[Parliamentary Act]. An Act to Oblige the Jews to Maintain and Provide for their Protestant Children.

(ANGLO-JUDAICA).

Charles Bill

London

1702

Royal seal on title.

Roth, Magna Bibliotheca Anglo-Judaica, p. 246, no. 1.

First Specifically Jewish Act of Parliament Post Re-Admission. This Act issued in the year of Queen Anne’s accession to the throne, prevents attempts by Jewish parents to force their apostate children to return to the Jewish fold. In such case that children born to Jewish parents convert to the majority religion of Protestantism, the parents are enjoined by English law to continue to support their children and may not disown them. The events leading up to passage of the Bill are as follows: In May 1701, eighteen-year old Mary Mendez de Breta, raised a Jewess, was baptized into the Church of England, after which her father, Jacob Mendez de Breta disowned her. Soon after, a petition was presented to the House of Commons to oblige de Breta in particular and the Jews in general, to provide for their Protestant children. A Parliamentary Committee heard witnesses on both sides, including the father himself, who claimed that Mary had never been his daughter, but had been laid at his door when a baby, and that he had maintained her all the years purely as an act of charity. The Committee, however, found that the allegations against the father were true and the Bill was passed in the House of Lords without amendment and with virtually no debate.