Encyclopedia

Penal Laws

Penal Laws, in English and Irish history, term generally applied to the body of discriminatory and oppressive legislation directed chiefly against Roman Catholics but also against Protestant nonconformists.

Sections in this article:

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

More on Penal Laws from Fact Monster:

  • Penal Laws: In England - In England The Penal Laws grew out of the English Reformation and specifically from those acts that ...
  • Penal Laws: In Ireland - In Ireland In Ireland, where the population was predominantly Roman Catholic and the Glorious ...
  • Penal Laws: Bibliography - Bibliography See B. Magee, The English Recusants (1938); E. I. Watkin, Roman Catholicism in England ...
  • Test Act - Test Act Test Act, 1673, English statute that excluded from public office (both military and civil) ...
  • Catholic Emancipation - Catholic Emancipation Catholic Emancipation, term applied to the process by which Roman Catholics ...

See more Encyclopedia articles on: British and Irish History