Unlawful Oaths Act 1797
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
(37 Geo. 3) C A P. CXXIII.
[19th July 1797]
'WHEREAS divers wicked and evil-disposed Persons have of late attempted to seduce Persons serving in his Majesty's Forces by Sea and Land, and others of his Majesty's Subjects, from their Duty and Allegiance to his Majesty, and to incite them to Acts of Mutiny and Sedition, and have endeavoured to give Effect to their wicked and traiterous Proceedings, by imposing, upon the Persons whom they have attempted to seduce, the pretended Obligation of Oaths unlawfully administered:' 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, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That any Person or Persons who shall, in any Manner or Form whatsoever, administer, or cause to be administered, or be aiding or assisting at, or present at and consenting to, the administering or taking of any Oath or Engagement, purporting or intended to bind the Person taking the same to engage in any mutinous or seditious Purpose; or to dirturb the public Peace; or to be of any Association, Society, or Confederacy, formed for any such Purpose; or to obey the Orders or Commands of any Committee or Body of Men not lawfully constituted, or of any Leader or Commander, or other Person not having Authority by Law for that Purpose; or not to inform or give Evidence against any Associate, Confederate, or other Person; or not to reveal or discover any unlawful Combination or Confederacy; or not to reveal or discover any illegal Act done or to be done; or not to reveal or discover any illegal Oath or Engagement which may have been administered or tendered to or taken by such Person or Persons, or to or by any other Person or Persons, or the Import of any such Oath or Engagement; shall, on Conviction thereof by due Course of Law, be adjudged guilty of Felony, and may be transported for any Term of Years not exceeding seven Years; and every Person who shall take any such Oath or Engagement, not being compelled thereto, shall, on Conviction thereof by due Course of Law, be adjudged guilty of Felony, and may be transported for any Term of Years not exceeding seven Years.
II Persons compelled to take such...
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