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7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 30, s. 26, are punishable in the like

manner.

Accessaries after the fact in offences against coin are punishable in the like manner.-2 Will. IV. c. 34, s. 18. Accessaries after the fact to forgery are punishable in like manner.-11 Geo. IV. & 1 Will. IV. c. 66, s. 25, 26; and 2 & 3 Will. IV. c. 123.

Receivers of property feloniously stolen are punishable with transportation, for not more than fourteen nor less than seven years, or imprisonment not exceeding three years, with or without hard labour, and with or without solitary confinement, for the whole or any part of the imprisonment, and if a male he may be once, twice, or thrice publicly or privately whipped, in addition to the imprisonment, if the Court think fit.-7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 29, s. 54. And in cases of misdemeanor, the receiver's punishment is the same, except that the transportation is for seven years only, and the imprisonment for two years.-S. 55.

Where not otherwise provided for, accessaries after the fact are punishable under 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 28, s. 8, i. e. may be transported for seven years, or imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, and if a male, may be once, twice, or thrice publicly or privately whipped, if the Court think fit, in addition to the imprisonment.-Arch. 524.

And with hard labour or solitary confinement, or both, as the Court shall think meet.-Sec. 9.

CHAPTER IV.

OF OFFENCES AGAINST GOD AND RELIGION.

1. Blasphemy.

THIS offence is a misdemeanor punishable at common law by fine and imprisonment, or other infamous corporal punishment.-1 Hawk. c. 5, s. 1.

By 9 & 10 Will. III. c. 32, if any person having been educated in, or at any time having made profession of, the Christian religion within this realm, shall, by writing, printing, teaching, or advised speaking, deny any one of the persons in the Holy Trinity to be God, or assent or maintain that there are more Gods than one, or shall deny the Christian religion to be true, or the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be of Divine authority, and be convicted by two or more witnesses, he shall for the first offence be disabled to hold any office, ecclesiastical, civil, or military, and such as he holds at the time shall be void; and upon the second conviction, he shall be disabled to sue, or to be guardian, or executor, or administrator, or to take a legacy or deed of gift, and suffer imprisonment for three years. But as to words, it is provided, that information of the offence must be laid before the magistrate within four days, and the prosecution must be within three months after the information; and also, that in the first offence the offender shall be discharged from all penalties and disabilities upon renunciation in Court within four months after conviction.

By 53 Geo. III. c. 160, s. 2, so much of the 9 & 10 Will. III. as relates to persons denying as therein mentioned respecting the Holy Trinity is repealed.

A Blasphemous Libel

Is a publication in writing or print of blasphemous matter. A blasphemous libel may be prosecuted as an offence at common law.-3 B. & A. 161.

By 60 Geo. III. and 1 Geo. IV. c. 8, all copies of blasphemous or seditious publications, may, by order of the Court or a Judge, be seized after conviction of the offenders; but if judgment be arrested or reversed, they shall be returned.

2. Reviling the Established Church.

By 1 Ed. VI. c. 1, and 1 Eliz. c. 1, whoever reviles the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper shall be punished by fine and imprisonment.

By 1 Eliz. c. 2, if any minister that ought to use the Book of Common Prayer, &c. shall speak anything in derogation of the Book of Common Prayer, he shall, if not beneficed, be imprisoned one year for the first offence, and for life for the second; and if beneficed, shall for the first offence be imprisoned for six months, and forfeit a year's value of his benefice; for the second offence be deprived and suffer one year's imprisonment; and for the third, shall in like manner be deprived and suffer imprisonment for life.

And if any person whatever shall in plays, songs, or other open words, speak anything in derogation, depraving or despising of the said book, or shall forcibly prevent the reading of it, or cause any other service to be used in its stead, he shall forfeit for the first offence 100 marks; for the second, 400; and for the third, shall forfeit all his goods and chattels, and suffer imprisonment for life.

3. Nonconformity.

Penal Laws.

