ROMAN CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION or RigLIEF ACTS. After the reformation, both in England and in Scotland, Roman Catholics were subjected to many penal regulations -and restrictions. As late as 1780 the law of England—which, however, was not always rigidly enforced—made it felony in a foreign Roman Catholic priest, and high treason in one who was a native of the kingdom to teach the doctrines or perform divine service according to the rites of his church. Roman Catholics were debarred from acquiring land by purchase. Persons educated abroad in the Roman Catholic faith were declared incapable of succeeding to real property, and their estates were forfeited to the next Prot estant heir. A son or other nearest relation, being a Protestant, was empowered to take possession of the estate of his Roman Catholic father or other kinsman during his life. A Roman Catholic was disqualified from undertaking the guardiauship even of Roman Cath olic children. Roman Catholics were excluded from the legal profession, and it was pre sumed that a Protestant lawyer who married a Roman Catholic had adopted the faith of his wife. It was a capital offense for a Roman Catholic priest to celebrate a marriage between a Protestant and Roman Catholic. Such was the state of the law, not only in England but in Ireland, where the large majority of the population adhered to the old faith. In -Scotland, also, Roman Catholics were prohibited from purchasing or taking by succes sion landed property. The inexpediency and irrationality of imposing fetters of this description on persons not suspected of disloyalty, and from whom danger was no longer apprehended, began about 1778 to occupy the attention of liberal-minded states men; and in 1780 sir George Saville introduced a bill for the repeal of some of the most severe disqualifications in the case of such Roman Catholics as would submit to a proposed test. This test included an oath of allegiance to the sovereign, and abjuration of the pretender, a declaration of disbelief in the several doctrines, that it is lawful to put individuals to death on pretense of their being heretics; that no faith is to be kept with heretics; that princes excommunicated may be deposed or put to death; and that the pope is entitled to any temporal jurisdiction within the realm. The Bill, from the operation of which Scotland was exempted, eventually passed into law. An attempt which had been made at the same time to obtain a like measure of relief for the Roman Catholics of Scotland was defeated by an outburst of religious fanaticism. The popu lace of Edinburgh, stirred up by a body called " the committee for the Protestant inter est," attacked and set fire to the Roman Catholic churches, and the houses of the clergy and of such persons as were suspected to be favorable to Roman Catholic relief. The frenzy spread to England, where a " Protestant association" had been formed to oppose the resolutions of the legislature. See GORDON, LORD GEORGE. In 1791 a bill was passed affording further relief to such Roman Catholics as would sign a protest against the temporal power of the pope, and his authority to release from civil obligations; and in the following year, by the statute 33 Geo. III. c. 44, the most highly penal of the bearing on the Scottish Roman Catholics were removed without opposition, -a form of oath and declaration being prescribed, on taking which they could freely pur chase or inherit landed property.
Endeavors were made at the same time by the Irish parliament to get rid of the more important disqualifications, and place Ireland on an equality in point of religious free. dom with England. In 1780 Grattan carried his resolution that the king and parliament of Ireland could alone make laws that would bind the Irish, and separation from Eng land was urged as the alternative with repeal of the disqualifying statutes: The agita tion culminated in the Irish rebellion of 1798; the union of 1800 followed, which was partly carried by means of pledges, not redeemed, regarding the removal of the disabili ties in question. Meantime, in Eugland, Roman Catholics continued subject to many
minordisabilities, which the above-mentioned acts failed to remove. They were excluded from sitting and voting in parliament, and from enjoying numerous offices, franchises, and civil rights, by the requirement of signing the declaration against transubstantiation, •lie invocation of saints, and the sacrifice of the mass. In the early part of this century many measures were proposed for the removal of these disqualifications, and in 1813 and succeeding years, one bill after another for this end was thrown out. Meanwhile, the agi tation on the subject among the Roman Catholics themselves greatly increased, and in 1824 it assumed an organized shape by the formation of the "Roman Catholic association" iu Ireland, with its systematic collections for the " Catholic Tent." The duke of Wellington, who,for a long time, felt great repugnance to admit the Roman Catholic claims,was at last -brought to the conviction that the security of the empire would be imperiled by further resisting them, and in 1829 a measure was introduced by the duke's ministry for Catho lic emancipation, An act having been first passed for the suppression of the Roman Catholic association—which had already voted its own dissolution—the celebrated Roman Cathnlic relief bill was introduced by Mr. Peel in the house of commons on Mar. 5, and after passing both houses, received the royal assent April 13. By this act (10 Geo. IV. c. 7), an oath is substituted for the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration, on taking which Roman Catholics may sit or rote in either house parliament, and be admit ted to most other offices from which they were before excluded. They, however, con tinue to be excluded from the offices of guardian and justice or regent of the United Kingdom, lord chancellor, lord keeper, or lord commissioner of the great seal of Great Britain or Ireland, and lord high commissioner to the general assembly of the church of Scotland. As members of corporations, they cannot vote in the disposal of church prop erty or patronage. Ecclesiastics or other members of the Roman Catholic persuasion, either wearing the habit of their order, or officiating fu any place which is not their usual place of worship, or a private house, forfeit £50. Jesuits, and members of orders bound by monastic or religious vows, must register themselves with the clerk of the peace of their county, under a penalty of £50 for every month that they remain in the kingdom unregistered. Jesuits not natural-horn subjects, who have come into the country since the passing of the act, are liable to be banished. Persons admitting others to such socie ties within the United Kingdom are liable to fine and imprisonment, and those who have been so admitted are liable to be banished.
Restrictions which existed on Roman Catholic bequests were removed by 2 and 3 Will. IV. c. 115, as regards Great Britain, and by 7 and 8 Vict. c. 60, with relation to Ire land. Acts 7 and 8 Viet. c. 102, and 9 and 10 Vict. c. 59, abolished a few minor Roman Catholic disabilities. For the statutory prohibition against the assumption of ecclesiasti cal titles in respect of places in the United Kingdom, see ECCLESIASTICAL TITLES., ASSUMPTION ACT.