Roman Catholics - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition roman-catholics

Definition :

Roman Catholics. Very severe laws, commonly called the penal laws, were passed against Roman Catholics, generally under the name of Papists (see that title), after the Reformation, an Act of Elizabeth, for instance, 13 Eliz. c. 2, punishing with the penalties of a pr'munire (see that title) any person bringing into this country any Agnus Dei, cross, picture, etc., from Rome; an Act of James, 3 Jac. 1, c. 5, penalizing the sale or purchase of Popish primers; and an Act of William and Mary (11 & 12 Wm. 3, c. 4), punishing any Papist assuming the education of youth with imprisonment for life. Exclusion from Parliament was effected by the requirement of the Declaration against Trans-ubstantiation (see TRANSUBSTANT- IATION) from members of either House by 30 Car. 2, s. 2, and disfranchisement by the requirements of the Oath of Supremacy by 7 & 8 Wm. 3, c. 27, s. 19; while 7 & 8 Wm. 3, c. 24, effected (until 1791) exclusion from the profession of barrister, attorney, or solicitor by requiring a declaration against Transubstantiation under 25 Car. 2, c. 2.

Roman Catholic disabilities have now been almost completely removed, the Roman Catholic Relief Acts of 1791 (31 Geo. 3, c. 32), for freedom of worship with unlocked doors, and that of 1829 (10 Geo. 4, c. 7), for enfranchisement and qualification for seat in Parliament, being the main factors in the removal, and the Roman Catholic Charities Act, 1832 (2 & 3 Wm. 4, c. 115), subjecting Roman Catholics to the same laws as Protestant dissenters in respect to schools and places for religious worship, education, and charitable purposes.

Diplomatic relations with the 'Sovereign of the Roman States' were allowed by 11 & 12 Vict. c.108, which, however, prohibited the sovereign of this country from receiving as ambassador accredited by him any priest, Jesuit, or 'member of any other religious order bound in monastic or religious vows.'

The (English) Act of Settlement, however, 12 & 13 Wm. 3, c. 2 (see SETTLEMENT, ACT OF), requires the sovereign to be a Protestant; and the Act of 1829 itself contains a series of enactments directed to the purpose of the 'gradual suppression and final prohibition' of 'Jesuits, and members of other religious orders, communities, or societies of the Church of Rome, bound by religious or monastic vows,' with a saving, however, for any 'religious order, community, or establishment of females bound by religious or monastic vows.' The Roman Catholic Charities Act, 1832 (see s. 4), does not in any way repeal these ss., which provide for the banishment of the persons named therein. In January, 1902, it was sought for the first time (see JESUITS) to enforce the ss.. See Anstey's Guide to the Law affecting Roman Catholics (1842) and Lilly and Wallis's Manual of the Law specially affecting Catholics (1893). The authors of the latter work, and also the writer of the article 'Roman Catholic' in the Encyclop'dia of the Laws of England, seem to be of the opinion that the Act of 1829 disables the religious orders therein mentioned to hold property in their corporate capacity.

The Act does not, it seems, operate to render void an absolute immediate bequest to individuals ascertained at the death of the testator [Re Smith, (1914) 1 Ch 937].

As to whether or not a Roman Catholic may be Lord Chancellor, see the statement of Sir J. Coleridge, A.-G. (afterwards Lord Chief Justice of England), in the House of Commons on May 6, 1872. The Act of 1829 merely provides (by s. 12) that nothing in it shall extend to enable 'any person professing the Roman Catholic religion to hold the office of regent,' nor 'to enable any person, otherwise than he is now by law enabled,' to hold the office of Lord Chancellor of Great Britain or Ireland, or of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, or Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. See also Office and Oath Act, 1867, which permitted the Lord Chancellor of Ireland to be a Roman Catholic. The office was abolished by Part II. of the Irish Free State (Consequential Provisions) Act, 1922 (session 2). See JESUITS.

See also the Roman Catholic Relief Act, 1926 (16 & 17 Geo. 5, c. 55), which does not apply to Northern Ireland, and safeguards powers to regulate and control processions and repeals and amends a number of Acts (see Sch., ibid.).