PENAL
614
PENAL
any Catholic sending cliiklrcn to be educated abroad.
The cruel operation of this Act, which made itself
felt throughout the ensuing century, w;is extended by
a measiu-e passed under Queen Anne (12 Anne, St.
2, c. 14), though Catholics were not generally molested
during her reign.
The last penal statutes to be enacted were those of George I. By I Geo., I, St. 2, c. 13, the Hanoverian Succession Oaths were to be taken by all Catholics to whom they were tendered, under penalty of all the forfeitures" to which "popish recusant convicts" were liable. The Stuart rising of 1715 wiis followed by an- other Act (I Geo., I, St. 2, c. 50) appointing commis- sioners to inquire into the estates of popish recusants with a view to confiscating two-thirds of each estate. The scope of ".\n .A.ct to oblige Papists to register their names and real estates" (I Geo., I, St. 2, c. 55) is sufficiently indicated by its title. It added to the ex- pense of all transactions in land, the more galling as Catholics were doubly taxed under the animal land-tax acts. (Seealso-tGeo.,111, c. 60.) In 1722 was passed "An Act for granting an aid to his Majesty by levying a Tax upon Papists" (9 Geo., I, IS), by which the sum of one hundred thousand pounds was wrung from the impoverished Catholics. Throughout the reign of George II (1727-60) there were no further additions to the penal code and under his successor, George III (1760-1820), the work of repeal was begun.
Even this lengthy enumeration is not absolutely exhaustive, and the Acts here cited contain many minor enactments of a vexatious nature. The task of repeal was a long, slow, gradual, and complicated one, the chief measures of relief being three: The First Catholic Relief Act of 1778, which enabled Catholics to inherit and purchase land and repealed the Act of William III, rewarding the conviction of priests (see Burton, "Life and Times of Bishop Challoner", ch. x.xxi); the second Catholic Relief Act of 1791, which relieved all Catholics who took the oath therein pre- scribed from the operation of the Penal Code (see Ward, "Dawn of the Cathohc Revival", viii, xiv-xvi); and the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829. The only disqualifications against Cathohcs which appear to be still in force are those which prohibit the sov- ereign from being or marrying a Cathohc, or any Cath- olic subject from holding the offices of Lord Chan- cellor, or Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
The Statutes at Large (various editions, that here cited being London, 1758); Chronological Table and Index of the Statutes (London, 1881); Butler, Historical Account of the Laws against Roman Catholics and of the Laws passed for their relief (n. p., 1794) ; Idem, Historical Memoirs respecting the English, Irish, and Scottish Catholics (London, 1S19); Anstey, .4 Guide to the Laws of Eng- land affecting Roman Catholics (London. 1842) ; Madden, The History of the Penal Laws enacted against Roman Catholics (Lon- don, 1847); McMuLLAN AND Ellis, The Reformation Settlement, an Epitome of the Statute and Canon Law thereon (London, 1903).
For the practical working of the Penal Laws and the hardships they inflicted on Cathohcs reference must be made to English Catholic literature passim. The following are some of the richest sources of information: Bridgewater, Concertatio Ecclesice Ca- tholicae in Anglia (Trier. loSS); DoDD, Church History (Brussels, vere Wolverhampton. 1737-42), and much additional information in Tierney's edition (London, 1839H13) ; Challoner, Memoirs of Missionary Priests (London, 1740-41); Berington, State and Behaviour of English Catholics from the Reformation to the Year 1781 (London. 1781); Morris, Troubles of Our Catholic Fore- fathers (London, 1872-77); Idem. The Life of Father John Gerard (London. 1881); Foley. Records of the English Province, S. J. (London, 1877-1883); Amherst. History of Catholic Emancipa- tion (London. 1886); Pollen, Acts of English Martyrs (London. 1891) ; Morris. Catholic EnglanA in Modern Times (London. 1892) ; .\non. The Position of the Catholic Church in England and Wales during the last two Centuries (London, 1892) ; TBADDEtra. The Franciscans in England (Leamington. 1898) ; Payne. Records of the English Catholics of I7tr, (London. 1900); Camm, Lines of the English Martyrs (I^ndon. 1904-0.5); Kirk. Biographies of English Catholics (London. 1909). Much valuable incidental information on the Penal Code is also to be found in Gillow. Bibl. Did. of Eng. Calh. Publications of the Catholic Record So- ciety (London. 190.') — ) include prison lists, lists of recusants etc.
