry, are hereby declared valid,
and shall have their full force and effect, according to the tenor and
conditions thereof; and all such Dissenters shall be excused from any rates
or taxes to be made and levied for the support of the established Church
of England.
III. And be it further enacted, That every popish person, exercising
any ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and every popish priest or person exercising
the function of a popish priest, shall depart out of this province on or
before the twenty-fifth day of March, 1759. And if any such person
or persons shall be found in this province after the said day, he or they
shall, upon conviction, be adjudged to suffer perpetual imprisonment: and
if any person or persons so imprisoned, shall escape out of prison, he
or they shall be deemed and adjudged to be guilty of felony without benefit
of clergy.
IV. And be it further enacted, That any person, who shall knowingly
harbour, relieve, conceal, or entertain any such clergyman of the popish
religion, or popish priest, or person exercising the function of a popish
priest, shall forfeit fifty pounds, one moiety to his Majesty for the support
of his government in this province, and the other moiety to the informer,
and shall be also adjudged to be fet in the pillory, and to find sureties
for his good behaviour at the discretion of the court.
V. And be it enacted, That every offence against this act, shall
and may be inquired of, heard and determined, at his Majesty’s Supreme
Court of Assize, and General Goal Delivery, or by a special commission
of Oyer and Terminer.
VI. And be further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for
any justice of the peace, upon information by oath, or any reasonable cause
of suspicion, to issue his warrant for apprehending any such popish ecclesiastical
person, popish priest or person exercising the function of a popish priest,
or any person knowingly harbouring, relieving, concealing or entertaining,
them or any of them, and to commit any such person to persons respectively,
who shall offend against this act, to his Majesty’s goal, or trial as aforesaid,
and to require sureties for the appearance of the witness or witnesses,
against any offender or offenders, upon such trial; and to make return
of his proceedings to such court on the information of such witnesses,
and the examination of any offender or offenders.
VII. Provided nevertheless, That This Act shall not extend, or
be construed to extend to any such Romish ecclesiastical person, who shall
be sent into the province as prisoners of war, or who shall by shipwreck
or any other distress or necessity, be driven into the province, so as
such persons arriving through necessity as aforesaid, depart out of the
province as soon as there may be opportunity; and that they also forthwith
after arrival, attend the Governor or Commander in Chief of the province
for the time being, if near the place of his residence, or otherwise a
justice of the peace, and represent the necessity of their arrival, and
obey such directions as the said Governor, Commander in Chief or Justice
shall give them for their departure; and so as that neither the said prisoners
of war, nor the said persons arriving through such necessity, shall exercise
any ecclesiastical jurisdiction, or any part of the function of a popish
priest, during his or their abode in the province, in which case he or
they shall be liable to the penalties of this Act.
JUNE 28, 1766
On June 28, 1766 the Legislative Assembly of the province of Nova Scotia
passed an act concerning schools and schoolmaster that was blatantly anti-catholic
in sentiment. That Act is given below in its fullness.
CAP. VII.
An ACT concerning Schools and Schoolmaster
Be it enacted by the Commander in Chief, Council, and Assembly, that
no person hereafter shall set up or keep a grammar school within this province,
till he shall have first been examined by the minister of such town wherein
he proposes to keep such grammar school, as to the qualifications for the
instruction on children in such schools; and where no minister shall be
settled, such examination shall be made by two Justices of the Peace, for
the country, together with a certificate from at least six of the inhabitants
of such town, of the morals and good conduct of such schoolmaster, which
shall be transmitted to the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or Commander
in Chief, for the time being, for obtaining a licence as by his Majesty’s
royal instruction is directed; and that no person shall set up or keep
for the instruction of youth in reading, writing, or arithmetic, within
the township of Halifax, without such examination, certificate and licence,
or in any other manner than is before directed; and every such schoolmaster
who shall set up or keep a school contrary to this Act, shall for every
offence forfeit the sum of three pounds, upon conviction before two Justices
of the Peace of the county where such person shall so offend, to be levied
by warrant of distress, and applied for the use of the school of the town
where such offence shall be committed.
