Test Acts 1673 & 1678

The Naturalisation and Restoration of Blood Act 1609 (7 Jas. 1. c. 2) provided that all such as were naturalised or restored in blood should receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper (repealed by Naturalization Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 14)) but this did not affect most people born in England. It was not, however, until the reign of Charles II that actually receiving communion in the Church of England was made a precondition for holding public office. The earliest imposition of this test was by the Corporation Act 1661 (13 Cha. 2 St. 2. c. 1) requiring that, besides taking the Oath of Supremacy, all members of corporations (i.e. municipal authorities) were, within one year after election, to receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper according to the rites of the Church of England. This was targeted at Presbyterians and other non-conformists following the English Civil War and Restoration, though also affected Roman Catholics. == Test Act 1673 ==

The Corporation Act 1661 (13 Cha. 2 St. 2. c. 1) was followed by the Test Act 1673 (25 Cha. 2. c. 2) (the long title of which is "An act for preventing dangers which may happen from popish recusants"). This act enforced upon all persons filling any office, civil, military or religious, the obligation of taking the oaths of supremacy and allegiance and subscribing to a declaration against transubstantiation and also of receiving the sacrament within three months after admittance to office. One of the immediate reasons that the "Country Party" (proto-Whigs) in Parliament pushed for this was to break up the Cabal ministry — members of the Court Party of powerful statement under Charles II, who had divergent religious interests — the Catholic Lord Clifford could not accept this oath which ran contrary to his beliefs, so resigned his position in government and the Cabal ministry completely unravelled by 1674. Foreign nations and their agents also had a vested interest in lobbying either way on the issue, as the leaders of the Cabal ministry (Arlington and Clifford) were allied with Catholic France against the Protestant Dutch in the Third Anglo-Dutch War; after the fall of the Cabal ministry, the pro-Dutch First Danby ministry came to power. In addition to this, 1673 was also the year that it became public knowledge that James, Duke of York, heir to the throne, had converted to Catholicism. The whole act was repealed by section 1 of, and the schedule to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1863 (26 & 27 Vict. c. 125). == Test Act 1678 ==

Initially, the act did not extend to peers, but in 1678 the act was extended by a further act, the Parliament Act 1678 (30 Cha. 2. St. 2), which required that all peers and members of the House of Commons should make a declaration against transubstantiation, invocation of saints, and the sacrificial nature of the Mass. == Scotland ==

In Scotland, a religious test was imposed immediately after the Reformation, and by the Religion Act 1567 (April c. 2 (S)) no one was to be appointed to a public office or to be a notary who did not profess Calvinism. The Scottish Test Act (c. 6 (S)) was passed in 1681 but rescinded by the Confession of Faith Ratification Act 1690. Later attempts to exclude Scotland from the English Test Acts were rejected by the Parliament of Scotland. In 1707, anyone bearing office in any university, college or school in Scotland was to profess and subscribe to the Confession of Faith. All persons were to be free of any oath or test contrary to or inconsistent with the Protestant religion and Presbyterian Church government. The reception of the Eucharist was never a part of the test in Scotland as it was in England and Ireland. The necessity for subscription to the Confession of Faith by persons holding a university office was removed by the Universities (Scotland) Act 1853. The act provided that in place of subscription every person appointed to a university office was to subscribe a declaration according to the form in the act, promising not to teach any opinions opposed to the divine authority of Scripture or to the Confession of Faith, and to do nothing to the prejudice of the Church of Scotland or its doctrines and privileges. All tests were finally abolished by the Universities (Scotland) Act 1889. == Repeals ==

The necessity of receiving the sacrament as a qualification for office was repealed in Ireland in 1780 by the Protestant Dissenters Relief Act 1779 (19 & 20 Geo. 3. c. 6 (I)), and by the Sacramental Test Act 1828 in England and Wales. Provisions requiring the taking of oaths and declarations against transubstantiation were repealed by the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829. The application of the 1828 and 1829 acts to Irish acts was uncertain and so the '''''' (30 & 31 Vict. c. 62) repeated the 1829 repeal more explicitly. The whole of the 1672 act was repealed by section 1 of, and the schedule to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1966, which came into force on 10 March 1966. The 1661 and 1678 acts were repealed by the Promissory Oaths Act 1871 and the Parliamentary Oaths Act 1866 respectively. Religious tests for officers of the ancient universities were repealed by the Universities Tests Act 1871 for England, the University of Dublin Tests Act 1873, and the Universities (Scotland) Act 1889. == Notes ==