| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act to retain the Queen's Majesty's Subjects in their due Obedience. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 23 Eliz. 1. c. 1 |
| Territorial extent | |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 18 March 1581 |
| Other legislation | |
| Repealed by | Roman Catholics Act 1844 |
| Relates to | |
Status: Repealed | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
The Religion Act 1580 or Recusancy Act 1680 (23 Eliz. 1. c. 1) was an act of the Parliament of England during the English Reformation.[1]
The act made it high treason to persuade English subjects to withdraw their allegiance to the Queen, or from the Church of England to Rome, or to promise obedience to a foreign authority.
The act also increased the fine for absenteeism from church to £20 a month or imprisonment until they conformed. Finally, the act fined and imprisoned those who celebrated the mass or attended a mass.[2]
- ^ Tomlins, Thomas Edlyne; Raithby, John (1811). Religion Act 1580 [23 Eliz. I. - A.D. 1580 Chapter I]. The Statutes at Large, of England and of Great Britain: from Magna Carta to the Union of the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol. IV. London, Great Britain: George Eyre and Andrew Strahan. pp. 374–377. OCLC 1110419501 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Dudley Julius Medley, A Student's Manual of English Constitutional History. Sixth Edition (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1925), p. 638.