Dissenters - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition dissenters

Definition :

Dissenters, Protestant seceders from the Established Church. They are of many denominations, principally Presbyterians, Independents or Congregationalists, Methodists, and Baptists; but as to Church government the Baptists are Independents.

The penal laws, for the enforcement of legal uniformity, have been abrogated. The (English) Toleration Act, 1 W. & M. st. 1, c. 18, extended to Unitarians by 53 Geo. 3, c. 160, first allowed dissenters to assemble for religious worship according to their own forms in places of meeting duly certified; as to such places, see now 18 & 19 Vict. c. 81, and 19 & 20 Vict. c. 119, ss. 17, 27. The (English) Dissenters Chapels Act, 1844 (see that title), provided for meeting-houses; and the (English) Trustees Appointment Act, 1850 (13 & 14 Vict. c. 28), commonly called (English) Peto's Act, amended by the (English) Trustees Appointment Act, 1890 (53 & 54 Vict. c. 19), provides for facilities in regard to the appointment of trustees and

the title to lands purchased for religious or educational purposes. The (English) Places of Worship Registration Act, 1855, (18 & 19 Vict. c. 81), provides for the certifying and registering of dissenters' places of worship. See Chitty's Statutes, tit. 'Religious Worship.'

The (English) Universities Tests Act, 1871 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 26), has abolished the University Tests, and dissenters are enabled to take any degree (other than a divinity degree) in any of the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, or Durham.