An Act to provide for the Relief of Her Majesty's Subjects professing the Jewish Religion. London: George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode, 1858. English.
A printed document – an act that passed on July 23 1858 exempting the Jews of Britain from the requirement to take a Christian oath of allegiance so as to enable them to hold office in one of the Houses of Parliament. The act empowers either House of Parliament to modify the form of oath and enables Jews to omit the sentence "upon the true Faith of a Christian" from the customary oath.
Three days after the statute had passed, on July 26, 1858, Baron Lionel Nathan de Rothschild was sworn in and became the First Jewish member of the British Parliament. Rothschild was chosen to the British Parliament several years earlier; yet could not be sworn in due to the requirement to take the Christian oath. On the day of his swearing-in, and subsequent to the act before us, he used the expression "So help me G-d" instead of upon the true Faith of a Christian".
[1] leaf (two printed pages, numbered 385-386), 30 cm. Good condition. A few stains. Creases.