Relief Act

RELIEF ACT: An act of parliament passed in 1791 (31 George III. c. 32) relieving Roman Catholics Of certain political, educational, and economic disabilities. It admitted Roman Catholics to the practise of law, permitted the exercise of their religion, and the existence of their schools, relieved them Of the oath of supremacy and declaration against transubstantiation and of the necessity of enrolling deeds and wills. On the other hand, chapels, schools, officiating priests and teachers were to be registered, assemblies with locked doors, as well as steeples and bells to chapels, were forbidden; priests were not to wear their robes or to hold service in the open air; children of Protestants might not be admitted to the schools; monastic orders and endowments of schools and colleges were prohibited.

Bibliography: J. H. Overton and F. Relton, The English Church (1714–1800), pp. 226–227, London, 1906.