Papists Act 1722 Explained

Short Title:Papists Act 1722
Type:Act
Parliament:Parliament of Great Britain
Long Title:An Act to oblige all Persons being Papists, in that Part of Great Britain called Scotland, and all Persons in Great Britain refusing or neglecting to take the Oaths appointed for the Security of His Majesty's Person and Government, by several Acts herein mentioned, to register their Names and Real Estates.
Year:1722
Citation:9 Geo. 1. c. 24
Royal Assent:27 May 1723
Amendments:Papists Act 1723
Repealing Legislation:Statute Law Revision Act 1867
Status:repealed
Short Title:Papists Act 1723
Type:Act
Parliament:Parliament of Great Britain
Long Title:An Act for explaining and amending an act of the last session of parliament, intituled, an act to oblige all persons, being papists, in that part of Great Britain called Scotland, and all persons in Great Britain, refusing or neglecting to take the oaths appointed for the security of His Majesty's person and government, by several acts herein mentioned, to register their names and real estates, and for enlarging the time for taking the said oaths, and making such registers, and for allowing farther time for the enrolment of deeds or wills made by papists, which have been omitted to be enrolled, pursuant to an act of the third year of his Majesty's reign; and also for giving relief to protestant lessees.
Year:1723
Citation:10 Geo. 1. c. 4
Amends:Papists Act 1722

The Papists Act 1722 (9 Geo. 1. c. 24) was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, enacted after the discovery of the Jacobite Atterbury Plot. The Act required landowners to take the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration, by 25 December 1723; those who declined were to register their estates by 25 March 1724 (N.S)/1723 (O.S).[1]

If they failed to do so they risked forfeiting their estates.[2] It was repealed by the Papists Act 1723 (10 Geo. 1. c. 4).[3]

Notes and References

  1. Under the calendar used in Britain at the time, the new year did not begin until March 26. Thus, what the British Act noted as "25 March 1723" was the last day of 1723, three months after 25 December 1723.
  2. http://www.foda.org.uk/oaths/intro/glossary.htm#1723act 1723 Act
  3. Danby Pickering, The Statutes at Large: From the Ninth Year of King George I. to the Second Year of King George II., Vol. XV (Cambridge, 1765), p. 100.