By 1 Eliz. c. 2, 23 Eliz. c. 1, and 3 Jac. I. c. 4, such as absent themselves from divine worship in the established

Church, without lawful excuse to be absent, shall forfeit one shilling to the poor every Lord's day they so absent themselves, and twenty pounds to the king, if they continue such default for a month together.

By the Corporation Act, 13 Car. II. st. 2, c. 1, no person can be legally elected to any office relating to the government of any city or corporation, unless within a twelvemonth before he has received the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, according to the rites of the Church of England: and he is also enjoined to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy at the time that he takes the oath of office, in default whereof the election is void.

By the Test Act, 25 Car. II. c. 2, all officers, civil and military, are directed to take the oaths, and make the declaration against transubstantiation in any of the king's courts at Westminster, or at the quarter sessions, within six calendar months after their admission, and also within the same time to receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper according to the usage of the church of England, in some public church, &c. upon forfeiture of £500, and disability to hold the office.

By various statutes, 23 Eliz. c. 1; 27 Eliz. c. 2; 29 Eliz. c. 6; 35 Eliz. c. 2; 1 Jac. I. c. 4; 3 Jac. I. c. 4 and 5; 7 Jac. I. c. 6; 3 Car. I. c. 3; 25 Car. II. c. 2; 30 Car. II. st. 2; 1 Will. & M. c. 9, 15, 26; 11 & 12 Will. III. c. 4; 12 Ann. st. 2, c. 14; 1 Geo. I. st. 2, c. 55; 3 Geo. I. c. 18; 11 Geo. II. c. 17, heavy disabilities and penalties are imposed on persons professing popery, popish recusants convict, and popish priests.

By stat. 1 Geo. I. st. 2, c. 13; 2 Geo. II. c. 31; 9 Geo. II. c. 26, all ecclesiastical persons promoted to benefices, members of colleges who have attained eighteen years, teachers of scholars or pupils, dissenting ministers, practisers of the law, and others, must within six months after their appointment take the oaths mentioned in the Test and Corporation Acts.

By statute 30 Car. II. st. 2, and 1 Geo. I. c. 13, every member of parliament must, in the presence of the House,

take the oath of allegiance, supremacy and abjuration, and subscribe and repeat the declaration against transubstantiation, and invocation of saints, and the sacrifice of the mass; and by 7 & 8 Will. III. c. 27, before any person can vote at elections for Members of the House of Commons, he is compellable to take the oaths of allegiance and

supremacy.

Laws of Toleration and Relief.

But by the Toleration Act, 1 Will. & M. st. 1, c. 18, (confirmed by 10 Anne, c. 2); the 1 Eliz. c. 2; 23 Eliz. c. 1, and 3 Jac. I. c. 4, and certain other penal laws against nonconformity, are declared not to extend to any dissenters (other than papists, and such as deny the Trinity,) provided, 1. That they take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, or make a similar affirmation being quakers, and subscribe the declaration against popery. 2. That they repair to some congregation certified to, and registered in, the court of the bishop or archdeacon, or at the county sessions. 3. That the doors of such meeting-house shall be unlocked, unbarred and unbolted.

By the same statute, 1 Will. & M., dissenting preachers or teachers are relieved from certain penal statutes affecting them by making and subscribing the declaration and taking the oaths in the statute mentioned, and by also declaring their approbation of, and subscribing certain articles of religion mentioned in the statute 13 Eliz. c. 12.

By the same statute, if any person shall wilfully, maliciously, or contemptuously disturb any congregation assembled in any church or permitted meeting-house, or shall misuse any preacher or teacher there, he shall be bound over to the sessions of the peace, and forfeit £20.

By 19 Geo. III. c. 44, if any dissenting preachers or teachers scruple to subscribe the articles of religion mentioned in the statute 13 Eliz. c. 12, they shall nevertheless be entitled to all the benefit of the Toleration Act, by taking the oaths and subscribing the declaration against popery required by that Act, and also making and subscribing a

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