II. Provided, that no person presume to enter upon the said office
of schoolmaster, until he shall have taken the oaths appointed to be taken
instead of the oaths of allegiance and supremacy; and subscribed the declaration
openly in some one His Majesty’s Courts, or as shall be directed by the
Governor, Lieutenant Governor or Commander in Chief for the time being,
and if any popish recusant, papist or person professing the popish religion,
shall be so presumptuous as to set up any school within this province,
and be detected therein, such offended shall, for ever such offence, suffer
three months imprisonment without bail or mainprize, and shall pay a fine
to the King of ten pounds; and if anyone shall refuse to take the said
oaths and subscribe the declaration he shall be deemed and taken to be
a popish recusant for the purpose so before mentioned.
III. And whereas his Majesty has been pleased to order that four
hundred acres in land in each township, shall be granted to and for the
use and support of schools, be it enacted, that the said quantity of lands
shall be vested in trustees for the said purpose, and such trustees shall
be and are hereby enabled to sue and defend for and on behalf of such schools,
and to improve all such lands as shall be most for the advantage and benefit
thereof.
1783
The first measure of relief from these acts came by the amelioration
of 1783 the Acts passed in 1758. As background for this, one must
understand that the 4th article of the Treaty of Paris, signed on February
10, 1763 stated that “...agrees to grant the liberty of the Catholick religion
to the inhabitants of Canada...that his new Roman Catholick subjects may
profess the worship of their religion according to the rites of the Romish
Church, as far as the laws of Great Britain permit.”(Johnston, p. 101)
This one clause meant that the French-Canadian catholic population in Quebec
fared much better than did catholics in any other part of the empire, they
were free to practice their faith. In addition, in England, “The
Catholic Relief Act” received royal assent on June 3, 1778. It was
passed in order to appeal to catholic subjects in England so that they
would sign up in the army to help Britain put down the American Revolution.
This act allowed Catholics to inherit and purchase land and freed the clergy
to practice their faith. As far as Nova Scotia was concerned five
very persistent Irish Catholics of Halifax took up the cause of getting
some relief from the anti-catholic laws they were under. John Murphy,
John Mullowney, William Meany, John Cody and James Kavanaugh “...presented
a petition to the provincial legislature in July of 1781 calling for the
repeal of the acts prohibiting catholics from practicing their faith and
prohibiting them from land ownership.” (Hanington, p. 48) After some years
of protest from different Protestant denominations, the legislature and
King George III gave its assent to the repeal on December 2, 1783.
Finally, catholics of the province of Nova Scotia were free to
acquire and hold land, build building, build churches, worship in those
churches, and engage priests. In addition, as a direct result of
the right to hold and will lands, catholics had earned the right of suffrage
and now participated in the life of the province as voting members of their
respective communities.
THE 1783 AMELIORATION OF THE 1758 ACTS
CAP. IX.
An ACT for the relieving His Majesty’s Subjects, professing the Popish
Religion from Certain Penalties and Disabilities imposed upon them by two
Acts of the General Assembly of this Province, made in the Thirty Second
Year of his late Majesty’s Reign, entitled, an Act, confirmation Titles
to Lands and quieting Possessions; and an Act for the Establishment of
Religious public Worship in this Province, and for Suppressing of Popery.
1783
Whereas it is expedient to repeal certain provisions in the Acts, made
by the General Assembly of this Province in the thirty second year of his
late Majesty’s reign, entitled, an Act for confirming titles to lands and
quieting possessions; and an Act, entitled, an Act for the establishment
of religious public worship in this Province and for suppressing of Popery,
whereby certain penalties and difficulties are imposed on persons professing
the popish religion:
I. Be it enacted, by the Governor, Council and Assembly, That
so much of the said Act as relates to the disabling any papist from having
any right or title, to hold, possess or enjoy, any lands or tenements other
than by virtue of any grant or grants from the crown; but that all deeds
or wills hereafter made conveying lands or tenements to any papist, or
in trust for any papist, shall be utterly null and void; and that such
lands or tenements shall not revert to the persons, granting the same to
any papist, or in trust for any papist, but that such lands and tenements,
shall upon conviction of such papist, be vested in His Majesty, His heirs
and successors for ever.
