Popery Act

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This article is about the Irish Act of Parliament. For the English Act of Parliament, see Popery Act 1698.
Popery Act 1703
Parliament of Ireland
Long titleAn Act to prevent the further Growth of Popery
Citation2 Ann c.6
Dates
Royal assent1703
Repealed13 August 1878
Other legislation
Amended byPromissory Oaths Act 1871
Repealed byStatute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1878
Status: Repealed

An Act to prevent the further Growth of Popery, commonly known as the Popery Act or the Gavelkind Act,[1] was an Act of the Parliament of Ireland that was passed in 1703 and amended in 1709. One of a series of Penal Laws against Roman Catholics, the law enforced Irish farm subdivision as a rule of inheritance.

The law established a different inheritance rule for Roman Catholics from that of Protestants. Traditional Irish law used Gavelkind as the inheritance rule in which an estate would be divided equally among a dead man's sons. In contrast, England had come to use male primogeniture as the main inheritance principle, with the eldest son receiving the entire estate. The Gavelkind Act enforced the traditional Irish law on Roman Catholics and the English law on Protestants.

If an eldest son of a Roman Catholic family converted to the Protestant faith, he would no longer have to share his father's estate with his siblings (by Gavelkind) but could instead keep all of it for himself (by primogeniture). Thus, the law had the effect of reducing the size and thus the influence of Roman Catholic landed estates, which was that Act's ulterior motive.[1]

Its citation is 2 Ann c.6.

Catholic land holdings were reduced from 25% of the land in 1688 to 14% of the land in 1704 and 5% of the land in 1776.

Sir Toby Butler, the former Solicitor General for Ireland, a Roman Catholic, made a celebrated speech at the bar of the Irish House of Commons denouncing the Act as being "against the laws of God and man... against the rules of reason and justice". Other eminent Catholic lawyers like Stephen Rice also denounced the measure but to no avail.

Section XVII required any person with a civil or military office to subscribe to a declaration on transubstantiation, take an oath of abjuration and receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper according to the usage of the Church of Ireland within three months. As well as excluding Roman Catholics from office, the final requirement excluded non-conformist Protestants, notably Presbyterians, and many had to step down from municipal corporations and other positions. For example, in Londonderry, ten Aldermen and ten Burgesses had to resign.[2]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Andrew Lyall; Land Law in Ireland; ISBN 1-85800-199-4
  2. ^ The Annals of Derry, Robert Simpson 1847, page 203

External links[]


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