Six Acts of Parliament introduced in the aftermath of the 1819 Peterloo Massacre, intended to quash any further protests in support of parliamentary reform.
Socage
Form of tenure under English feudal property law.
Sponging house
A sponging house was a place of temporary confinement for those arrested for non-payment of a debt.
Statute Law (Repeals) Act 2008
Act of Parliament repealing more than 250 Acts of Parliament no longer considered to be of practical use.
Statute of Silence 1581
Act of Parliament introducing a series of increasingly gruesome punishments for speaking or publishing anything that Queen Elizabeth I did not wish to hear.
Taxes on knowledge
Long-running campaign against duties on newspapers, their advertising content and the paper they were printed on.
Tithing
English historic legal and administrative unit comprising the men of ten neighbouring households, held responsible for the actions for any one of its members.
Unitary authority
Local government administrative unit in England and Wales.
Vagabonds and Beggars Act 1494
Act of Parliament intended to suppress beggars and itinerant vagabonds.
Walter Arnold
First person in the UK to be fined for speeding.