| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Acte for the Unyformytie of Comon Prayer and admynistracion of the Sacramentes.[2] |
|---|---|
| Citation | 5 & 6 Edw. 6. c. 1 |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 15 April 1552 |
| Other legislation | |
| Repealed by | Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1969 |
| Relates to | |
Status: Repealed | |
The Act of Uniformity 1551,[1] sometimes referred to as the Act of Uniformity 1552,[3][4] or the Uniformity Act 1551[5] was an Act of the Parliament of England.
It was enacted by Edward VI of England to supersede his previous Act of Uniformity 1548.[6] It was one of the last steps taken by the 'boy king' and his councillors to make England a more Protestant country before his death the following year. It replaced the 1549 Book of Common Prayer authorised by the Act of Uniformity 1548 with a revised and more clearly Protestant version, the 1552 Book of Common Prayer. Cranmer, the principal author of both the 1549 and 1552 versions of the liturgy maintained that there was no theological difference between the two.[7]
Anyone who attended or administered a service where this liturgy was not used faced six months imprisonment for a first offence, one year for a second offence, and life for a third. This Act was repealed by Mary in 1553.
- ^ a b The citation of this Act by this short title was authorised by section 5 of, and Schedule 2 to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1948. Due to the repeal of those provisions, it is now authorised by section 19(2) of the Interpretation Act 1978.
- ^ These words are printed against this Act in the second column of Schedule 2 to the Statute Law Revision Act 1948, which is headed "Title".
- ^ Halsbury, Earl of, and Chitty, Thomas W. Halsbury's Statutes of England. Butterworth. 1930. Volume 6. Page 539.
- ^ Sir Carleton Kemp Allen. Law in the Making. Clarendon Press. 1964. Page 473.
- ^ "Uniformity Act 1551". vLex.
- ^ Bray 1994, p. 281.
- ^ MacCulloch 2002, p. 87.