XVII. Provided always, . . . That where any right of presentation to any ecclesiastical benefice shall belong to any office in the gift or appointment of His Majesty, his heirs or successors, and such office shall be held by a person professing the Roman Catholic religion, the right of presentation shall devolve upon and be exercised by the Archbishop of Canterbury for the time being.

XVIII. And be it enacted, That it shall not be lawful for any person professing the Roman Catholic religion, directly or indirectly, to advise His Majesty, his heirs or successors, or any person or persons holding or exercising the office of guardians of the United Kingdom, or of Regent of the United Kingdom, under whatever name, style, or title such office may be constituted, or the Lord Lieutenant, or Lord Deputy, or other chief governor or governors of Ireland, touching or concerning the appointment to or disposal of any office or preferment in the United Church of England and Ireland, or in the Church of Scotland; and if any person shall offend in the premises, he shall, being thereof convicted by due course of law, be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanour, and disabled for ever from holding any office, civil or military, under the crown.

XIX. And be it enacted, That every person professing the Roman Catholic religion, who shall after the commencement of this act be placed, elected, or chosen in or to the office of mayor, provost, alderman, recorder, bailiff, town clerk, magistrate, councillor, or common councilman, or in or to any office of magistracy or place of trust or employment relating to the government of any city, corporation, borough, burgh, or district within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, shall, within one calendar month next before or upon his admission into any of the same respectively, take and subscribe the oath herein-before appointed and set forth . . . which said oath shall either be entered in a book, roll, or other record to be kept for that purpose, or shall be filed amongst the records of the city, corporation, burgh, borough, or district.

XX. And be it enacted, That every person professing the Roman Catholic religion, who shall after the commencement of this act be appointed to any office or place of trust or profit under His Majesty, his heirs or successors, shall within three calendar months next before such appointment, or otherwise shall, before he presumes to exercise or enjoy or in any manner to act in such office or place, take and subscribe the oath herein-before appointed and set forth ... and the proper officer of the court in which such oath shall be so taken and subscribed shall cause the same to be preserved

among the records of the court; and such officer shall make, sign, and deliver a certificate of such oath having been duly taken and subscribed, as often as the same shall be demanded of him, upon payment of two shillings and sixpence for the same; and such certificate shall be sufficient evidence of the person therein named having duly taken and subscribed such oath.

XXI. And be it enacted, That if any person professing the Roman Catholic religion shall enter upon the exercise or enjoyment of any office or place of trust or profit under His Majesty, or any other office of franchise, not having in the manner or at the times aforesaid taken and subscribed the oath herein-before appointed and set forth, then and in every such case such person shall forfeit to His Majesty the sum of two hundred pounds; and the appointment of such person to the office, place, or franchise so by him held shall become altogether void, and the office, place or franchise shall be deemed and taken to be vacant to all intents and purposes whatsoever.

XXII. Provided always, That for and notwithstanding any thing in this act contained, the oath herein-before appointed and set forth shall be taken by the officers in His Majesty's land and sea service, professing the Roman Catholic religion, at the same times and in the same manner as the oaths and declarations now required by law are directed to be taken, and not otherwise.

XXIII. And be it further enacted, That from and after the passing of this act, no oath or oaths shall be tendered to or required to be taken by His Majesty's subjects professing the Roman Catholic religion, for enabling them to hold or enjoy any real or personal property, other than such as may by law be tendered to and required to be taken by His Majesty's other subjects; and that the oath herein appointed and set forth, being taken and subscribed in any of the courts, or before any of the persons above-mentioned shall be of the same force and effect, to all intents and purposes, as, and shall stand in the place of, all oaths and declarations required or prescribed by any law now in force for the relief of his Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects from any disabilities, incapacities, or penalties.

...

XXIV. And whereas the protestant episcopal Church of England and Ireland, and the doctrine, discipline, and government thereof, and likewise the protestant presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the doctrine, discipline and government thereof, are by the respective acts of union of England and Scotland, and of Great Britain and Ireland, established permanently and inviolably: and whereas the right and title of archbishops to their respective provinces,

of bishops to their sees, and of deans to their deaneries, as well in England as in Ireland, have been settled and established by law; Be it therefore enacted, That if any person, after the commencement of this act, other than the person thereunto authorized, by law, shall assume or use the name, style, or title of archbishop of any province, bishop of any bishoprick, or dean of any deanery, in England or Ireland, he shall for every such offence forfeit and pay the sum of one hundred pounds.

(XXV. Judicial or other officers not to attend with insignia of office at any place of worship other than Established Church.

XXVI. Penalty on Roman Catholics officiating except in their usual places of worship.

XXVII. Not to repeal 5 Geo. IV. c. 25.)

XXVIII. And . . . Be it therefore enacted, That every Jesuit, and every member of any other religious order, community, or society of the Church of Rome, bound by monastic or religious vows, who at the time of the commencement of this act shall be within the United Kingdom, shall, within six calendar months after the commencement of this act, deliver to the clerk of the peace of the county or place where such person shall reside, or to his deputy, a notice or statement, in the form and containing the particulars required to be set forth in the schedule to this act annexed; which notice or statement such clerk of the peace, or his deputy, shall preserve and register amongst the records of such county or place, without any fee, and shall forthwith transmit a copy of such notice or statement to the chief secretary of the Lord Lieutenant, or other chief governor or governors of Ireland, if such person shall reside in Ireland, or if in Great Britain, to one of His Majesty's principal Secretaries of State; and in case any person shall offend in the premises, he shall forfeit and pay to His Majesty, for every calendar month during which he shall remain in the United Kingdom without having delivered such notice or statement, as is herein-before required, the sum of fifty pounds.

