THEME The Law and History

Stale Bread Act 1801

This entry is part [part not set] of 15 in the series Reformers and Radicals

What did the act say? This was an Act imposed at a time of panicked desperation by a British Government trying to keep the lid on an explosive and fed up population. The bread shortage of the previous five years had not abated and so the Government, in its wisdom decided that the population would…

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Law Code of King Cnut

law code of king cnut
This entry is part [part not set] of 2 in the series Legal Concepts
This entry is part [part not set] of 4 in the series Law and Democracy

When King Cnut came to rule England in 1016 it was a place torn apart by successive Danish invasions and rival would be kings. It was important that if Cnut was going to be successful he would have to resort to some very harsh measures to quell his rivals. This he did by having the…

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Chimney Sweeps Act 1834

The Chimney Sweeps Act 1834 was enacted in an attempt to protect the children employed by the ‘sweeping’ masters from cruel exploitation. The act forbade the apprenticing of any boy under the age of 10 years and the employment of children under 14 in chimney sweeping unless they were apprenticed or on trial. There seemed…

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Education Act 1902

education acts

The act that provided for the provision of LEA Local Education Authority system and was also a catlyst in encouraging the development of Higher Education.

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Paris Peace Conference 1919

Was the Paris Peace Conference and four months of wrangling amongst the Allies robbing Germany of its Empire a key document that impacts on British Appeasement Policy in 1938 1939 and was it also a major factor in the problems that led to WW2? In full knowledge of its content is Chamberlain all too aware of its implications and seeks to appease Germany’s imperialist pretensions because of it, or in spite of it. Before we judge Chamberlain should we not take a long hard look at Britain in the ‘interwar years’ and how these outcomes constrain the options available as Baldwin resigns and Chamberlain picks-up the poison chalice.

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Parliament Act 1911

This entry is part 1 of 1 in the series Constitutional Crisis 1909-1911

The Barons finally give way to democracy and yield their right of veto against democratically approved laws voted on and approved in the House of Commons. An Act of Parliament settles a bitter dispute from the 1909 Peoples Budget and a vital principle that had taken hundreds of years to establish.

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Edward Coke 1552 – 1634

Edward Coke and British Government and Democracy

Edward Coke, supreme barrister and politician of the C16th and C17th, whose belief and work in Common Law became part of the English and US Constitution whose name should be known by every child in the UK.

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Constitutional Crisis People’s Budget 1909

This entry is part [part not set] of 6 in the series Reform
This entry is part [part not set] of 15 in the series Reformers and Radicals
This entry is part [part not set] of 5 in the series Reforming Women

What would cause a king to contemplate the end of the Monarchy and that his son might be the last King? When his Barons, the Lords would rise-up and revolt against the rule of democracy and seek to reinvent the will of the people via its commons from being fulfilled. Lloyd George and Winston Churchill would be the advocates for the poor and common man. Asquith would seek to calm the rage and the King would plead with the Lords to let the Bill pass but it would take two General Elections and never again would this unwritten convention be relied upon without statute to support it.

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Corn Laws Economic History and Big Data

This entry is part 1 of 15 in the series Reformers and Radicals
This entry is part 1 of 7 in the series Poor Law through the Ages

Learn a little and want to know more then this video by Cambridge University Expert D’Mariss Coffman can help. Find out how this humble grain and cereal returns lead to the “birth of political economy” and the start of Big Data as evidence for economic outcomes. Lecture given as part of the excellent Gresham College series.

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