Editing Test Acts 1673 & 1678 (section)

== Test Act 1678 ==
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Parliament Act 1678
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of England
| long_title            = An Act for the more effectuall preserving the Kings Person and Government by disableing Papists from sitting in either House of Parlyament.
| year                  = 1678
| citation              = [[30 Cha. 2. St. 2]].
| territorial_extent    = [[England and Wales]]
| royal_assent          = 30 November 1678
| commencement          = 1 December 1678{{efn|Section 1.}}
| repeal_date           = 30 April 1866
| amends                = Popish Recusants Act 1672
| repealing_legislation = [[Parliamentary Oaths Act 1866]]
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = Repealed
| original_text         = https://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/pp894-896
| collapsed             = yes
}}
Initially, the act did not extend to [[House of Lords|peers]], but in 1678 the act was extended by a further act, the '''Parliament Act 1678''' ([[30 Cha. 2. St. 2]]),<ref>'Charles II, 1678: (Stat. 2.) An Act for the more effectuall preserving the Kings Person and Government by disableing Papists from sitting in either House of Parlyament.', Statutes of the Realm: volume 5: 1628–80 (1819), pp. 894–96. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=47482. Date accessed: 6 March 2007.</ref> which required that all peers and members of the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] should make a declaration against transubstantiation, invocation of saints, and the sacrificial nature of the [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]].<ref name="EB1911"/> The effect of this was to exclude [[Catholic]]s from both houses, and in particular the "[[Five popish lords|Five Popish Lords]]" from the [[House of Lords]], a change motivated largely by the alleged [[Popish Plot]]. The Lords deeply resented this interference with their membership; they delayed passage of the act as long as possible, and managed to greatly weaken it by including an exemption for the future [[James II of England|James II]], effective head of the Catholic nobility, at whom it was largely aimed.<ref>Kenyon, J. P. ''The Popish Plot'' 2nd Edition Phoenix Press 2000 pp. 104–5</ref>