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Penal law
 
 
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In the most general sense, penal is the body of laws that are enforced by the State in its own name and impose penalties for their violation, as opposed to civil law
Civil law (common law)

Civil law, as opposed to criminal law, refers to that branch of law dealing with disputes between individuals and/or organizations, in which damages may be awarded to the victim....
 that seeks to redress private wrongs. This usage is synonymous with criminal law
Criminal law

The term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential for unique and often severe impositions as punishment for failure to comply....
 and is covered in that article.

In some jurisdictions, such as Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
, penal law is distinct from criminal law even if it encompasses this last field. This is a result of federalism
Federalism

Federalism is a political philosophy in which a group of members are bound together with a governing representative head. The term federalism is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units ....
: only the federal Parliament
Parliament

A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom....
 has the legislative power to enact criminal law statutes, yet provinces can also attach penal dispositions to their non-criminal statutes so they will be respected.

More specifically, the Penal laws were a set of laws which punished nonconformism
Nonconformism

Nonconformism is the refusal to conform to common standards, conventions, rules, customs, traditions, norms, or laws. In specific usage Nonconformism , however, refers to the Protestant Christians of England and Wales who refused to "conform", or follow the governance and usages of the Church of England....
 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 and Ireland
Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
.

English statutes on religious nonconformity
In English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 history, penal law refers to a specific series of laws that sought to uphold the establishment of the Church of England
Church of England

The Church of England is the State religion Christianity Ecclesia in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches....
 against Protestant
Protestantism

Protestantism is a movement within Christianity that originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the three principal traditions of Christianity, together with Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy....
 nonconformists
Nonconformism

Nonconformism is the refusal to conform to common standards, conventions, rules, customs, traditions, norms, or laws. In specific usage Nonconformism , however, refers to the Protestant Christians of England and Wales who refused to "conform", or follow the governance and usages of the Church of England....
 and Roman Catholics
Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
, by imposing various forfeitures, civil penalties, and civil disabilities upon these dissenters.






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Encyclopedia


In the most general sense, penal is the body of laws that are enforced by the State in its own name and impose penalties for their violation, as opposed to civil law
Civil law (common law)

Civil law, as opposed to criminal law, refers to that branch of law dealing with disputes between individuals and/or organizations, in which damages may be awarded to the victim....
 that seeks to redress private wrongs. This usage is synonymous with criminal law
Criminal law

The term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential for unique and often severe impositions as punishment for failure to comply....
 and is covered in that article.

In some jurisdictions, such as Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
, penal law is distinct from criminal law even if it encompasses this last field. This is a result of federalism
Federalism

Federalism is a political philosophy in which a group of members are bound together with a governing representative head. The term federalism is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units ....
: only the federal Parliament
Parliament

A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom....
 has the legislative power to enact criminal law statutes, yet provinces can also attach penal dispositions to their non-criminal statutes so they will be respected.

More specifically, the Penal laws were a set of laws which punished nonconformism
Nonconformism

Nonconformism is the refusal to conform to common standards, conventions, rules, customs, traditions, norms, or laws. In specific usage Nonconformism , however, refers to the Protestant Christians of England and Wales who refused to "conform", or follow the governance and usages of the Church of England....
 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 and Ireland
Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
.

English statutes on religious nonconformity


In English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 history, penal law refers to a specific series of laws that sought to uphold the establishment of the Church of England
Church of England

The Church of England is the State religion Christianity Ecclesia in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches....
 against Protestant
Protestantism

Protestantism is a movement within Christianity that originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the three principal traditions of Christianity, together with Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy....
 nonconformists
Nonconformism

Nonconformism is the refusal to conform to common standards, conventions, rules, customs, traditions, norms, or laws. In specific usage Nonconformism , however, refers to the Protestant Christians of England and Wales who refused to "conform", or follow the governance and usages of the Church of England....
 and Roman Catholics
Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
, by imposing various forfeitures, civil penalties, and civil disabilities upon these dissenters. Some examples of these laws are:
  • the law of praemunire
    Praemunire

