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Bulls, etc., from Rome Act 1571

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Act of Parliament
coat of arms
Parliament of England
Long title An Acte agaynste the bringing in and putting in Execution of Bulls and other Instruments from the Sea of Rome.
Citation 13 Eliz. 1. c. 2
Territorial extent England and Wales
Dates
Royal assent 29 May 1571
Commencement 1 July 1571[1]
Repealed 1 January 1970
Other legislation
Amended by Repeal of Acts Concerning Importation Act 1822
Religious Disabilities Act 1846
Statute Law Revision Act 1888
Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1863
Statute Law Revision Act 1948
Criminal Law Act 1967
Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1969
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Bulls, etc., from Rome Act 1571 (13 Eliz. 1. c. 2) was an act of the Parliament of England during the English Reformation, with the long-title An Act against the bringing in and putting in execution of bulls writings or instruments and other superstitious things from the See of Rome.

The act punished with high treason those who published papal bulls and Roman Catholic priests and their converts.[2] The act was a response to Pope Pius V's Regnans in Excelsis.

Proceedings under the act

In 1911, Pope Pius X excommunicated Arnold Mathew from the Catholic Church. The Times reported on this excommunication and included an English language translation of the Latin language document which described Mathew, among other things, as a "pseudo-bishop".[3] Mathew's attorney argued, in the 1913 trial Mathew v. "The Times" Publishing Co., Ltd., that publication of the excommunication by The Times in English was high treason under the act. The trial was, according to a 1932 article in The Tablet, the last time this principle was invoked and the judge, Charles Darling, 1st Baron Darling, "held that it was not unlawful to publish a Papal Bull in a newspaper simply for the information of the public."[4][5]

Subsequent developments

So much of the act "as imposes the Penalties or Punishments therein mentioned" was repealed by section 1 of the Religious Disabilities Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c. 59). Although breaching the act ceased to be a crime after the passing of the act, it remained unlawful until the act was repealed.[6]

Sections 4–6 of the act were repealed by section 1 of, and the schedule to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1863 (26 & 27 Vict. c. 125), which came into force on 28 July 1863.[7]

Section 8 of the act was repealed by section 10(2) of, and part I of schedule 3 to, the Criminal Law Act 1967, which came into force on 1 January 1968.[8]

The whole act so far as unrepealed was repealed by section 1 of, and part II of the schedule to, the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1969.[9]

References

  1. Back to citation Section 1.
  2. Back to citation Medley, Dudley J. (1925). A student's manual of English constitutional history (6th ed.). New York: Macmillan. p. 638. hdl:2027/uc1.$b22458. OCLC 612680148. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  3. Back to citation Pope Pius X (4 March 1911). "Motu Proprio". The Tablet. London. p. 25. ISSN 0039-8837. Archived from the original on 22 August 2013. Retrieved 22 August 2013. English translation of Pope Pius X (11 February 1911). "Sacerdotes Arnoldus Harris Mathew, Herbertus Ignatius Beale et Arthurus Guilelmus Howarth nominatim excommunicantur" (PDF). Acta Apostolicae Sedis (motu proprio type apostolic letter) (in Latin). 3 (2). Rome: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis (published 15 February 1911): 53–54. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 May 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  4. Back to citation Cowper, Francis H. (7 May 1932). "Catholic authority and English law". The Tablet. London. p. 6. ISSN 0039-8837. Archived from the original on 26 April 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  5. Back to citation Mathew v. "The Times" Publishing Co., Ltd., 29 T.L.R. 471 (KB 1913).
  6. Back to citation Craies, William F. (1911). "Treason". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 223–228.
  7. Back to citation "Statute Law Revision Act 1863", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, Vict/26-27 c. 125
  8. Back to citation "Criminal Law Act 1967", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1967 c. 58
  9. Back to citation Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1969, c. 52, Schedule, Part II.
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