TEST ACTS. The principle that none but persons professing the established religion were eligible for public employment was adopted by the legislatures of both England and Scotland soon after the Reformation. In England the acts of Supremacy and Uniformity and the severe penalties pronounced against recusants, whether Roman Catholic or Nonconformist, were affirmations of this principle. The act of 7 Jac.I. c.2 provided that all such as were naturalized or restored in blood should receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and under Charles II. the actual receiving of the communion of the Church of England was made a condition precedent to the holding of public offices. The earliest imposition of this test was by the Corporation act of 1661 (13 Car. II. st. 2, C.I), enacting that, besides taking the oath of allegiance and su premacy and subscribing a declaration against the Solemn League and Covenant, all members of corporations were within one year after election to receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper according to the rites of the Church of England. This act was followed by the Test act of 1672 (25 Car. II. c.2), the immediate consequence of the king's declaration of indulgence, dispensing with laws inflicting disabilities on Nonconformists. This act en forced upon all persons filling any office, civil or military, the obli gation of taking the oaths of supremacy and allegiance and sub scribing a declaration against transubstantiation, and also of receiving the sacrament within three months after admittance to office. The act did not extend to peers; but in 1678 (3o Car. II. st. 2) enacted that all peers and members of the House of Commons should make a declaration against transubstantiation, invocation of saints, and the sacrifice of the mass—an exception being made in favour of the Duke of York. The provisions of the Test act were violated by both Charles II. and James II. on the ground of the dispensing power claimed by the Stuart kings. In the case of Godden v. Hales (ir State Trials, 1,166), an action for penalties under the Test act brought against an officer in the army, the judges decided in favour of the dispensing power—a power finally abolished by the Bill of Rights. After a considerable number of amendments and partial repeals of these acts, and of acts of in demnity to protect persons from penalties incurred under the Test act, the necessity of receiving the sacrament as a qualification for office was abolished by g Geo. IV. c. 17, and all acts requiring the taking of oaths and declarations against transubstantiation, etc., were repealed by the Roman Catholic Relief act of 1829 (ro Geo. IV. c.7). This general repeal was followed by the special repeal of the Corporation act by the Promissory Oaths act 1871, of the Test act by the Statute Law Revision act 1863, and of the act of 1678 by an act of 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c.i9). In 1871 the University Tests act abolished subscriptions to the articles of the Church of England, all declarations and oaths respecting religious belief, and all compulsory attendance at public worship in the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham. There is an exception restricting
to persons in holy orders of the Church of England degrees in divinity and positions such as the divinity and Hebrew professor ships.
In Scotland a religious test was imposed immediately after the Reformation. By 1567, c.9 no one was to be appointed to a public office or to be a notary who did not profess the Reformed religion. The Scottish Test act (168r, c.6) was rescinded by 169o, c.7. By 1700, c.3, renunciation of popery was to be made by persons em ployed in education. By 1707, c.6, all professors, principals, re gents, masters, or others bearing office in any university, college, or school in Scotland were bound to profess and subscribe to the Confession of Faith; and all persons were to be free of any oath or test contrary to or inconsistent with the Protestant religion and Presbyterian Church government. The necessity for subscription to the Confession of Faith was removed for persons other than principals and professors of theology by 16 and 17 Vict. c.89. The act provided that in place of subscription every person appointed to a university office was to subscribe a declaration according to the form in the act, promising not to teach any opinions opposed to the divine authority of Scripture or to the Confession of Faith, and to do nothing to the prejudice of the Church of Scotland or its doctrines and privileges. All tests were finally abolished by an act of 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c.55). The reception of the communion was never a part of the test in Scotland as in England and Ireland.
In Ireland an oath of allegiance was required by the Irish act of Supremacy (2 Eliz. c.r). The English act of 3 Will. & M. C.2 substituted other oaths and enforced in addition from peers, mem bers of the House of Commons, bishops, barristers, attorneys, and others a declaration against transubstantiation, invocation of the Virgin Mary and the saints, and the sacrifice of the mass. By the Irish act of 2 Anne, c.6, every person admitted to any office, civil or military, was to take and subscribe the oaths of allegiance, su premacy, and abjuration, to subscribe the declaration against tran substantiation, etc., and to receive the Lord's Supper according to the usage of the Church of Ireland. English legislation on the subject of oaths and declarations was adopted in Ireland by Yel verton's act, 21 & 22 Geo. III. c.48, § 3 (Jr.). These provisions were all repealed by the Promissory Oaths act 1871. The Roman Catholic Relief act of 1793 (33 Geo. III. C.2I. Ir.) excepted Trin ity College, Dublin, from its provisions, and tests existed in Dub lin university—except for professors and lecturers in divinity— until finally abolished by the University of Dublin Tests act 1873.
In the United States by art. 6 of the constitution, "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." A similar provision is generally included in the state constitutions.