The Blasphemy Act 1697 (9 Will 3 c 35) was an Act of the

Parliament of England The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised ...

. It made it an offence for any person, educated in or having made profession of the Christian religion, by writing, preaching, teaching or advised speaking, to deny the Holy Trinity, to claim there is more than one god, to deny the truth of Christianity and to deny the Bible as divine authority. The first offence resulted in being rendered incapable of holding any office or place of trust. The second offence resulted in being rendered incapable of bringing any action, of being guardian or executor, or of taking a legacy or deed of gift, and three years imprisonment without bail. The Act was directed against

apostates Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that ...

at the beginning of the

deist Deism ( or ; derived from the Latin '' deus'', meaning "god") is the philosophical position and rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge, and asserts that empirical reason and observation ...

movement in England, particularly after the 1696 publication of John Toland's book ''

Christianity not Mysterious ''Christianity not Mysterious'' is a 1696 book by the radical thinker John Toland. Publication history The work was published anonymously between December 1695 and June 1696. Toland admitted his authorship in June 1696. Influence ''Christianity ...

''. It was rarely applied: the legislation allowed only four days after the offence for a formal complaint to be lodged and the trial itself was required to be held within three months. As a result, existing

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipres ...

process continued to be the first line against heterodoxy in England and Wales. The

Trinitarian The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the Fa ...

provision was amended by the Doctrine of the Trinity Act 1813 to remove the penalties from Unitarians. The Law Commission said that they were not aware of any prosecutions that had taken place under this Act. On 24 May 1966, the Law Commission said that the offence created by this statute was obsolete and recommended that the whole Act be repealed. Their recommendation was implemented by section 13(2) of, and
Part I
of Schedule 4 to, the

Criminal Law Act 1967 The Criminal Law Act 1967 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made some major changes to English criminal law, as part of wider liberal reforms by the Labour government elected in 1966. Most of it is still in force. Territ ...

.The Law Commission. Offences against religion and public worship. Working paper no. 79. para. 2.24 at p. 28 For the effect of this Act on the common law offences, see Blasphemy law in the United Kingdom - Relationship between the common law and statutory offences.

Notes

Sources

* Webb, R.K. "From Toleration to Religious Liberty" ''Liberty Secured? Britain before and after 1688'' Edited by J.R. Jones (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992) p 162 {{UK legislation Acts of the Parliament of England concerning religion Christianity and law in the 17th century 1698 in law 1698 in England Blasphemy law in Europe 1698 in Christianity Church of Scotland

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