In Scottish history, the drunken parliament is a name given to the privy-council who, under their powers as representing the estates between sessions, met at Glasgow and passed an act on the 1st of October 1662 to remove the recusant ministers from their parishes within a month. All the members were said to have been drunk except Lockhart of Lee, who opposed the measure. Research Drunken Parliament
A recusant is a person who refuses to attend his parishchurch on holy days. Attendance was rendered compulsory by an Act of 1581, and many other statutes to the same effect passed down until 1688. The Religious Disabilities Act of 1846 abolished fines for non-attendance and relieved in toto those who usually attend some other place of worship, such as a Mosque. Research Recusant
In English history, after the Reformation, the recusants were people who refused or neglected to attend divine services on Sundays and holidays in the Established Church, or to worship according to its forms. Heavy penalties were formerly inflicted on such persons, but they pressed far more lightly on the simple recusant or nonconformist than on the Roman Catholic
recusant. In 23 Elizabeth the fine was made for every month 20 pounds; and later in the same reign it was enacted that if recusants did not submit within three months after conviction they might, upon the requisition of four justices of the peace, be compelled to abjure and renounce the realm; and if they did not depart, or if they returned without due license, they were to be treated as felons, and suffer death without the benefit of clergy. Research Recusant
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Abbreviations
Research Drunken Parliament