II. And that so much of said Act as subjects popish persons exercising
any ecclesiastical jurisdiction or popish Priest to imprisonment and persons
harbouring, relieving, concealing or entertaining any such clergyman of
the popish religion, popish priest or person, exercising the function of
a popish priest to penalties and punishment, shall be and the same an every
clause and matter and thing herein before mentioned is and are hereby repealed.
III. And be it enacted, 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 Acts or any
thing herein contained had not been made, any thing the said Acts contained
to the contrary notwithstanding.
IV. Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing therein
contained shall extend or be construed to extend to any person or persons,
but such who shall within the spaced of six calendar months after the passing
of this Act, or 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 she 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:
I “A.B.”, sincerely promise and wear, that I will be faithful
and bear true allegiance to His Majesty, King Gorge 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
I will do my utmost endeavours to disclose and make known to His Majesty,
His Heirs and Successors, all treasons, and traitorous conspiracies which
may be found 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 title of Prince of Wales, in the life time of His
father, and who since His death is said to have assumed the title of the
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 the 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 deported to murdered by their subjects or any other
person whatsoever; and I do declare that I do not believe, that the Pope
of Rome or any other foreign Prince, Prelate, Sate 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 or this oath, without any evasion, equivocation or mental reservation,
whatsoever, and without any dispensation already granted by the Pope or
any authority of the See of Rome, or any person whatsoever, or 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 and void.
VI. Which oath it shall be competent to any of His Majesty’s
Courts of Record or to any Court of any General Sessions of the Peace within
this Province to administer, and they are hereby required to administer
the same accordingly, of the taking and subscribing of which oaths a register
shall be kept and preserved.
VII. Provided, That nothing in this Act contained shall be of
any effect until His Majesty’s pleasure therein shall be known.
1786
Since 1783 Catholics in Nova Scotia were now free to practice their
religion and own land and three years later they were granted emancipation
in respect to education. “The third school Act of the legislature
was passed in 1786, it permitted catholics to set up schools, but prohibited
them from teaching any youths under 14 years of age who had been brought
up in the Protestant religion.” (Johnston, p. 105)
CAP. 1.
An ACT for relieving His Majesty’s Subjects, professing the Popish
Religion from certain Penalties and Disabilities imposed on them by the
Act of the General Assembly of this Province; made in the Sixth Year of
His present Majesty’s Reign, entitled, an Act concerning Schools and Schoolmasters
Whereas it is expedient to repeal certain provisions in the Act made
by the General Assembly of this Province, in the sixth year of His present
Majesty’s reign, entitled, An Act concerning Schools and Schoolmaster,
whereby certain penalties and disabilities are imposed on persons professing
the Popish Religion:
I. Be it enacted, by the Governor, Council, and Assembly, That
so much of the said Act as relates to the subjecting any popish recusant,
papist, or person professing the popish religion, who shall set up any
school within this Province to certain imprisonment and penalties, shall
be, and the same is hereby repealed.
II. Provided always, That nothing herein contained shall be construed
to extend to any person or persons, but such who shall take and subscribe
an oath in the words set forth in an Act made in the twenty third year
of His present Majesty’s Reign, entitled, An Act for relieving His Majesty’s
subjects profession the popish religion from certain penalties and disabilities
imposed upon them by two Acts of the General Assembly of this Province,
made in the Thirty-second year of His late Majesty’s reign, entitled: An
Act, confirming titles to lands and quieting possessions, and an Act for
the establishment of Religious public Worship in this Province, and for
suppressing of Popery, in the manner as therein directed, and who shall
be licensed for that purpose by the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, or Commander
in Chief of this Province.
III. Provided also, and it is hereby enacted and declared, That
nothing in this Act contained shall extend, or be construed to extend,
to the permitting any popish person, priest or schoolmaster, taking upon
themselves the education or government, or boarding youth, within this
Province, to admit into their schools any youth under the age of fourteen
years, who shall have been brought up and educated in the protestant religion.
IV. Provided also, That nothing in this Act contained shall be
of any force or effect until His Majesty’s pleasure therein shall be known.
