The Indemnity and Oblivion Act passage through the Convention Parliament was secured by Lord Clarendon, the first minister of King Charles II and it became law on 29 August 1660 during the first year of the English Restoration. It fulfilled the guarantee given in the Declaration of Breda that reprisals against the establishment which had developed during the interregnum would be restricted to those who had officiated in the regicide of King Charles I.

The lands of the Crown and the established Church were automatically restored, but lands of Royalists and other dissenters confiscated and sold during the Civil War and interregnum were left for private negotiation or litigation.