    Praemunire , was an offence in England law that took its name from the introductory words of the writ of summons issued to the defendant to answer the charge, "Pr?munire facias A.B.," &c., i.e....
    , 14th century
  • Corporation Act 1661
    Corporation Act 1661

    The Corporation Act of 1661 is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of England . It belongs to the general category of Test Act, designed for the express purpose of restricting public offices in England to members of the Church of England....
  • Act of Uniformity 1662
    Act of Uniformity 1662

    The Act of Uniformity was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of England, 14 Charles II of England c. 4 , which required the use of all the rites and ceremonies in the Book of Common Prayer in Church of England services....
  • Conventicle Act 1664
    Conventicle Act 1664

    The Conventicle Act of 1664 was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of England that forbade religious assemblies of more than five people outside the auspices of the Church of England....
  • Five Mile Act 1665
    Five Mile Act 1665

    The Five Mile Act or Oxford Act, is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of England , passed in 1665 with the long title "An Act for restraining Non-Conformists from inhabiting in Corporations"....
  • the series of Test Act
    Test Act

    The Test Acts were a series of England penal laws that served as a religious test for public office and imposed various civil disabilities on Roman Catholics and Nonconformists....
    s
  • Education Act 1695
    Education Act 1695

    The Education Act 1695 , was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of Ireland, one of a series of penal laws, prohibiting Catholics from sending their children to be educated abroad....
  • Disarming Act
    Disarming Act

    After Jacobitism of 1715 ended it was evident that the most effective supporters of the Jacobites were Scottish clans in the Scottish Highlands and the Disarming Act attempted to remove this threat....
     1695
  • Marriage Act
    Marriage Act

    Marriage Act may refer to a number of pieces of legislation:...
     1697
  • Banishment Act
    Banishment Act

    The Banishment Act was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of Ireland , one of a series of penal laws passed in 1697 that banished all bishops of the Roman Catholic Church from Ireland to protect the official state church, the Church of Ireland....
     1697
  • Registration Act
    Registration Act

    The Registration Act was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of Ireland passed in 1704, one of a series of Penal laws. Its long title is An Act for registering the Popish Clergy and its citation is List of Acts of the Parliament of Ireland, 1701 to 1800#2 Anne ....
     1704
  • Popery Act
    Popery Act

    An Act to prevent the further Growth of Popery was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of Ireland passed in 1703 and amended in 1709, one of a series of penal laws against Roman Catholics....
     1704 and 1709
  • Occasional Conformity Act 1711
  • Disenfranchising Act
    Disenfranchising Act

    The Disenfranchising Act was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of Ireland passed in 1727, one of a series of penal laws, prohibiting all Roman Catholics from voting....
     1728


Clarendon Code


While some of the Penal Laws were much older, they took their most drastic shape during the reign of Charles II
Charles II of England

Charles II was the Monarchy of Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland.His father Charles I of England Regicide#The regicide of Charles I of England at Palace of Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War....
. Four of them became known as the Clarendon Code, after Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon
Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon

Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon was an England historian and statesman, and grandfather of two British monarchs, Mary II of England and Anne of Great Britain....
, though he was not their author, and did not fully approve of them. These included:

  • Corporation Act (1661) - This first of the four statutes which made up the Clarendon Code required all municipal officials to take Anglican communion, formally reject the Solemn League and Covenant
    Solemn League and Covenant

    The Solemn League and Covenant was an agreement between the Scotland Covenanters and the leaders of the England Roundhead. It was agreed to in 1643, during the First English Civil War....
     of 1643. The effect of this act was to exclude nonconformists from public office.


  • Act of Uniformity
    Act of Uniformity 1662

    The Act of Uniformity was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of England, 14 Charles II of England c. 4 , which required the use of all the rites and ceremonies in the Book of Common Prayer in Church of England services....
     - This second statute made use of the Book of Common Prayer compulsory in religious service. Upwards of 2,000 clergy refused to comply with this act, and were forced to resign their livings.


