Occupation.- John M. Lightwood. [C. Johnston Edwards.] Occupation, International.-Sir Thomas Barclay, Knt. [G. H. B. Kenrick.] Offensive Trades.-J. V. Vesey FitzGerald, K.C. Offerings, Oblations, and Obventions.-T. R. Bridgwater. Office Copy.-F. A. Stringer, of the Central Office. Office; Public Officer.-J. P. Wallis. [A. Wood Renton, Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Ceylon, and J. S. Henderson.] Officers, Military and Naval.-G. H. Knott. [E. L. de Hart.] Official Referees.-W. Blake Odgers, K.C. Official Solicitor.-C. Burney, one of the Masters of the Supreme Court of Judicature. Open Spaces.-W. F. Craies. Orange River Colony.-Alexander Pulling. Order in Council.-Alexander Pulling. Order of the Garter.-J. E. R. Stephens. [Geoffrey Ellis.] Orders.-C. Burney, one of the Masters of the Supreme Court of Judicature. Originating Summons.-G. N. Marcy. [C. Burney, one of the Masters of the Supreme Court of Judicature.] Ornaments; Ornaments Rubric.-J. A. Price. [R. M. Johns.] Ottoman Empire.-Alexander Pulling. Outgoings.-Edgar Foù. *Overseers.-J. A. Price. [Geoffrey Ellis.] Pacific Islands.-Alexander Pulling. Panama Republic.--Alexander Pulling. Paper Office.-H. Leigh Ormsby. [A. Wood Renton, Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Ceylon, and J. S. Henderson.] Paraguay Republic.-Alexander Pulling. Parceners; Parcenary.-M. G. Davidson. [C. Johnston Edwards.] Parent and Child.-E. L. de Hart. [A. Wood Renton, Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Ceylon, and J. S. Henderson.] Parish.-(1) The Civil Parish.-W. Blake Odgers, K.C., and E. J. Naldrett. (2) The Ecclesiastical Parish.-J. A. Price. Parish Church.-J. A. Price. Parish Clerk.-J. A. Price. Parish Council.-W. Blake Odgers, K.C., and E. J. Naldrett. Parishioner.-J. A. Price. Parish Meeting.-W. Blake Odgers, K.C., and E. J. Naldrett. Parliament.-J. P. Wallis. [A. Wood Renton, Puisne Justice of the Supreme Cour of Ceylon, and J. S. Henderson.] Parliamentary Committees.-W. Bowstead. Parliamentary Deposits.-C. Burney, one of the Masters of the Supreme Court of Judicature. Particulars.-E. L. de Hart. Particulars of Sale.-Patrick Evans. [C. Johnston Edwards.] Parties.-W. Blake Odgers, K.C. *Partition (excluding Precedents).— C. Burney, one of the Masters of the Supreme Court of Judicature. *Partnership (excluding Precedents).-The Hon. Walter Lindley, a Judge of County Courts. *Party Wall.-Geoffrey Ellis. Passengers (Sea); Passenger Boats.-G. G. Phillimore. Passport.-G. H. B. Kenrick, Patents; Patents for Inventions.-Lewis Edmunds, K.C., and the late T. M. Stevens. [A. Wood Renton, Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Ceylon, and J. S. Henderson.] Pawn; Pawnbroker.—D. M. Kerly. [N. G. L. Child.] Payment.-W. Bowstead. Payment Into and Out of Court.-F. A. Stringer, of the Central Office. Pay Office; Paymaster-General.-C. Burney, one of the Masters of the Supreme Court of Judicature. ERRATA. Vol. III. p. 131, 1. 26, for “10 Kel. 37," read "Kely. 37;" 1. 29, for "2 Lew. C. C." read "2 Lew. C. C. 229." Vol. IX. p. 29, 1. 14, for "Buckley v. Buckley, L. R. Ir. 544," read "Buckley v. Buckley, 1887, 19 L. R. Ir. 544." ENCYCLOPÆDIA OF THE LAWS OF ENGLAND Nonconformist.-A Nonconformist is one who is not in communion with the Established Church of England (as to the sense in which the term "established" is properly applicable to the Church of England, see Vol. III., at p. 59) or (in Scotland) of Scotland. A Nonconformist may therefore be an atheist (vide BLASPHEMY), a Roman Catholic (vide ROMAN CATHOLIC), or a Protestant (vide PROTESTANT), or other Dissenter from the Established Church. It has been decided, for instance, that Lutherans (R. v. Hube, 1791, 1 Pea. N. P. C. 180) and French Protestant refugees (A.-G. v. Daugars, 1864, 33 Beav. 621) are Protestant Dissenters. The term "Nonconformist" is now used as a rule as synonymous with " Protestant Dissenter," a term which does not seem to have come into general use till after the Toleration Act of 1688. Yet Dissenters are still occasionally distinguished from Nonconformists as being persons who not only dissent from the National Church as it is actually constituted, but disagree with the principle of National or State Churches (see Murray's Dictionary, passim), while in Wales the term "Dissenters" is popularly applied exclusively to the Independents or Congregationalists, the oldest Nonconformist body in the Principality. It seems probable, though it is a matter of controversy, that the early "Nonconformists," whether Roman Catholic (e.g. Gardiner's History of England, vol. i. 108) or Puritan (Hallam, Const. Hist., ch. iv. p. 159, 1871 ed.), outwardly conformed to the Established Church. Gradually the laws became more severe against Nonconformists. An Act of Uniformity (1 Eliz. c. 2, incorporating 5 & 6 Edw. VI., which again incorporated 2 & 3 Edw. VI.) and an Act of Supremacy (1 Eliz. c. 1) were passed in the first year of the reign of Elizabeth, which immediately drove about a hundred dignitaries and eighty parochial priests with papal sympathies from their benefices (Hallam, Const. Hist., ch. iii.). In 1567 we find the first instance of actual punishment inflicted on Protestant Dissenters, when a number of them were seized in a conventicle and sent to prison (vide Hallam, Const. Hist., ch. iii.). By 23 Eliz. c. 1, the penalties imposed by 1 Eliz. c. 2, for non-attendance at the parish church were increased, and in 1583 over two hundred ministers were suspended for refusing to subscribe to the Queen's supremacy, the lawfulness of the common prayer and ordination service, and the truth of the whole Thirty-nine Articles (Neal, History of the Puritans, 245). By 35 Eliz. c. 1, and 3 Jac. I. c. 4, still severer penalties were inflicted on Nonconformists, and in 1604 three hundred Nonconformist ministers were ejected from their livings (Gardiner, History of England, vol. i. 197). VOL. X. 1 By 13 & 14 Car. II. (Act of Uniformity, 1662) it was enacted that every beneficed minister, fellow of a college, and schoolmaster should declare his unfeigned assent and consent to all and everything contained in the Book of Common Prayer, and that no person, not episcopally ordained, should presume to administer the holy sacrament of the Lord's Supper, under penalty of £100. Over two thousand clergymen refused to conform or to submit to episcopal ordination, and resigned their benefices. Other penal laws against Nonconformists were passed in the reign of Charles II. (13 Car. II. st. 2, c. 1 (see Corporation Act), 16 & 22 Car. II. (see Conventicle Act), 17 Car. II. c. 2 (see Five Mile Act), and 25 Car. II. c. 2 (see Test Act)), which have been subsequently repealed. At common law nonconformity has never been, and is not, a crime, and Nonconformists are subject to no penalties or disabilities. In a layman nonconformity is now not even an ecclesiastical offence (vide BLASPHEMY), and a Nonconformist can hold minor offices in the Church, such as that of churchwarden, except in new parishes constituted under 1 & 2 Will. IV. c. 38; 6 & 7 Vict. c. 37; or 19 & 20 Vict. c. 104 (vide CHURCHWARDEN). A clergyman of the Established Church cannot refuse to baptize a Nonconformist or the child of a Nonconformist; and baptism by a layman or Nonconformist is recognised as valid, though irregular (vide BAPTISM; Phillimore, Eccl. Law, 494; Kemp v. Wickes, 1809, 3 Phillim., at p. 276). A clergyman cannot refuse to bury or marry a Nonconformist who has been validly baptized (vide CHURCH OF ENGLAND), and a Protestant Dissenter may present to a living. All Nonconformists, irrespective of their religious or want of religious belief, are eligible to be elected to every office of State (though there is still a statutory objection to a JEW or (semble) a ROMAN CATHOLIC becoming Lord Chancellor (10 Geo. IV. c. 7), and the Sovereign and the Sovereign's wife must be members of the Established Church (vide ACT OF SETTLEMENT, 12 & 13 Will. & Mary, 1701)). Every Nonconformist may become a member of either House of Parliament. Since 1727 the "three associated denominations," viz., the Presbyterians, Independents, and Baptists, enjoy the privilege of approaching the Sovereign on the throne. Since 17 & 18 Vict. c. 125, s. 20, and 24 & 25 Vict. c. 66, s. 1, all persons who object to give their evidence on oath in civil or criminal matters can do so on affirmation. All that the common law enjoins is that nothing shall be done "to the disherison of the Crown or the propagation of a false religion" (R. v. Portington, 1692, 1 Salk. 162). ̄At one period gifts in favour of Nonconformists (including Protestant Dissenters, Roman Catholics, and Jews) were held to be invalid, under the law against superstitious uses (1 Edw. VI. c. 14; A.-G. v. Baxter, 1684, 1 Vern. 248; A.-G. v. Whorwood, 1750, 1 Ves. Sen., at 537; De Costa v. De Paz, 1745, cited at 2 Swans. 487n.); but the Courts have now upheld bequests to all kinds of Nonconformists, including Unitarians (Shrewsbury v. Hornby, 1846, 5 Hare, 406; In re Barnett, 1860, 29 L. J. Ch. 871), and Irvingites and Methodists (Dawson v. Small, 1874, L. R. 18 Eq. 114; A.-G. v. Lawes, 1849, 8 Hare, 32; A.-G. v. Pearson, 1817, 3 Mer. 353). Bequests for the distribution of the works of Joanna Southcote, and Robert Owen, the Socialist, have also been enforced, though a legacy to establish a prize for an essay on "The Sufficiency of Natural Theology treated as a Science," and a bequest for performance of religious ceremonies to testatrix's late husband and herself, have been held to be void |