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TheAct of Uniformity 1662[a] (14 Cha. 2. c. 4)[c] is anact of theParliament of England. (It was formerly cited as 13 & 14Cha. 2. c. 4, by reference to the regnal year when it was passed on 19 May 1662.) It prescribed the form of publicprayers, administration ofsacraments, and otherrites of the EstablishedChurch of England, according to the rites and ceremonies prescribed in the1662Book of Common Prayer. Adherence to this was required in order to hold any office in government or the church, although the new version of theBook of Common Prayer prescribed by the act was so new that most people had never even seen a copy. The Act also required that theBook of Common Prayer "be truly and exactly Translated into the British orWelsh Tongue". It also explicitly requiredepiscopalordination for all ministers, i.e. deacons, priests and bishops, which had to be reintroduced since thePuritans had abolished many features of the Church during theCivil War. The act did not explicitly encompass theIsle of Man.[1]
The act has mostly been repealed in the United Kingdom, except for sections 10 and 15 which have nevertheless been superseded by other legislation in the Provinces of Canterbury and York except in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.[2]
As an immediate result of the act, over 2,000 clergymen refused to take the oath and were expelled from theChurch of England in what became known as theGreat Ejection of 1662. Although there had already been ministers outside the established church, this created the concept ofnon-conformity, with a substantial section of English society excluded from public affairs for a century and a half.
The Act of Uniformity itself is one of four crucial pieces of legislation, known as theClarendon Code, named afterEdward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon,Charles II's Lord Chancellor.[3] They are:
Combined with theTest Act, theCorporation Acts excluded all nonconformists from holding civil or military office, and prevented them from being awarded degrees by theuniversities ofCambridge andOxford.
TheBook of Common Prayer introduced by Charles II was substantially the same as Elizabeth's version of 1559, itself based onThomas Cranmer's earlierversion of 1552. Apart from minor changes this remains the official and permanent legal version of prayer authorised by Parliament and Church.
The provisions of the act were modified by theAct of Uniformity Amendment Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 35) to permit shortened forms of service. (This has been repealed by theGeneral Synod.)
The act was repealed by Measures of the Church of England passed in 1974 and 1988.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Gordon, Alexander (1900). "Wilson, Thomas (1663–1755)". InLee, Sidney (ed.).Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 62. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 139–142).
