 De heretico comburendo was repealed by the Act of Supremacy 1558 , although that act allowed ecclesiastical commissions to deal with occasional instances of heresy . Persons declared guilty , such as Bartholomew Legate and Edward Wightman , could still be burned under a writ of de heretico comburendo issued by the Court of Chancery . The burning of heretics was finally ended by the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Act 1677 which , although it allowed ecclesiastical courts to charge people with " atheism , blasphemy , heresy , schism , or other damnable doctrine or opinion " , limited their power to excommunication . 
