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Popish Recusants Act 1605
Act of Parliament
Long titleAn Act to prevent and avoid dangers which may grow by Popish Recusants.
Citation 3 Jas. 1. c. 4
Dates
Royal assent27 May 1606
Repealed13 April 1829
Other legislation
Repealed by Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829
Status: Repealed

The Popish Recusants Act 1605 ( 3 Jas. 1. c. 4) was an act of the Parliament of England which quickly followed the Gunpowder Plot of the same year, an attempt by English Roman Catholics to assassinate King James I and many of the Parliament.

The Act forbade Roman Catholics from practising the professions of law and medicine and from acting as a guardian or trustee; and it allowed magistrates to search their houses for arms. The Act also provided a new oath of allegiance, which denied the power of the Pope to depose monarchs. The recusant was to be fined £60 or to forfeit two-thirds of his land if he did not receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper at least once a year in his Church of England parish church. [1]

The Act also made it high treason to obey the authority of Rome rather than the King. [2]

See also

References

  1. ^ Dudley Julius Medley, A Student's Manual of English Constitutional History. Sixth Edition (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1925), pp. 639-40.
  2. ^ Sections 22 and 23