| 1 | 1723 | - 27 May 1723: Loyalty Oath Act
Oath Act
"An Act to oblige all Persons being Papists..., and all Persons... refusing or neglecting to take the Oaths appointed for the Security of His Majesty's Person and Government..., to register their Names and real Estates" (9 George I, c. 24, as defined in the previous act of 1 George I c. 13). The Act required "every Person and Persons" aged 18 years and older to swear loyalty oaths to King George by 25 December 1723. Those who refused to take the oaths were to registers their names and real estates by 25 March 1724. Individuals who refused to either swear their allegiance or register their property risked forfeiting their estates. The oaths administered were those of allegiance, supremacy and abjuration. A large proportion of these oaths were recorded at courts of Quarter Sessions.
- 27 May 1723: Catholic Taxation Act
"An Act for granting an Aid to His Majesty by laying a Tax upon Papists" was designed to raise the sum of £100,000 through a tax imposed upon all Papists aged eighteen years and over, and was in addition to the existing double land tax already imposed upon Roman Catholics. The Act detailed the amounts to be raised from the Catholic communities in each English county. Those liable to pay the additional tax were defined as anyone who refused to take the oaths of allegiance, supremacy and abjuration as embodied within the 1715 Oath Act. It was designed to deter Catholic powers on the continent from supporting any future attempts at restoring the Stuart monarchy by highlighting the potential impact upon Roman Catholics in Britain.
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1723 - 1723 (~ 0 years)