Five-Mile Act

Five-Mile Act, an old English law, an Act, 17 Chas. II., c.2, passed in 1665, which forbade non-conformist pastors who refused to take an oath of non-resistance to come within five miles of any corporation in which they had preached since the passing of the Act of Oblivion in 1660. The Toleration Act of 1689 swept it away.