provisions similar to those of the 25 Car. 2. c. 2. Eng. and s. 18&21. Offices void for 8. 22. 1 Geo. 1. st. 2. c. 13. Eng. declaring all such offices void in case of neglect or refusal to perform these se- neglect, c. veral requisites, and enabling such persons to take a new grant thereof: and contains also the same exception (s. 22.) of inferior civil offices and private offices, including high and petit constables: and also excepts offices of inheritance, where the deputies shall be protest- Exceptions. ants duly qualified, and approved of by the crown, or chief governor of Ireland. This section of the act enables persons in England to take the oaths, and make and subscribe the declaration, in one of the courts at Westminster, or at the quarter sessions for the county or place where they shall reside, inhabit, or be, and to receive the sacrament according to the usage of the church of England, and produce the certificate thereof within the time limited for performing the same in Ireland: and persons beyond the seas, or on board the fleet, are thereby also allowed 4 months after their return into England or Ireland to perform these requisites: and this clause also contains a saving for persons under the age of 18, or found by inquisition to be non compos mentis, who are enabled to qualify as aforesaid within 4 months after their coming to said age, or becoming of sound mind. adopted in Ire Eng. It is observable, that the oaths of allegiance and suEnglish statutes premacy were required to be taken in Ireland, by the respecting ouths, English statute 3 W. & M. c. 2. Eng, which enacted (s.4.) land. that every barrister, attorney, clerk or officer in chan- 5 W. & M.c.2. cery, or any other court, and their deputies, or practising as such in Ireland, and all persons admitted into any office or employment, ecclesiastical or civil, in Ireland, should take the same form of the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, as were framed by the 1 W. & M. st. 1. c. 8. Eng. as also the same declaration against transubstantiation, invocation of saints, and the sacrifice of the mass, as was prescribed (for members of parliament) by the 30 Car. 2. st. 2. Eng. And by the 1 Ann. st. 2. c. 17. s. 5 & 6. Eng. all officers, civil 1 Ann. st. 2. and military, and all ecclesiastical persons, and every Eng. master, The word "believing" is substituted for the word “thinking" vide p. 140. line 23. c. 17. s. 5 & 6 master, governor, head, or fellow of the university of Dublin, and all persons teaching pupils in said university, or elsewhere, and all schoolmasters or ushers, and all preachers and teachers of separate congregations, and every person acting as serjeant at law, counsellor at law, barrister, advocate, attorney, solicitor, proctor, clerk, or notary, in any court, are required to take and subscribe the oath of abjuration (as altered by the 1 Ann. st. 1. c. 22. Eng.) in the next term after being admitted into, or entering upon any of the said preferments, offices, or capacities, in the court of Ch. K. B. C. B. or Exc. or at the next general quarter sessions for the county, &c. where any such person shall reside, under such penalties in case of neglect or refusal as contained in the 13 W. 3. c. 6. Eng. But by s. 7. persons in England, or in his majesty's service on board the fleet, are to take said oath, in the term or at the quarter sessions next after their return into Ireland. This act contains also provisions (s. 9 & 12.) corresponding to those of the 25 1 Geo. 1. st.2. Car. 2. c. 2. s. 17. Eng. ante p. 293. and 1 Geo. 1. st. 2. c. 13. s. 14. Eng. ante p. 292. The 1 Geo. 1. st. 2. c. 13. Eng. and 6 Geo. 3. c. 53. Eng, which modified the oaths s. 7. 9& 18. c. 13. Eng. 9 Geo. 2.c.26. s. 37. Eng. Eng. 6 Go. 3. c. 53. of allegiance and abjuration according to their present form, and the 9 Geo. 2. c. 26. Eng. which prescribed a 21&22 Geo. 3. new limit or time for taking these oaths, were also declared to extend to Ireland. These several statutes are adopted in Ireland by the 21 & 22 Geo. 3. c. 48. s. 3. Ir.* c. 48. s. 3. Ir. Vide p. 143. Exception in favour of protestant dissenters. The 25 Car. 2. c. 2. Eng. has not been dispensed with in England by any permanent law in favour of protestant dissenters, so far as respects their qualification for offices, save that the Toleration Act, 1 W. & M. e. 18. s.7. Eng. st. 1. c. 18. Eng.* enacts (s. 7.) that if any person dissenting from the church of England, shall be chosen or appointed to bear the office of high constable, or petit constable, church-warden, overseer of the poor, or any other parochial or ward-office, and such person shall scruple to take upon him any of the said offices, in regard of the oaths or any other matter required by law to be taken or done in respect of such office, such person may execute such office or employment by a sufficient deputy The 6 Geo. 1. c. 5. s. 4. Ir. contains a similar clause. c. 6. Ir. dissenters in Ireland lr. abled to hold deputy that shall comply with the laws in this behalf; but such deputy shall be allowed and approved by such person, in such manner, as such officer should by law have been allowed and approved. But in Ireland the 19 & 20 Geo. 3. 