Editing Abjuration (section)

==Scotland==
[[File:Covenantershisto02hewi orig 0512covenant.png|thumb|upright|Edinburgh May 8th 1685 Our Soveraign Lord and the Estates of Parliament, do here by Declare that the giving or taking of the National Covenant as explained in the Year 1638 or of the League and Covenant, so commonly called, or writing in defence thereof or owning them as Lawful or Obligatory on themselves or others shall infer the Crime and pains of Treason.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hewison |first1=James King |title=The Covenanters, a history of the church in Scotland from the Reformation to the Revolution |date=1908 |publisher=J. Smith |location=Glasgow |page=plate between 452–453|volume=2 |url=https://archive.org/details/covenantershisto02hewi |access-date=16 July 2019}}</ref>]]
During [[The Killing Time]] of the 1680s an Abjuration Oath could be put to suspects where they were given the option to abjure or renounce their allegiances. The terms of the oath were deliberately designed to offend the consciences of the [[Presbyterian]] [[Covenanters]]. Those who would not swear "whether they have arms, or not" could be "immediately killed" by field trial "before two witnesses" on a charge of high treason.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wodrow |first1=Robert |title=The history of the sufferings of the Church of Scotland from the Restoration to the Revolution |date=1832 |publisher=Blackie |location=Glasgow |pages=154–155 |edition=Vol IV |url=https://archive.org/stream/thehistoryofthes04wodruoft#page/n163/search/refusing+to+answer |access-date=16 August 2018}}</ref> [[John Brown (Covenanter)|John Brown]] was included among those executed in this judicial process by John Graham (Bluidy Clavers) on 1 May 1685.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Terry |first1=Charles Sanford |title=John Graham of Claverhouse, viscount of Dundee, 1648-1689 |date=1905 |publisher=A. Constable |location=London |page=197 |url=https://archive.org/stream/johngrahamofclav00terruoft#page/196/search/abjuration |access-date=16 August 2018}}</ref> The wives and children of such men could also be put out of their houses if they had spoken to the suspect or refused the oath themselves.