Test Act

views updated May 29 2018

Test Act, 1673. Usually linked to the Corporation Act, but a later addition to the code of laws excluding non-members of the Church of England from public office (25 Car. II c. 2). It required all office-holders under the crown, including MPs, to receive communion according to the rites of the Church of England at least once a year. They were also required to take oaths of supremacy and allegiance to the crown and to make a declaration against transubstantiation. This was aimed more particularly at recusant catholics and the repeal of the Test Act was the principal aim of the successful catholic emancipation campaign led by Daniel O'Connell in the late 1820s.

Judith Champ

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