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which have modified their operation , it must be evident that Nonconformists of all descriptions are oat of the purview and intent of the latter , which are professedly passed to obviate inconveniences arising" from accident or inadvertence , and not such as result from a deliberate and conscientious
opposition to the law . I do not , therefore , think , that a judge could be severely reflected upon for illiberality , who should manifest a decided leaning to confine the relief afforded by the Indemnity Acts to those against whom
no overt acts of dissent could be proved upon which to raise a fair presumption , that the omission to take the Test proceeded from principle , and not from ignorance or accident . Were a more liberal construction established
It is evident that Roman Catholics , as well as Protestant Dissenters , might take shelter under these Acts , and that they are entitled to do so is the published opinion of their learned and liberal advocate Mr . Butler ; * adopted , perhaps rather hastily , from the current notion of their beneficial operation as to other Nonconformists .
2 . But , assuming that the general terms used in the enacting clause of the Indemnity Act would not be restrained by the recital of its purpose and intention , and that consistent Nonconformists may be considered as included , it would seem that the
protection afforded by these successive Acts , cither to the inadvertent omission or to the determined repudiation of the Test , is by no means complete : for , suppose an individual to have accepted
office five months before the passing of the annual Act , and to have omitted to qualify according to the Test Act , he is not an object of the Indemnity proposed , for as yet lie has been guilty of no omission which makes him liable
to a prosecution ; but , in the space of a , month , proceedings may be instituted against him , and in the ordinary course of law , final judgment may be obtained for the pecuniary penalty beiorc the recurrence of a new hi IK — — — ¦•— ^ ^ - ^ ¦ * - » - » «* . s b m , - ^» . > f ^^ r A . --w m . m - ** s ¦ — 9 * -r J » « MA
' ^ ^ ^ . which will not , in such case , relieve him from any portion of the enormous load of incapacity , denounced by the * See liutler ' s Notes on Coke , Lilt . IV . 391 (« J .
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Test Act , amounting as , we have seen to a kind of civil outlawry . , / 3 . Neither is it to be overlook ed that the protection granted by the&e Acts , however complete , rests upon the presumption of their being regu , larly passed ; for if , in consequence
of some extraordinary emergency affecting the usual routine of parl iamentary business , or under the temporary influence of sorne besotted hue and cry against all ( Jissidents from the Church Establishment , the Act should
not be passed at all , or be restricted in its extent , Dissenters , who had unwarily accepted office upon the faith of its recurrence , would be affected with all the consequences of an ex post facto law , and have no alternative
between swallowing the Test or braving the utmost penalties of the Act im . posing it . 4 . The foregoing observations appl y more particularly to the Test Act ; for , with respect to offices included under the provisions-of the Corporation Act , it is obvious to remark , that the
sacramental qualification ought to precede the election to office , otherwise the election is declared absolutely void ; and the Act of 5 Geo . I . c . 6 , is only a statute of limitation , founded on the political inconvenience of allowing a latent disqualification to vitiate official
acts ; * it merely gives a retrospective validity to the election , provided the person shall not be removed within six months ; and as the annual Indemnity Act does not re-capacitate the party , unless he receive the Sacrament before the office have been actually
avoided by judgment , or legally filled up , it is plain that during half a year after entering upon office , the consistent Dissenter is exposed to removal or prosecution , which nothing but Conformity can avert . But this is not all : for
5 . The candidate for a corporation office is liable to be questioned at the time of election as to his previous compliance with the Sacramental Test , and upon his confessing or not denying his omission Ju that respect , or ( as it seems ) without any r eference to him , notice of his noncoinp liance will * Sec King v . Corporation of Bedford 1 East , 7 < J .
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136 TheNoncohfownist . No . XXIV .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1822, page 136, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2510/page/8/
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