Editing Penal law (British) (section)

===Response to ''Regnans in Excelsis''===
In 1570 [[Pope Pius V]] [[excommunicated]] Queen Elizabeth I, citing as his reasons [[Heresy in Christianity|heresy]], [[Caesaropapism]], and the [[religious persecution]] by the State of the illegal and underground [[Catholic Church in England and Wales]], and [[Catholic Church in Ireland|in Ireland]], by releasing the [[Papal bull]] ''[[Regnans in Excelsis]]''. In response:

* [[13 Eliz. 1]]. c. 1 made it high treason to affirm that the queen ought not to enjoy the Crown, or to declare her to be a heretic or schismatic; 
* [[13 Eliz. 1]]. c. 2, which made it high treason to put into effect any papal Bull of absolution, to absolve or reconcile any person to the Catholic Church, or to be so absolved or reconciled, or to procure or publish any papal Bull or writing whatsoever. The penalties of ''praemunire'' were enacted against all who brought into England or who gave to others "Agnus Dei" or articles blessed by the pope or by any one through faculties from him. 
* [[13 Eliz. 1]]. c. 3, was designed to stop Catholics from taking refuge abroad, and declared that any subject departing the realm without the queen's license, and not returning within six months, should forfeit the profits of his lands during life and all his goods and chattels.<ref name=Burton/>
* The '''Act to retain the Queen's Majesty's subjects in their obedience''' ([[23 Eliz. 1]]. c. 1), passed in 1581. This made it high treason to reconcile anyone or to be reconciled to "the Romish religion", prohibited Mass under penalty of a fine of two hundred marks and imprisonment for one year for the celebrant, and a fine of one hundred marks and the same imprisonment for those who heard the Mass. This act also increased the penalty for not attending the Anglican service to the sum of twenty pounds a month, or imprisonment till the fine be paid, or till the offender went to the Anglican Church. A further penalty of ten pounds a month was inflicted on anyone keeping a schoolmaster who did not attend the Anglican service. The schoolmaster himself was to be imprisoned for one year. 

* The [[Jesuits, etc. Act 1584]] commanded all Roman Catholic priests to leave the country in 40 days or they be punished for high treason, unless within the 40 days they swore an oath to obey the Queen. Those who harboured them, and all those who knew of their presence and failed to inform the authorities would be fined and imprisoned, or where the authorities wished to make an example of them, they might be executed.<ref>{{cite book|location=New York|publisher=Macmillan|last=Medley|first=Dudley J.|title=A student's manual of English constitutional history|year=1925|edition=6th|pages=638–639|hdl=2027/uc1.$b22458?urlappend=%3Bseq=666|oclc=612680148}}</ref> This statute, under which most of the English martyrs suffered, made it high treason for any Jesuit or any seminary priest to be in England at all, and felony for any one to harbour or relieve them. The penalties of ''praemunire'' were imposed on all who sent assistance to the seminaries abroad, and a fine of 100 pounds for each offence on those who sent their children overseas without the royal licence.