CLARENDON CODE

(166165), four acts passed in England during the ministry of Edward Hyde, 1st earl of Clarendon, designed to cripple the power of the Nonconformists, or Dissenters. The Corporation Act (1661) forbade municipal office to those not taking the sacraments at a parish church; the Act of Conformity (1662) similarly excluded them from church offices; the Conventicle Act (1662, revised 1670) made meetings for Nonconformist worship illegal, even in private houses, where more than four outsiders were present; and the Five-Mile Act (1665) forbade Nonconformist ministers to live or visit within five miles of a town or any other place where they had ministered. The Toleration Act of 1689 eased some of the restrictions, but the specific acts under the Clarendon Code were not repealed until the 19th century.