XXIX. And be it further enacted, that if any Jesuit, or member of any such religious order, community, or society, as aforesaid, shall, after the commencement of this act, come into this realm, he shall be deemed and taken to be guilty of a misdemeanour, and being thereof lawfully convicted, shall be sentenced and ordered to be banished from the United Kingdom for the term of his natural life.

(XXX. Natural-born subjects being Jesuits may return into the kingdom and be registered.)

XXXI. Provided also, . . . That, notwithstanding any thing hereinbefore contained, it shall be lawful for any one of His Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, being a protestant, by a licence in writing, signed by him, to grant permission to any Jesuit, or member of any such religious order, community, or society as aforesaid, to come into the United Kingdom, and to remain therein for such period as the said Secretary of State shall think proper, not exceeding in any case the space of six calendar months; and it shall also be lawful for any of His Majesty's principal Secretaries of State to revoke any licence so granted before the expiration of the time mentioned therein, if he shall think so fit. . . .

XXXII. And be it further enacted, That there shall annually be laid before both houses of parliament an account of all such licences as shall have been granted for the purpose herein-before mentioned within the twelve months then next preceding.

XXXIII. And be it further enacted, That in case any Jesuit, or member of any such religious order, community, or society as aforesaid, shall, after the commencement of this act, within any part of the United Kingdom, admit any person to become a regular ecclesiastic, or brother or member of any such religious order, community, or society, or be aiding or consenting thereto, or shall administer or cause to be administered, . . . any oath, vow, or engagement purporting or intending to bind the person taking the same to the rules, ordinances, or ceremonies of such religious order, community, or society, every person offending in the premises in England or Ireland. shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanour, and in Scotland shall be punished by fine and imprisonment.

XXXIV. And be it further enacted, That in case any person shall, after the commencement of this act, within any part of this United Kingdom, be admitted or become a Jesuit, or brother or member of any such religious order, community, or society aforesaid, such person shall be deemed and taken to be guilty of a misdemeanour, and being thereof lawfully convicted shall be sentenced and ordered to be banished from the United Kingdom for the term of his natural life.

(XXXV. The party offending may be banished by the King; and, XXXVI., if at large after three months, may be transported for life.)

XXXVII. Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing herein contained shall extend or be construed to extend in any manner to affect any religious order, community, or establishment consisting of females bound by religious or monastic vows.

(XXXVIII. As to how penalties may be recovered. XXXIX. As to alterations in the present session. XL. Act to take effect ten days after it has become law.)

(May, C.H.E. ii. 192, iii. 162 et seq.; Rogers, P.L. iii. 47-63; Walpole, H.E. ii. ch. viii.; Lecky, H.E. viii. 501 et seq.; Porritt, U.H.C. ii. 218-289.)

XLVII

THE REFORM ACT

2 Will. IV. Cap. 45, 1832.

An act to amend the representation of the people in England and Wales.

Whereas it is expedient to take effectual measures for correcting divers abuses that have long prevailed in the choice of members to serve in the commons house of parliament, to deprive many inconsiderable places of the right of returning members, to grant such privilege to large, populous, and wealthy towns, to increase the number of knights of the shire to extend the elective franchise to many of his Majesty's subjects who have not heretofore enjoyed the same, and to diminish the expense of elections; be it therefore enacted... That each of the boroughs enumerated in the schedule marked (A.)1 to this act annexed, (that is to say,) Old Sarum, Newtown, St. Michael's or Midshall, Gatton, Bramber, Bossiney, Dunwich, Ludgershall, St. Mawe's, Beeralston, West Looe, St. Germain's, Newport, Blechingley, Aldborough, Camelford, Hindon, East Looe, Corfe Castle, Great Bedwin, Yarmouth, Queenborough, Castle Rising, East Grinstead, Higham Ferrars, Wendover, Weobly, Winchelsea, Tregony, Haslemere, Saltash, Orford, Callington, Newton, Ilchester, Boroughbridge, Stockbridge, New Romney, Hedon, Plympton, Seaford, Heylesbury, Steyning, Whitchurch, Wootton Bassett, Downton, Fowey, Milbourne Port, Aldeburgh, Minehead, Bishop's Castle, Okehampton, Appleby, Lostwithiel, Brackley, and Amersham, shall from and after the end of this present parliament cease to return any member or members to serve in parliament.

II. And be it enacted that each of the boroughs enumerated in the schedule1 marked (B.) to this act annexed, (that is to say,) Petersfield, Ashburton, Eye, Westbury, Wareham, Midhurst, Woostock, Wilton, Malmesbury, Liskeard, Reigate, Hythe, Droitwich, Lyme 1 Schedule omitted. See p. 212.