[5] It was the logical successor of the Edwardian Injunctions of 1547 and the Sacrament Act 1547 which had taken piecemeal steps towards the official introduction of Protestant doctrine and practice into England and Wales.

[6] It established the 1549 version of the Book of Common Prayer as the sole legal form of worship in England.

[7] The Book of Common Prayer was far from just an English-language translation of the Latin liturgical books; it was largely a new creation, mainly the work of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, which in its text and its ceremonial directions reflected various reforming doctrinal influences (notably the breviary of Cardinal Quiñonez and the Consultation of Hermann von Wied).

Then follow penalties against those of the clergy that should substitute any other form of service, or shall not use the Book of Common Prayer, or who shall preach or speak against it: This provided loss of all income, which was forfeited to the Crown.

Imprisonment "without bail or mainprize" meant one could not pay one's way out of prison, nor be given freedom until acquittal or the completion of the sentence.

The Act of Uniformity 1549 was the first act of its kind and was used to make religious worship across England and its territories consistent (i.e. uniform) at a time when the different branches of Christianity were pulling people in opposite directions, causing riots and crimes, particularly the Prayer Book Rebellion.

Hostility to this act and to the new prayer book led to rioting in some areas of the country, and a major uprising in Cornwall and the South West of England.

However, most of the Act of Uniformity 1662 was repealed as part of the process of the removal of religious discrimination in the 19th century and the revision of statute law in the 20th.

[12] The words of commencement, wherever occurring, were repealed by section 1 of, and schedule 1 to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1948.