Test Act

Test Act, THE (1673), required all persons holding any office under the Crown, whether military or civil, to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, receive the sacrament according to the rites of the Church of England, and subscribe the declaration against transubstantiation. It was directed against the Roman Catholics, but was equally effective against Dissenters. A similar Act was passed for Scotland in 1681. These Acts were virtually nullified by an Act of Indemnity which was passed annually. They were repealed on the motion of Lord John Russell in 1828.