ABJURATION, OATH oF. Formerly there were three oaths, called the oaths of allegi ance, supremacy, and abjuration, required of all persons before admission to any public office; and next, by the 21 and 22 Vict. c. 48, one oath was substituted for the three referred to, and was as follows: A. B., do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to her majesty queen Victoria, and will defend her to the utmost of my power against all conspiracies and attempts whatever which shall be made against her person, crown, or dignity, and I will do my utmost endeavor to disclose and make known to her majesty, her heirs and successors, all treasons and traitorous conspiracies which may be formed against her or them; and I do faithfully promise to maintain, support, and defend to the utmost of my power the succession of the crown, which succession, by an act entitled An act for the further limitation of the crown, and better securing the rights and liberties of the subject, is and stands limited to the princess Sophia, electress of Hanover, and the heirs of her body, being Protestants; hereby utterly renouncing and abjuring any obedience or alle giance unto any other person claiming or pretending a right to the crown of this realm; and I do declare that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate, bath or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesi astical or spiritual, within this realm: And I make this declaration upon the true faith of a Christian. So help me God." The subject of oaths was, however, again revised by the legislature in 1868 and 1871, and was settled in the following manner by the act 31 and 32 Viet. c. 71.
The former statutes prescribing certain forms of oaths were repealed, and the above form of oath was abolished, and the abjuration altogether omitted as no longer fit to be perpetuated among the solemn sanctions applicable to high offices. Three several oaths were prescribed to take the place of the former oaths, and these were—(1) the oath of allegiance, (2) the official oath, (3) the judicial oath. Certain high officers now require to take both the oath of allegiance and the official oath, and certain other officers require to take both the oath of allegiance and the judicial oath. The oath of homage. taken by arch bishops and bishops, and of canonical obedience to them, was left unaffected. But the oath of allegiance was substituted for the oaths taken by the clergy, and members of parliament, and judges, etc. This oath of al legiane is in the following form: " I, A. B., do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to her majesty, queen Victoria, her heirs and successors, according to law. So help me God." This oath gets rid of the objections formerly felt by Jews in taken the oath.
The act 34 and 35 Vict. c. 48 repealed nearly all the previous statutes as to oaths.
The act of 10 Geo. IV. c. 7, which settled the form of oath to be taken by Roman Catholics instead of the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration, has been repealed as regards the form of oath; but as it was part of a memorable settlement, it is here given: " I, A. B., do sincerely promise and swear that I will be faithful and bear true alle giance to her majesty queen Victoria, and will defend her to the utniost of my power against all conspiracies and attempts whatever, which shall be made against her person, crown, or dignity; and I will do my utmost endeavor to disclose and make known to her majesty, her heirs and successors, all treasons and traitorous conspiracies which may be formed against her or them: And I do faithfully promise to maintain, support, and defend, to the utmost of my power, the succession of the crown, which succession, by an act, entitled An act for the further limitation of the crown, and better securing the rights and liberties of the subject, is and stands limited to the princess Sophia, electress of IIanover, and the heirs of her body, being Protestants; hereby utterly renouncing and abjuring any obedience or allegiance unto any other person claiming or pretending a right to the crown of this realm: And I do further declare that it is not an article of my faith, and that I do renounce, reject, and abjure the opinion that princes excommu nicated or deprived by the pope, or any other authority of the see of Rome. may be deposed or murdered by their subjects, or by any person whatsoever: And I do declare that I do not believe that the pope of Rome, or any other foreign prince, prelate, person, state, or potentate, bath, or ought to liaire, any temporal or civil jurisdiction, power, superiority, or pre-eminence, directly or indirectly, within this realm. I do swear that I will defend, to the utmost of my power, the settlement of property within this realm, as established by the laws; and I do hereby disclaim, disavow, and solemnly abjure any intention to subvert the present church establishment, as settled by law within this realm: And I do solemnly swear that I never will exercise any privilege to which I am or may become entitled. to disturb or weaken the Protestant religion or Protestant gov ernment in the United Kingdom: And I do solemnly, in the presence of God, profess, testify, and declare that I do make this declaration, and every part thereof, in the plain and ordinary sense of the words of this oath, without any evasion, equivocation, or mental reservation whatsoever. So help me God." This oath having frequently been considered objectionable, as covertly imputing dis loyalty and insincerity to the Roman Catholic body, has been superseded. by the above short oath of allegiance common to all, parts of the United Kingdom.