Papists Act 1778

Act of Parliament
Parliament of Great Britain
Long title	An Act for relieving His Majesty's subjects professing the popish religion from certain penalties and disabilities imposed on them by an Act made in the eleventh and twelfth years of the reign of King William the Third, intituled "An Act for the further preventing the growth of popery."
Citation	18 Geo. 3. c. 60
Introduced by	Lord North (Lords)
Dates
Royal assent	1778
Commencement	1778
Repealed	13 July 1871
Other legislation
Repealed by	Promissory Oaths Act 1871
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Papists Act 1778^[1] is an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain (18 Geo. 3. c. 60) and was the first Act for Roman Catholic relief. Later in 1778 it was also enacted by the Parliament of Ireland.

Before the Act, a number of "Penal laws" had been enacted in Britain and Ireland, which varied between the jurisdictions from time to time but effectively excluded those known to be Roman Catholics from public life. The timing of the Act was partly based on the fact that the Papacy had stopped recognising the Jacobite cause on the death of the "Old Pretender" in 1766, and also the possibility that the ongoing American rebellion of 1775 might inspire a rebellion by Catholics in the Kingdom of Ireland.