Blasphemy Act 1661

{{Short description|Act of the pre-Union Parliament of Scotland}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}

{{Refimprove|date=December 2019}}

{{Infobox UK legislation

| short_title = Blasphemy Act 1661

| type = Act

| parliament = Parliament of Scotland

| long_title = Act against the cryme of Blasphemie.

| year = 1661

| citation = 1661 c. 216{{br}}[12mo ed: c. 21]

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| repealing_legislation = Doctrine of the Trinity Act 1813

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| status = repealed

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The Blasphemy Act 1661 (c. 216) was an act of the Parliament of Scotland.

The act enshrined the blasphemy offence into statute. It legislated that anyone who should rail upon and curse God or the Trinity,{{cite book |last1=Levy |first1=Leonard Williams |title=Blasphemy: Verbal Offense Against the Sacred, from Moses to Salman Rushdie |date=1995 |publisher=UNC Press Books |isbn=978-0-8078-4515-8 |pages=231–232 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zZu63qz85nsC&pg=PA231 |language=en}} even if 'distracted', should be punished. The punishment was the death penalty.

The Act against Blasphemy 1695 further clarified the offence{{cite web |title=Act against blasphemy |url=https://www.rps.ac.uk/search.php?action=print&id=54281&filename=williamii_trans&type=trans |website=www.rps.ac.uk |accessdate=24 December 2019}} and blasphemy was later abolished in 1813 under the Doctrine of the Trinity Act 1813.