Quakers Act 1662
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1662 c. 1 |
| Year | 1662 |
(14 Cha. 2) C A P. I.
'W H E R E A S of late Times certain Persons under the Names ofQuaker , and other Names of Separation, have taken up and maintained sundry dangerous Opinions and Tenents, and (amongst others) that the taking of an Oath in any Case whatsoever, although before a lawful Magistrate, is altogether unlawful and contrary to the Word of God; and the said Persons do daily refuse to take an Oath, though lawfully tendred, whereby it often happens that the Truth is wholly suppressed, and the Administration of Justice much obstructed: And whereas the said Persons, under a Pretence of Religious Worship, do often assemble themselves in great Numbers in several Parts of this Realm, to the great Endangering of the publick Peace and Safety, and to the Terror of the People, by maintaining a secret and strict Correspondence amongst themselves, and in the mean time separating and dividing themselves from the Rest of his Majesty's good and loyal Subjects, and from the publick Congregations and usual Places of Divine Worship:'
II. For the Redressing therefore, and better preventing the many Mischiefs and Dangers that do and may arise by such dangerous Tenents and such unlawful Assemblies, (2) Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, assembled in Parliament, and by Authority of the same, That if any Person or Persons, who maintain that the Taking of an Oathin any case whatsoever, (although before a lawful Magistrate) is altogether unlawful, and contrary to the Word of God, from and after the four and twentieth Day ofMarch in this present Year of our Lord one thousand six hundred sixty and one, shall wilfully and obstinately refuse to take an Oath, whereby the Laws of the Realm he or she is or shall be bound to take the same, being lawfully and duly tendered; (3) or shall endeavour to persuade any other Person to whom any such Oath shall in like Manner be duly and lawfully tendered, to refuse and forbear the Taking of the same; (4) or shall by Printing, Writing or otherwise, go about to maintain and defend that the Taking of an Oath in any case whatsoever, is altogether unlawful: (5) And if the said Persons commonly calledQuakers , shall at any Time after the said four and twentieth Day of March depart from...
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