Catholic Emancipation Act

Catholic Emancipation Act, statute of the British Parliament, passed in 1829, granting full political and civil liberties to Roman Catholics in Great Britain and Ireland. The act superseded earlier anti-Catholic laws, some of which dated from the time of Henry VIII in the 16th century. The gradual granting of British liberties to Irish Catholics began in 1778, when Catholics were permitted to buy and inherit land if they swore loyalty to the king. A second measure, known as the Relief Act and sponsored by Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, was passed by the Irish parliament in 1793. This law granted Catholics the right to serve in the military, practise law, worship, establish religious schools, and to vote in elections, but not to sit in Parliament or hold public office. When Ireland was united with Great Britain in 1801, Irish Catholics, who had achieved wider freedoms than British Catholics were subjected to the British restrictions. Various attempts were made to ease restrictions, but all failed. In 1823 Daniel O'Connell took up the cause of emancipation and founded the Roman Catholic Association. His policy of peaceful agitation culminated in the Roman Catholic Relief Bill, better known as the Catholic Emancipation Act, in April 1829. The act, introduced by the home secretary, Sir Robert Peel, removed most civil restrictions and allowed Catholics to hold most public offices, including office in Parliament.