Test Acts

The Test Acts were a series of English penal laws. They served as a religious test for public office and brought along civil disabilities for Roman Catholics and Nonconformists.

The Act of Parliament, that was passed in England in 1673, required holders of public office to forswear the doctrine of transubstantiation. Furthermore they had to take the sacrament in an Anglican church, which led to an exclusion of Catholics, Nonconformists, and non‐Christians from office. In 1678 the laws were also extended to members of Parliament. It was further modified by the Act of Toleration of 1689, which enabled most non-Catholics to qualify.

During the 18th century the tests were less eagerly applied; in Scotland, for example, only those engaged in education were required to make profession. Roman Catholics were still excluded from office until the Roman Catholic Emancipation Act, which was passed by the Parliament of the UK on 24 March 1829, culminated the process of Catholic Emancipation in the United Kingdom, and in Ireland it repealed the last of the Penal Laws.

The Test Acts were formally repealed in the 1860s and ’70s. The University Test Act (1871) abolished the theological test required for the MA degree as well as for Oxford University and College offices.

In Scotland the tests were abolished in 1889.

Sources

• "Introduction." Committees for Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts: Minutes 1786-90 and 1827-8. Ed. Thomas W Davis. London: London Record Society, 1978. vii-xxvi. British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=38777, Accessed 04.07.2009.
• "Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829." The UK Statute Law Database, http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?activeTextDocId=1030241, Accessed 04.07.2009.
• "Test Act." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/588655/test-act, , Accessed 04.07.2009.