ROGATIVE.
This coronation oath is conceivedin the following terms; The archbishop or bishop shall say, will you solemnly promise and swear to go vern the people of this kingdom of Eng land, (qssere Great Britain. See statute 5 Ann. c. 8, sect. 1. and this dictionary, title Scotland ;) and the dominions thereto be longing, according to the statutes in par liament agreed on ; and the laws and cus toms of the same ? The king or queen shall say, I solemnly promise so to do.— Archbishop or bishop, Will you to your power cause law and justice, in mercy, to be executed in all your judgments ? King or queen, I will. Archbishop or bishop, Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the laws of God, the true profession of the gospel, and the Protes tant reformed religion established by the law? and will you preserve unto the bishops and the clergy of this realm, and to the churches committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges as by law do or shall appertain unto them or any of them ? King or queen, All this promise to do. After this, the king or queen, laying his or her hand upon the t Holy Gospels, shall say, The things which I have here before promised, I will per . form and keep, so help me God. And then shall kiss the book. It is also requir ed, both by the Bill of Rights, 1 William and Mary, statute 2, c. 2, and the act of
settlement, 12 and 13 William III. c. 2, that every king and queen, of the age of twelve years, either at their coronation, or on the first day of the first parliament, upon the throne in the House of Peers, (which shall first happen) shall repeat and subscribe the declaration against Pope ry, according to SO Charles II. statute 2, c. 1.
The above is the form of the coronation oath, as it is now prescribed by our laws ; the principal articles of which appear to be at least as ancient as the mirror ofjus, tices, (c. 1. sect. 2.) ' • and even as the time of Bracton. See 1.3. tr. 1. c. 9, the act of union, statute 5 Ann, c. 8, recites and confirms two preceding statutes ; the one of the parliament of Scotland, the other of the parliament of England ; which en act, the former, that every king, at his ac cession, shall take and subscribe an oath, to preserve the Protestant religion, and Presbyterian church government in Scot land ; the latter, that at his coronation he shall take and subscribe a similar oath to preserve the settlement of the church of England, within England, Ireland, Wales, and Berwick, and the territories there unto belonging.