The Oath of Allegiance (Judicial or Official Oath) is a promise to be loyal to the British monarch, and his or her heirs and successors, sworn by certain public servants in the United Kingdom, and also by newly naturalised subjects in citizenship ceremonies. The current standard wording of the oath of allegiance is set out in the Promissory Oaths Act 1868.
Variants of the basic oath of allegiance are also incorporated into a number of other oaths taken by certain individuals.
Text
The current standard oath of allegiance is set out from the Promissory Oaths Act 1868 in the following form:
Under the Oaths Act 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c.46), consolidated and repealed by the Oaths Act 1978, those who choose to may make a solemn affirmation instead of swearing an oath.
Oaths of office, of allegiance, and judicial oath
The Victorian promissory oaths of allegiances, are set out in the Promissory Oaths Act 1868 in the following form:
The original oath of allegiance as set out in the Promissory Oaths Act 1868:
The original oath of office as set out in the Promissory Oaths Act 1868:
The original judicial oath as set out in the Promissory Oaths Act 1868:
Oaths to heirs and successors
This oath is generally sworn to the Crown, monarch, sovereign, or regent, as represented by the incumbent king or queen, currently Charles III. This oath also specifies that this same oath to the king, is equally sworn to his "heirs and successors", in the plural, rather than a single heir and successor. This indicates that any oath given to the king is equally given to William, Prince of Wales, Prince George, and all of his heirs and successors to the British throne, in the event that any one of them should accede to the throne. Thus, the pledge of loyalty to the Crown made in the oath does not end at the death of the current monarch.
This oath to the king, his heirs and successors is now administered in citizen ceremonies to immigrants becoming naturalized British subjects.
Members of the judiciary (justices of the peace, district judges, circuit judges etc.) swear their allegiance to the king and his heirs and successors; police officers in England and Wales pledge their allegiance to the king, but not his heirs and successors. Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) do not swear an oath of allegiance. The PSNI in 2001 replaced the Royal Ulster Constabulary, whose members pledged their allegiance to the late Queen Elizabeth II, but not her heirs and successors. The Scottish police have never pledged allegiance. Members of the Privy Council only swear allegiance to the "King's majesty", not to the king's heirs and successors.
History
Origins
The oath of allegiance was performed to King Edgar. By the common law, the oath is due to everyone 12 years of age or older.
The oath was certainly in use as of the date of King John's Magna Carta, signed on 15 June 1215.
Once the terms had been finalised on 19 June, the rebels again swore allegiance to King John. The later Bill of Rights (1689) included the Oath of Allegiance to the Crown, which was required by Magna Carta to be taken by all crown servants and members of the judiciary.
Over the following centuries this evolved into three separate oaths: of supremacy (repudiation of the spiritual or ecclesiastical authority of any foreign prince, person or prelate), allegiance (declaration of fidelity to the Sovereign), and in 1702, abjuration (repudiation of the right and title of descendants of James II to the throne). Oaths of allegiance were exacted from the Lords by Henry IV and Henry VI in 1455 and 1459, and an oath of supremacy was introduced under Henry VIII in 1534. Elizabeth I introduced an Act of Supremacy in 1563 requiring an oath to be taken by all future members of the House of Commons. A new oath of allegiance appeared under James I (prompted by the "Gunpowder Plot") under the Popish Recusants Act 1605 and the Oath of Allegiance Act 1609. This oath required recognition of James I as lawful King and renunciation of the Pope. The 1609 Act required Commons MPs to take the oath of allegiance and of supremacy, but this was not a "parliamentary" oath, as it was not taken in Parliament, and there were no consequences if not sworn.