be reckoned, taken, deemed and accounted to be the firſt Day of the Year of our Lord one thouſand ſeven hundred and fifty-three; and ſo on, from Time to Time, the firſt Day of January in every Year, which ſhall happen in Time to come, ſhall be reckoned, taken, deemed and accounted to be the firſt Day of the Year; and that each new Year ſhall accordingly commence, and begin to be reckoned, from the firſt Day of every ſuch Month of January next preceding the twenty-fifth Day of March, on which ſuch [1] Year would, according to the preſent Supputation, have begun or commenced: And that from and after the ſaid firſt of January one thouſand ſeven hundred and fifty-two, the ſeveral Days of each Month ſhall go on, and be reckoned and numbered in the ſame Order; and the Feaſt of Eaſter, and other moveable Feaſts thereon depending, ſhall be aſcertained according to the ſame Method, as they now are, until the ſecond Day of September in the ſaid Year one thouſand ſeven hundred and fifty-two incluſive; and that the natural Day next immediately following the ſaid ſecond Day of September, ſhall be called, reckoned and accounted to be the fourteenth Day of September, omitting for that Time only the eleven intermediate nominal Days of the common Calendar; and that the ſeveral natural Days, which ſhall follow and ſucceed next after the ſaid fourteenth Day of September, ſhall be reſpectively called, reckoned and numbered forwards in numerical Order from the ſaid fourteenth Day of September, according to the Order and Succeſſion of Days now uſed in the preſent Calendar; and that all Acts, Deeds, Writings, Notes and other Inſtruments of what Nature or Kind ſoever, whether Eccleſiaſtical or Civil, Publick or Private, which ſhall be made, executed or ſigned, upon or after the ſaid firſt Day of January one thouſand ſeven hundred and fifty-two, ſhall bear Date according to the ſaid new Method of Supputation, and that the [2] two fixed Terms of St. Hilary and St. Michael, in that Part of Great Britain called England, and the Courts of Great Seſſions in the Counties Palatine, and in Wales, and alſo the Courts of General Quarter-Seſſions and General Seſſions of the Peace, and all other Courts of what Nature or Kind ſoever, whether Civil, Criminal or Eccleſiaſtical, and all Meetings and Aſſemblies of any Bodies Politick or Corporate, either for the Election of any Officers or Members thereof, or for any ſuch Officers entering upon the Execution of their reſpective Offices, or for any other Purpoſe whatſoever, which by any Law, Statute, Charter, Cuſtom or Uſage within this Kingdom, or within any other the Dominions or Countries ſubject or belonging to the Crown of Great Britain, are to be holden and kept on any fixed or certain Day of any Month, [3] or on any Day depending upon the Beginning, or any certain Day of any Month (except ſuch Courts as are uſually holden or kept with any Fairs or Marts) ſhall, from Time to Time, from and after the ſaid ſecond Day of September, be holden and kept upon or according to the ſame reſpective nominal Days and Times, whereon or according to which the ſame are now to be holden, but which ſhall be computed according to the ſaid new Method of numbering and reckoning the Days of the Calendar as aforeſaid; that is to ſay, eleven Days ſooner than the reſpective Days whereon the ſame are now holden and kept; any Law, Statute, Charter, Cuſtom or Uſage, to the contrary thereof in any wiſe notwithſtanding.
[4] II. And for the continuing and preſerving the Calendar or Method of Reckoning, and computing the Days of the Year in the ſame regular Courſe, as near as may be, in all Times coming; Be it further enacted by the Authority aforeſaid, That the ſeveral Years of our Lord, one thouſand eight hundred, one thouſand nine hundred, two thouſand one hundred, two thouſand two hundred, two thouſand three hundred, or any other hundredth Years of our Lord, which ſhall happen in Time to come, except only every fourth hundredth Year of our Lord, whereof the Year of our Lord two thouſand ſhall be the firſt, ſhall not be eſteemed or taken to be Biſſextile or Leap Years, but ſhall be taken to be common Years, conſiſting of Years Biſſextile of 366 Days. three hundred and ſixty-five Days, and no more; and that the Years of our Lord two thouſand, two thouſand four hundred, two thouſand eight hundred, and every other fourth hundred Year of our Lord, from the ſaid Year of our Lord two thouſand incluſive, and alſo all other Years of our Lord, which by the preſent Supputation are eſteemed to be Biſſextile or Leap Years, ſhall for the future, and in all Times to come, be eſteemed and taken to be Biſſextile or Leap Years, conſiſting of three hundred and ſixty-ſix Days, in the ſame Sort and Manner as is now uſed with reſpect to every fourth Year of our Lord.
' III. And whereas according to the Rule prefixed to the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England, Eaſter-day is always the firſt Sunday after the firſt Full Moon which happens next after the one and twentieth Day of March, and if the Full Moon happens upon a Sunday, Eaſter-day is the Sunday after; which Rule was made in Conformity to the Decree of the ſaid General Council of Nice, for the Celebration of the ſaid Feaſt of Eaſter: And whereas the Method of computing the Full Moons now uſed in the Church of England, and according to which the Table to find Eaſter for ever, prefixed to the ſaid Book of Common Prayer, is formed, is by Proceſs of Time become conſiderably erroneous: And whereas a Calendar, and alſo certain Tables and Rules for the fixing the true Time of the Celebration of the ſaid Feaſt of Eaſter, and the finding the Times of the Full Moons on which the ſame dependeth, ſo as the ſame ſhall agree as nearly as may be with the Decree of the ſaid General Council, and alſo with the Practice of foreign Countries, have been prepared, and are hereunto annexed;' Be it [5] therefore further enacted by the Authority aforefaid, That the ſaid Feaſt of Eaſter, or any of the moveable Feaſts thereon depending, ſhall, from and after the ſaid ſecond Day of September, be no longer kept or obſerved in that Part of Great Britain called England, or in any other the Dominions or Countries ſubject or belonging to the Crown of Great Britain, according to the ſaid Method of Supputation now uſed, or the ſaid Table prefixed to the ſaid Book of Common Prayer; and that the ſaid Table, and alſo the Column of Golden Numbers, as they are now prefixed to the reſpective Days of the Month in the ſaid Calendar, ſhall be left out in all future Editions of the faid Book of Common Prayer; and that the ſaidnew
- ↑ The Days to be numbered as now until 2 Sept. 1752; and the Day following to be accounted 14 Sept. omitting 11 Days.
- ↑ Hilary and Michaelmas Terms, and all Courts, to be held on the ſame nominal Days.
- ↑ Courts held with Fairs or Marts excepted.
- ↑ Hundredth Years, except every fourth hundred, to be common Years of 365 Days.
- ↑ Eaſter and the other moveable Feaſts, to be obſerved according to the new Calendar, Tables and Rules.
