Origins
The oath of allegiance has its origins in the Magna Carta, signed on 15 June 1215.
Once the terms had been finalised on 19 June, the rebels again swore allegiance to King John. The later Bill of Rights (1689) included the Oath of Allegiance to the crown, which was required by Magna Carta to be taken by all crown servants and members of the judiciary.Over the following centuries this evolved into three separate oaths; of Supremacy (repudiation of the spiritual or ecclesiastical authority of any foreign prince, person or prelate), Allegiance (declaration of fidelity to the Sovereign) and in 1702 Abjuration (repudiation of the right and title of descendants of James II to the throne). Oaths of allegiance were exacted from Lords, by Henry IV and Henry VI in 1455 and 1459, and oath of supremacy was introduced under Henry VIII in 1534. Elizabeth I introduced an Act of Supremacy in 1563 requiring an oath to be taken by all future Members of the House of Commons. A new oath of allegiance appeared under James I (prompted by the "Gunpowder Plot") under the Popish Recusants Act 1605, and the Oath of Allegiance Act 1609. This oath required recognition of James I as lawful King and renunciation of the Pope. The 1609 Act required Commons MPs to take the oath of allegiance and of supremacy, but this was not "parliamentary" oath, as it was not taken in Parliament, and there were no consequences if not sworn.
After the Restoration, oaths of supremacy and allegiance were imposed upon all MPs and Peers in Parliament. In 1689, in an Act passed by William and Mary, old oaths of supremacy and allegiance were replaced with shorter ones, almost to its modern form: In 1701 the exiled King James II, died and the adherents of the Stuart claim and King Louis XIV of France proclaimed his son rightful king. The Act of Settlement 1701 was quickly passed to address the new situation. It extended substantially the old oaths, and added an oath of abjuration of the Pretender's title. This oath pledged support for the Hanoverian succession and for the exclusion of the Stuarts.
The Oaths of Allegiance etc and Relief of the Jews Act 1858 prescribed a single form of the oath in place of the former three. This single form retained a declaration of allegiance and a promise to defend the Hanoverian succession. A declaration relating to the supremacy of the Sovereign was also included and the oath continued to be made ’on the true faith of a Christian’ However, both of these latter elements disappeared from the revised version of the single oath that was subsequently prescribed in the Parliamentary Oaths Act 1866, which repealed much of the earlier pieces of legislation in so far as they related to oaths taken by Members of Parliament.
Finally, in the Promissory Oaths Act 1868 a further curtailment to the oath was made, thereby establishing the form of the oath still used today. The direct religious content has disappeared along with the declarations relating to the supremacy of the Sovereign. In its current form, the oath conforms fairly closely to the medieval (feudal) oath of allegiance.
After the general right to affirm was guaranteed in 1888, the Oaths Act 1909 introduced a change to the ordinary method of taking oaths, which provided for oaths to be sworn on the Bible: in case of a Christian, on the New Testament, and in the case of a Jew on the Old Testament. This Act also established the usual form of taking the oath, with the phrase "I swear by Almighty God that …". Section 1 of the Oaths Act 1888 (on the right to affirm) was replaced in the Administration of Justice Act 1977.
The Oaths Act 1961 extended the 1888 Act, but did not apply to Parliamentary Oaths. All of the provisions in the Oaths Acts of 1838, 1888, 1909, 1961 and 1977 were repealed and consolidated in the Oaths Act 1978, although the form of wording of the oath set out in the 1868 Act was preserved. The 1978 Oaths Act contains provisions relating to the manner of administering the oath, the option of swearing with uplifted hand, the validity of oaths, the making of solemn affirmations and the form of affirmation. The current Oath of Allegiance or Official Oath is set out in the Promissory Oaths Act 1868.
Read more about this topic: Oath Of Allegiance (United Kingdom)
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