Corporation Act

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Corporation Act, 1661. This statute (13 Car. II c. 1) was the first part of the ‘Clarendon code’ and set out to reassert Anglican supremacy after the Restoration. Persons holding municipal office were obliged to qualify by taking communion with the Church of England. Many nonconformists felt able to do so and the Act did not prevent most dissenters from holding office. It was tightened up by the Act against Occasional Conformity in 1711 but relaxed during the Walpole period by periodic Acts of indemnity. It remained a bone of contention throughout the 18th cent. and was not repealed until 1828.

J. A. Cannon