The Sheriffs' Declaration Act (5 & 6 Will. IV, c. 28) was an Act of the

Westminster parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the Parliamentary sovereignty in the United Kingdom, supreme Legislature, legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of We ...

passed in 1835, which allowed individuals to take the office of

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

without have to make the full declaration required by the Municipal Corporations Act. It was a part of the process of the

emancipation of the Jews in the United Kingdom Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchi ...

. The issue which provoked the legislation had been recent the election of David Salomans as

Sheriff of the City of London Two sheriffs are elected annually for the City of London by the Liverymen of the City livery companies. Today's sheriffs have only nominal duties, but the historical officeholders had important judicial responsibilities. They have attended the ju ...

. As a Jew, he was unable to state the required final words "and I make this Declaration upon the true Faith of a Christian". The Sheriffs' Declaration Act removed this requirement and he became sheriff.H. S. Q. Henriques, ''The Jews and the English Law'', p. 311 In order to become

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...

at a later date, Salomans would also need to have been an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

. He was elected to this position too in 1835, but no further relief was provided until the Municipal Offices Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict., c. 52). Salomans finally became an alderman in 1847 and Lord Mayor in 1855, and in 1859 was sworn in as a member of parliament where he had faced the same issue.

References

Jewish English history Sheriffs of the City of London Sheriffs