19 & 20 Gen. 3.c. 6. Ir. has repealed the clause of the 2 Ann. c. 6. Ir. which relates to the taking of the sacrament of the Lord's Disabilities of supper, according to the usage of the church of Ireland, and removed so far as respects protestant dissenters; and for this purpose enacts, that every person being protestant, may have, hold, and enjoy any office civil or military, and receive any pay, &c. belonging to or by reason of such office, notwithstanding he shall not receive or have received the sacrament, as prescribed by said clause, without incurring the penalties in said act or in any other act, for or in respect of such neglect. But this act is declared by the 33 Geo. 3. c. 51. Ir. to extend to protestant dis- 33 Geo. 3.c.51. senters only, and not to protestants of the church of Ireland. With respect to quakers, the declaration of fide- Quakers dislity prescribed for them by the 8 Geo. 1. c. 6. Eng. offices. comprehends in substance the oaths of allegiance and supremacy and this act also prescribes a declaration for 8 Geo, 1. c. 6. quakers of the effect of the oath of abjuration; which declarations entitle them to the benefits of the Toleration Act, 1 W. & M. st. 1. c. 18. but do not qualify them for holding offices. And the 8 Geo. 1. c. 6. as explained by the 22 Geo. 2. c. 47. s. 36. & 37. Eng. which enables quakers 22 Geo. 2. c.47. in all cases where an oath is required by law, to make an affirmation or declaration instead thereof, expressly provides, (s. 6.) that nothing therein shall enable them to bear any office of profit in the government. The 19 19 Geo. 2. c.18. Geo. 2. c. 18. Ir. prescribes the same form of affirmation to be made by quakers, in cases where an oath is required, as that contained in the 8 Geo. 1. c. 6. Eng. and provides also that they shall not be thereby admissible to bear places of trust or profit under the government. And the 21 & 22 Geo. 3. c. 57. Ir. which enables that class of dissenters called seceders, to take an oath in a particular Seceders also mode and form, contains the same exception. Eng. s. 36-7. Eng. s. 3. Ir. 21 & 22 Geo. $. s. 57 Ir. disabled. England may With respect to Roman catholics, the 31 Geo. 3. c.32. Catholies in Eng. enacts, that it shall be lawful for any such person hold inferior ci personally to appear in any of the courts of Ch. K. B. vil, or private of C. B. fices. Eng. 31 Geo.3. c.32. C. B. or Exc. at Westminster, or at the quarter sessions for the county, &c. where such person shall reside, and there in open court between the hours of 9 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon, take, make, and subscribe the following declaration and oath, viz. : Declaration. Oath. “I, A. B. do hereby declare, that I profess the Roman "catholic religion." 26 66 I, A. B. do sincerely promise and swear, that I will "be faithful and bear true allegiance to his majesty king George the third, and him will defend to the ut"most of my power, against all conspiracies and attempts whatever that shall be made against his person, "erown, or dignity; and I will do my utmost endeavour to disclose and make known to his majesty, his, "heirs, and successors, all treasons and traitorous conspiracies which may be formed 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; which succession, by an act intitled "act for the further limitation of the crown, and better securing the rights and liberties of the subject,' is "and stands limited to the princess Sophia, electress "and duchess dowager of Hanover, and the heirs of her "body being protestants; hereby utterly renouncing and An abjuring any obedience or allegiance unto any other person claiming or pretending a right to the crown of "these realms. And I do swear that I do reject and detest, as an unchristian and impious position, that it "lawful to murder or destroy any person or persons 17 ' whatsoever, for or under pretence of their being he"reticks or infidels; and also that unchristian and impious "principle, that faith is not to be kept with hereticks or "infidels; and I further declare that it is not an article "of my faith, and that I do renounce, reject, and abjure the opinion, that princes excommunicated by the 66 pope and council, or any authority of the see of Rome, "or by any authority whatsoever, may be deposed or "nurdered by their subjects, or any person whatsoever : and I do promise that I will not hold, maintain, or "abet any such opinion, or any other opinions contrary "to "to what is expressed in this declaration. And I do de"clare, that I do not believe that the pope of Rome, or - any other foreign prince, prelate, state, or potentate hath, or ought to have, any temporal or civil jurisdic❝tion, 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 of this oath, "without any evasion, equivocation, or mental reserva❝tion whatever, and without any dispensation already granted by the pope, or any authority of the see of "Rome, or any person whatever; and without thinking "that I am or can be acquitted before God or man, or "absolved of this declaration, or any part thereof, al"though the pope or any other person or authority "whatsoever shall dispense with or annul the same, or "declare that it was null or void. So help me God." Which declaration and oath shall be subscribed by the person taking and making the same, with the name at length, if he can write, or with his mark, the name being written by the officer, where such person cannot write, such person or such officer adding the title, addition, and place of abode of such person, and shall remain in such court of record: and the proper officer shall make, sub, scribe, and deliver a certificate of such declaration and oath having been duly made, &c. if demanded, for which certificate 2s. shall be the fee; and such certificate, upon proof of the certifier's hand, and that he acted as such officer, shall be sufficient evidence of such person's having duly made, &c. such declaration and oath, unless the same shall be falsified. And such officer shall (by s. 2.) yearly, on or before the 25th December, transmit to the clerk of the privy council, lists of the persons, with their titles, additions, and places of abode, who shall have made and subscribed such declaration and oath in the preceding year. And this act contains a clause, enabling catholics to execute the offices of constable, &c. by deputy, similar to that of the 1 W. & M. c. 18. supra, in favour of protestant dissenters. And $. 2. 8.7. |