  • Conventicle Act
    Conventicle Act 1664

    The Conventicle Act of 1664 was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of England that forbade religious assemblies of more than five people outside the auspices of the Church of England....
     (1664) - This act forbade conventicles (a meeting for unauthorized worship) of more than 5 people who were not members of the same household. The purpose was to prevent dissenting
    English Dissenters

    English Dissenters were English people Christians who separated from the Church of England. They opposed State interference in religious matters, and founded their own communities in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries....
     religious groups from meeting.


  • Five Mile Act (1665) - This final act of the Clarendon Code was aimed at Nonconformist ministers, who were forbidden from coming within five miles of incorporated towns or the place of their former livings. They were also forbidden to teach in schools. This act was not repealed until 1812.


In Irish history
History of Ireland

The history of Ireland began with the first known settlement in Ireland around 8000 BC, when hunter-gatherers arrived from continental Europe, probably via a land bridge....
 


See article Penal Laws (Ireland)
Penal Laws (Ireland)

The Penal Laws in Ireland refers to a series of laws imposed under British rule that sought to discriminate against Roman Catholics and Protestant dissenters in favour of the established Church of Ireland....


The Penal Laws were introduced into Ireland in the year 1695 (having been in use in other countries before this). They had a pronounced effect, disenfranchising the majority of the Irish population, who were Roman Catholic or Presbyterian and in favour of the minority established Church of Ireland
Church of Ireland

The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion, operating across the island of Ireland. Like other Anglican churches, it considers itself to be both Catholicism and Protestant Reformation....
. Though the laws also affected adherents of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland
Presbyterian Church in Ireland

The Presbyterian Church in Ireland , operating seamlessly across the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, is the largest Presbyterian denomination in Ireland, and the largest Protestant denomination in Northern Ireland....
 (who were concentrated in Ulster
Ulster

Ulster is one of the four Provinces of Ireland of Ireland, in addition to Connacht, Munster and Leinster. The name is sometimes informally used as a synonym for Northern Ireland, one of the countries of the United Kingdom, although Northern Ireland covers only two thirds of Ulster....
), their principal victims were members of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
, meaning over three quarters of the people on the island. The British had punished the faith of the overwhelming majority of the "mere Irish" (in contemporary English, 'mere' meant 'pure' or 'fully').

The laws were eventually repealed largely due to Irish political agitation organised under Daniel O'Connell
Daniel O'Connell

Daniel O'Connell , known as The Liberator, or The Emancipator, was an Ireland political leader in the first half of the nineteenth century....
 in the 1820s, but effects of the laws in terms of sectarianism
Sectarianism

Sectarianism is bigotry, discrimination, prejudice or hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions within a group, such as between different denominations of a religion or the factions of a political movement....
 between Catholics and Protestants can still be seen, particularly in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland

conventional_long_name = Northern Ireland|native_name= Tuaisceart ?ireannNorlin Airlann|motto =|image_map = Europe location N-IRL2.png...
, today.

See also

  • Religion in the United Kingdom
    Religion in the United Kingdom

    Religion in the United Kingdom is about the development of religion in the United Kingdom since its formation in 1707. The Treaty of Union that led to the formation of the United Kingdom ensured that there would be a protestant succession as well as a link between Separation of church and state that still remains....
  • Catholic Emancipation
    Catholic Emancipation

    Catholic Emancipation or Catholic Relief, was a process in Great Britain and Ireland in the late 18th century and early 19th century which involved reducing and removing many of the restrictions on Roman Catholics which had been introduced by the Act of Uniformity, the Test Acts and the Penal Laws....
  • Nuremberg Laws
    Nuremberg Laws

    The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 were laws passed in Nazi Germany. They used a pseudoscience basis to discriminate against Jewish people. The laws classified people as German if all four of their grandparents were of "German blood" , while people were classified as Jews if they descended from three or four Jewish grandparents ....


External links