Test

Test the imposition of an oath, or any other act by which the religious principles of any individual are put to proof. Tests and disabilities are distinct from penalties properly so called: it would be absurd to talk of punishing any one for being a woman, a minor, a person destitute of natural capacity, or opportunities of education, etc., on the ground that these are excluded as unfit for certain offices and privileges. Yet test laws do operate as a punishment; not because they are cause of pain, but inasmuch as they tend to produce that change of conduct which punishment is designed to produce.