Act of Uniformity
There were four Acts of Uniformity in English history all of which had the function to establish orthodoxy with the Church of England, meaning to accept the forms and manners for church service of the Book of Common Prayers.
Act of Uniformity 1549
The Act of Uniformity in 1549 constituted the claim that the Book of Common Prayers was the only legal form of worship. Any clergy holding a church service not according to the forms and manners of this book forfeited all lands and status.
Act of Uniformity 1552
The Act of Uniformity 1552 was enacted by Edward VI with the purpose to make England more Protestant. Therefore the old Book of Common Prayer was substituted by a revised more Protestant Book of Common Prayer. Anyone attending a church service without following the forms and manners of this book was imprisoned.
Act of Uniformity 1559
Under Queen Elizabeth who wanted to unify the Anglican church the Act of Uniformity of 1559 restored a slightly revised Book of Common Prayer from 1552 which allowed the belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Furthermore the order of prayers to be used in the English Book of Common Prayer set and every man to attend church service once a week and every Sunday. Violations of these obligations were punished.
Act of Uniformity 1662
The Act of Uniformity of 1662 was an Act of Parliament for the Uniformity of public prayers and the administration of sacraments, rites, ceremonies as well as for establishing the form of making, ordaining and consecrating bishops, priests and deacons in the Church of England. This required the use of the rites, ceremonies and church services as stated in the Book of Common Prayers. More than two thousand clergymen left the church as they rejected to accept the above-mentioned conditions. The Act of Uniformity of 1662 was one of the four statues of the Clarendon Code and marked the time known by Puritans as the "Great Ejection".
Sources
- http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/128612/Book-of-Common-Prayer#ref=ref196257
- Cannon, John Ashton: The Oxford Companion to British history.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.
- Jowitt, William A. The Dictionary of English Law. London: Sweet and Maxwell Publications, 1965.
- Wade, Emlyn Capel Stewart Capel Stewart. Constitutional Law - an Outline of the Law and Practice of the Constitution, including administrative law, English local government, the constitutional relations of the British Commonwealth and Empire and the Church of England. London: Longmans Publishing, 1948.