(1661–65) Four acts, passed in England during the ministry of the earl of Clarendon , designed to cripple the power of the Nonconformist s, or Dissenters.
The first, the Corporation Act, forbade municipal office to those not taking the sacraments at a parish church; the Act of Conformity excluded them from church offices; the Conventicle Act made meetings for Nonconformist worship illegal; and the Five-Mile Act forbade Nonconformist ministers to live or visit within five miles of any place where they had ministered.