The Profane Oaths Act 1745 (19 Geo. II, c.21) was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain passed in 1746, in effect from 1 June 1746, and formally repealed in 1967. It established a system of fines payable for "profane cursing and swearing".
The preamble described the ubiquity of the "horrid, impious, and execrable vices of profane cursing and swearing" in the country, noting that this "may justly provoke the divine vengeance to increase the many calamities these nations now labour under", and that the existing laws designed to prevent this were ineffective. It is worth noting, however, that many of the provisions in this Act were essentially the same as those in the 1694 Act which it replaced.
Read more about Profane Oaths Act 1745: Overview, Fines, Repeal of Earlier Acts, Repeal of 1745 Act
Famous quotes containing the words profane, oaths and/or act:
“One word is too often profaned
For me to profane it,
One feeling too falsely disdained
For thee to disdain it;”
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
“The oaths of a woman I inscribe on water.”
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“For, truly speaking, whoever provokes me to a good act or thought has given me a pledge of his fidelity to virtue,—he has come under the bonds to adhere to that cause to which we are jointly attached.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)