Whereas it is expedient that certain Acts of Parliament made in the reign of his late Majesty King Charles the Second, relating to Nonconformists and Conventicles, and refusing to take Oaths, should be repealed; and that the laws relating to certain Congregations and Assemblies for religious Worship, and persons teaching, preaching, or officiating therein, and resorting thereto should be amended; be it therefore enacted, by the King’s most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that from and after the passing of this Act, an Act of Parliament made in the Session of Parliament held in the thirteenth and fourteenth years of his late Majesty King Charles the Second, intituled,[[Ac]] “An Act for preventing the mischiefs and dangers that may arise by certain persons called Quakers, and others, refusing to take lawful Oaths,” and another Act of Parliament made in the seventeenth year of the reign of his late Majesty King Charles the second, intituled, [[Ad]]An Act for restraining Nonconformists from inhabiting in “Corporations;” and another Act of Parliament made in the twenty-second year of the reign of the late King Charles the second, intituled, [[Ae]]“An Act to prevent and suppress seditious Conventicles,” shall be and the same are hereby repealed.
II. And be it further enacted, That from and after the passing of this Act, no Congregation or Assembly for Religious Worship of Protestants (at which there shall be present more than twenty persons besides the immediate family and servants of the person in whose house or upon whose premises such Meeting, Congregation or Assembly shall be had) shall be permitted or allowed, unless and until the place of such Meeting, if the same shall not have been duly certified and registered under any former Act or Acts of Parliament relating to registering places of Religious Worship, shall have been or shall be certified to the Bishop of the Diocese, or to the Archdeacon of the Archdeaconry, or to the Justices of the Peace at the General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the county, riding, division, city, town or place, in which such Meeting shall be held; and all places of Meeting which shall be so certified to the Bishop’s or Archdeacon’s Court shall be returned by such Court once in each year to the Quarter Sessions of the county, riding, division, city town or place; and all places of Meeting which shall be so certified to the Quarter Sessions of the peace shall be also returned once in each year to the Bishop or Archdeacon; and all such places shall be registered in the said Bishop’s or Archdeacon’s Court respectively, and recorded at the said General or Quarter Sessions; the Registrar or Clerk of the Peace whereof respectively is hereby required to register and record the same; and the Bishop or Registrar or Clerk of the Peace to whom any such place of Meeting shall be certified under this Act, shall give a Certificate thereof to such person or persons as shall request or demand the same, for which there shall be no greater fee nor reward taken than Two Shillings and Sixpence; and every Person who shall knowingly permit or suffer any such Congregation or Assembly as aforesaid, to meet in any place occupied by him, until the same shall have been so certified as aforesaid, shall forfeit, for every time any such Congregation or Assembly shall meet contrary to the provisions of this Act, a sum not exceeding Twenty Pounds nor less than Twenty Shillings, at the discretion of the Justices who shall convict for such offence.
III. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That every person who shall teach or preach in any congregation or assembly as aforesaid, in any place without the consent of the occupier thereof, shall forfeit for every such offence any sum not exceeding Thirty Pounds, nor less than Forty Shillings, at the discretion of the Justices who shall convict for such offence.
IV. And be it further enacted, That from and after the passing of this Act, every person who shall teach or preach at, or officiate in, or shall resort to any congregation or congregations, assembly or assemblies for religious worship of Protestants, whose place of meeting shall be duly certified according to the provisions of this Act, or any other Act or Acts of Parliament relating to the certifying and registering of places of religious worship, shall be exempt from all such pains and penalties under any Act or Acts of Parliament relating to religious worship, as any person who shall have taken the Oaths and made the Declaration prescribed by or mentioned in an Act, made in the first year of the reign of King William and Queen Mary, intituled, “An Act for exempting their Majesties’ Protestant Subjects dissenting from the Church of England, from the penalties of certain Laws,” or any Act amending the said Act, is by law exempt, as fully and effectually as if all such pains and penalties, and the several Acts enforcing the same, were recited in this Act, and such exemptions as aforesaid were severally and separately enacted in relation thereto.
V. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That every person not having taken the Oaths, and subscribed the Declaration herein specified, who shall preach or teach at any place of religious worship certified in pursuance of the directions of this Act, shall, when thereto required by any one Justice of the Peace, by any writing under his hand, or signed by him, take and make and subscribe, in the presence of such Justice of the Peace, the Oaths and Declarations specified and contained in an Act, passed in the nineteenth year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Third, intituled,[[Af]] “An Act for the further Relief of Protestant Dissenting Ministers and Schoolmasters;” and no such person who, upon being so required to take such Oaths and make such Declaration as aforesaid, shall refuse to attend the Justice requiring the same, or to take and make and subscribe such Oaths and Declarations as aforesaid, shall be thereafter permitted or allowed to teach or preach in any such congregation or assembly for religious worship, until he shall have taken such Oaths, and made such Declaration as aforesaid, on pain of forfeiting for every time he shall so teach or preach, any sum not exceeding ten pounds, nor less than ten shillings, at the discretion of the Justice convicting for such offence.
VI. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That no person shall be required by any Justice of the Peace to go to any greater distance than five miles from his own home, or from the place where he shall be residing at the time of such requisition, for the purpose of taking such Oaths as aforesaid.
VII. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for any of His Majesty’s Protestant subjects to appear before any one Justice of the Peace, and to produce to such Justice of the Peace a printed or written copy of the said Oaths and Declaration, and to require such Justice to administer such Oaths, and to tender such Declaration to be made taken and subscribed by such person; and thereupon it shall be lawful for such Justice, and he is hereby authorized and required to administer such Oaths, and to tender such Declaration to the person requiring to take and make and subscribe the same; and such person shall take and make and subscribe such Oaths and Declaration in the presence of such Justice accordingly; and such Justice shall attest the same to be sworn before him, and shall transmit or deliver the same to the Clerk of the Peace for the county, riding, division, city, town or place for which he shall act as such Justice of the Peace, before or at the next General Quarter Sessions of the Peace for such county, riding, division, city, town or place.
VIII. And be it further enacted, That every Justice of the Peace before whom any person shall make and take and subscribe such Oaths and Declaration as aforesaid, shall forthwith give to the Person having taken made and subscribed such oaths and declaration, a Certificate thereof under the hand of such Justice, in the form following: (that is to say)
“I A. B. one of His Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for the county (riding, division, city, or town, or place, as the case may be) of ________________ Do hereby certify, that C. D. of, &c. [describing the Christian and Surname, and place of abode of the party] did this day appear before me, and did make and take and subscribe the several oaths and declaration, specified in an Act, made in the fifty-second year of the reign of King George the Third, intituled [set forth the title of this Act.] Witness my hand this ____________ day of ____________ one thousand eight hundred and _________.”[_________.”]
And for the making and signing of which Certificate, where the said oaths and declaration are taken and made on the requisition of the party taking and making the same, such Justice shall be entitled to demand and have a fee of two shillings and sixpence, and no more: And such Certificate shall be conclusive evidence that the party named therein has made and taken the oaths and subscribed the declaration in manner required by this Act.