THE 1830 REPEAL OF THE ANTI-CATHOLIC LAWS
Even after all the strides that were made up to this point it was still
impossible for catholics to hold public office. It took another 40-odd
years before all anti-catholic laws were repealed and before the “Act of
Emancipation” was enacted by the Nova Scotia Legislature. This Act
came into being because of the pressures brought to bear on the provincial
government by two catholic priest, Father John Carroll and Father Lawrence
O’Connar Doyle. Both of these men worked tirelessly to obtain the
repeal of the few remaining statutes which showed any evidence of anti-catholic
prejudice.
CAP. I.
An Act for the relief of His Majesty’s Roman Catholic Subjects
in this Province, 1830
Whereas, by an Act of the Imperial Parliament, passed in the tenth year
of His present Majesty’s Reign, entitled, An Act for the relief of His
Majesty’s Roman Catholic Subjects, various restraints and disabilities,
which had formerly been imposed on the Roman Catholic Subjects of His Majesty,
to which other Subjects of His Majesty were not liable , were removed,
and certain Declarations, commonly called the Declaration against Transubstantiation,
and the Declaration against Transubstantiation and the Invocation of Saints,
and the sacrifice of the Mass, as practised in the Church of Rome, were
repealed, with certain exceptions, in the said Act, specified; And whereas,
it is just and expedient, that the relief so granted should extend to the
benefit of His Majesty’s Roman Catholic Subjects in this Province; And
whereas, doubts may be entertained how far the said Act of Parliament is
in force here, for remedy whereof:
I. Be it enacted, by the President, Council and Assembly, That,
from and after the commencement of this Act, it shall not be required of
any of His Majesty’s Subjects, within this Province, to make, or subscribe,
the said Declarations, or either of them, as a qualification for sitting
and voting in the General Assembly of this Province, or for the exercise
of any office, franchise, or civil right, within the same.
II. And be it further enacted, That, from and after the commencement
of this Act, it shall be lawful for any person professing the Roman Catholic
Religion, being appointed a Member of His Majesty’s Council, or who shall,
after the commencement of the Act, be returned a Member of the House of
Representatives of this Province, in General Assembly, to sit and vote
in either House respectively, being in all other respects duly qualified
to sit and vote therein, upon taking and subscribing the Oath set forth
and directed in and by the second and third Clauses of the said Imperial
Act, instead of the Oaths of Allegiance, Supremacy and Abjuration.
III. And be it further enacted, That henceforth it shall and
may be lawful for any of His Majesty’s Subjects, professing the Roman Catholic
Religion, to hold, exercise, and enjoy, all Civil and Military Offices,
and places of trust, or profit, in this Province, under His Majesty, His
Heirs or Successors; and to exercise any other franchise, or civil right,
upon taking and subscribing the said Oath, set forth and directed in and
by the said second and third Clauses of the said Imperial Act, instead
of the Oath of Allegiance, Supremacy, and Abjuration and instead of such
other Oath or Oaths as are, or may be now, by Law required to be taken
for the purpose aforesaid, by any of His Majesty’s Subjects professing
the Roman Catholic Religion.
IV. Provided always and be it further enacted, That nothing herein
contained, shall be considered to exempt any person professing the Roman
Catholic Religion from taking any Oath or Oaths, or making any Declaration
not herein before mentioned, which are, or may be, by Law, required to
be taken or subscribed by any person, on his admission into any such office
or place of trust or profit as aforesaid.
V. And be it further enacted, That the Oath so appointed to be
taken by His Majesty’s Subjects, professing the Roman Catholic Religion,
n lieu of the Oaths of Allegiance, Supremacy and Abjuration, and in lieu
of any other Oaths or Declarations required formerly to be taken by them,
shall be administered in the same manner, at the same time, and by the
same Officers, or other persons, as the Oaths for which it is substituted
are, or may be now by Law, administered.
Note: spelling, capitalization and punctuation as in original document.
SOURCES
1. Johnston, Rev. Angus Anthony, A History of the Catholic Church in
Eastern Nova Scotia, Vol. 1, 1611-1827, 1960, Hunter Rose Company Limited.
2. Hanington, J. Brian, Every Popish Person, 1984, Scanner Art Services,
Toronto, Ontario
Note: Documents were donated by Mary LeBlanc at:
[email protected]