Edwin Burton.
II. In Scotland. — The first penal statutes were en- acted by the Scottish Parliament of 1560, which, on 14
August, passed three statutes; the first abolishing the
jurisdiction of the pope, the second repealing all for-
mer statutes in favour of the Catholic Church, the
third providing that all who said or heard Mass should
be punished for the first offence by the confiscation of
their goods and by corporal penalties, for the second by
banishment from Scotland, for the third by death. A
temporary relaxation of these laws was due to Mary
Queen of Scots, and a statute was even passed in 1567
giving liberty to every Scotsman to live according to
his own religion; but shortly after the (Jueen's mar-
riage with Bothwell a proclamation was extorted from
heron 23 May, 1567, by which severe penalties were re-
newed against all who refu.sed to conform to Protes-
tantism. After Mary's deposition the Parliament of
156S passed further acts ratifying the establishment of
Protestantism, and prohibiting the exercise of any
other ecclesiastic;d jurisdiction. Lennox's Parliament
(1571) decreed the ajiprehension of all persons pos-
sessing pajjal Bulls or dispensations or gifts and pro-
visions of benefices.
The persecution carried on under these statutes by the Privy Council and by the General Assembly was very severe. The Privy Council issued several procla- mations during the next half-century enforcing the penal statutes, forbidding the harbouring of Catholic priests, ordering parents to withdraw their children from Catholic colleges abroad, and rendering hu.s- bands liable for the acts of their wives done in support of the Catholic cause. A commission issued in July, 1629, ordered that, should persecuted Catholics take refuge in fortified places, the commissioners should "follow, hunt and pursue them with fire and sword". Though in Scotland there were fewer martyrdoms than in England or Ireland, yet the persecution fell even more heavily on the rank and file of Catholics, and in some respects they suffered outrages not paral- leled in England, such as the simultaneous expulsion of all Catholics from their homes which was ordered and carried out in 1629-30. But there were times of comparative tranquillity when the rigour of the law was not enforced.
At the close of the seventeenth century fresh stat- utes were passed. In May, 1700, an Act of Parlia- ment offered a reward of five hundred merks for the conviction of any priest or Jesuit; the same statute disabled Catholics from inheriting property or edu- cating their children. After the Act of Union, in 1707, the Penal Laws were still enforced. In addition to the provisions already recorded and other sufferings which they shared with English Catholics, there were galling restrictions peculiar to Scotland. The pur- chase or dissemination of Catholic books was forbid- den under pain of banishment and forfeiture of personal property. They could not be governors, school-masters, guardians or factors, and any one who employed them as such was fined a thousand merks. They were fined five hundred merks for teaching "any art, science or exercise of any sort". Any Protestant who became a Catholic forfeited his whole hereditable estate to the nearest Protestant heir.
The first repeal of the Penal Code was effected by the Act for the relief of Scottish Catholics, which re- ceived the royal assent in May, 1793, and practically complete liberty was granted to them under the pro- visions of the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829.
Stothert. ed. Gordon. Catholic Church in Scotland, published anonvmouslv ((lluspow, lSfi9i; Bki.i.ksiikim. tr. IIi-nter-Blair. History of tl'i. (,,'/,,/„• ( ;,,:,' ,., . ■;.: / I , I, ,,',;,: ,.h, 18S7-90); Stewart. 7'/,, • - ^ i '. ,. 1892). 304
sqq.; FoRiti • ! i : :. V - ' ' during the
Seventeenth o'l'i I ' :> r , ■ 'K t '., ■ (- I . in.i. ii:, ] 'inwi.
EnwiN Bl'rton.
III. In Ireland. — Although the penal laws of Ireland were passed by a Protestant Parliament and aimed at depriving Catholics of their faith, such laws were not the outcome of religious motives only.
