| Short Title: | Act of Uniformity 1662[1] |
| Type: | Act |
| Parliament: | Parliament of England |
| Long Title: | An Act for the Uniformity of Publique Prayers and Administracion of Sacramentes & other Rites & Ceremonies and for establishing the Form of making ordaining and consecrating Bishops Preists and Deacons in the Church of England.[2] |
| Year: | 1662 |
| Citation: | 14 Cha. 2. c. 4 |
| Royal Assent: | 19 May 1662 |
| Commencement: | 7 January 1662 |
| Status: | partially_repealed |
| Revised Text: | http://www.legislation.gov.uk/aep/Cha2/14/4 |
| Use New Uk-Leg: | yes |
The Act of Uniformity 1662 (14 Cha. 2. c. 4) is an Act of the Parliament of England. (It was formerly cited as 13 & 14 Cha. 2. c. 4, by reference to the regnal year when it was passed on 19 May 1662.) It prescribed the form of public prayers, administration of sacraments, and other rites of the Established Church of England, according to the rites and ceremonies prescribed in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. Adherence to this was required in order to hold any office in government or the church, although the new version of the Book of Common Prayer prescribed by the Act was so new that most people had never even seen a copy. The Act also required that the Book of Common Prayer "be truly and exactly Translated into the British or Welsh Tongue". It also explicitly required episcopal ordination for all ministers, i.e. deacons, priests and bishops, which had to be reintroduced since the Puritans had abolished many features of the Church during the Civil War. The act did not explicitly encompass the Isle of Man.
A few sections of this Act were still in force in the United Kingdom at the end of 2010.[3]
See main article: Great Ejection. As an immediate result of this Act, over 2,000 clergymen refused to take the oath and were expelled from the Church of England in what became known as the Great Ejection of 1662. Although there had already been ministers outside the established church, this created the concept of non-conformity, with a substantial section of English society excluded from public affairs for a century and a half.
The Act of Uniformity itself is one of four crucial pieces of legislation, known as the Clarendon Code, named after Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, Charles II's Lord Chancellor.[4] They are:
Combined with the Test Act, the Corporation Acts excluded all nonconformists from holding civil or military office, and prevented them from being awarded degrees by the universities of Cambridge and Oxford.
See also: History of the Religious Society of Friends.
| Short Title: | Quakers Act 1662 |
| Type: | Act |
| Parliament: | Parliament of England |
| Long Title: | An Act for preventing the Mischiefs and Dangers that may arise, by certain Persons called Quakers, and others, refusing to take lawful Oaths. |
| Year: | 1662 |
| Citation: | 14 Cha. 2. c. 1(Ruffhead: |
| Royal Assent: | 2 May 1662 |
| Repealing Legislation: | Places of Religious Worship Act 1812 |
| Status: | repealed |
| Original Text: | https://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/pp350-351 |
Another Act, the Quaker Act 1662, required subjects to swear an oath of allegiance to the king, which Quakers did not do out of religious conviction. It set out specific penalties for first (a fine of up to £5, or three months' imprisonment with hard labour), second (a fine of up to £10, or six months imprisonment with hard labour), and third (transportation) offence. It also allowed that should the defendant subsequently agree to swear oaths and not attend unlawful assemblies (as defined by the Act) then all penalties would be cancelled.[5]
The Book of Common Prayer introduced by Charles II was substantially the same as Elizabeth's version of 1559, itself based on Thomas Cranmer's earlier version of 1552. Apart from minor changes this remains the official and permanent legal version of prayer authorised by Parliament and Church.
The Toleration Act 1688 allowed certain dissenters places and freedom to worship, provided they accept to subscribe to an oath.
The provisions of the Act of Uniformity 1662 were modified and partly revoked by the Act of Uniformity Amendment Act 1872. This has been repealed by the General Synod.