Benefit of Clergy Act 1575
Act of Parliament that removed the right of those charged with rape or burglary to claim benefit of clergy, and so to be tried in an ecclesiastical court.
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.
Burying in Woollens Acts
There were three Burying in Woollens Acts passed during the 17th century, to support the domestic woollen trade in the face of increasing competition from foreign imports
Benefit of clergy
Legally enshrined right of any clergyman facing prosecution for a felony in a royal court to have the case heard instead in an ecclesiastical court.
Witchcraft Acts
Series of Acts passed by the Parliaments of England and Scotland making witchcraft a secular offence punishable by death.
Witchcraft Act 1735
Sometimes dated 1736, an Act of Parliament that repealed the statutes concerning witchcraft throughout Great Britain, including Scotland.
Inland Revenue Act 1880
Act of Parliament to repeal the duties on Malt, to grant and alter certain duties of the Inland Revenue, and to amend the Laws in relation to certain other duties.
Metropolitan Houseless Poor Act 1864
Short-term piece of legislation that imposed a legal obligation on Poor Law unions in London to provide temporary accommodation for “destitute wayfarers, wanderers, and foundlings”
Manorial court
Lowest courts of law in England during the feudal period, their civil jurisdiction limited by subject matter and geography.
Insolvent Debtors (England) Act 1813
Act passed by the United Kingdom Parliament in 1813, in response to the demands on the prison system imposed by the numbers of those being incarcerated for debt, and some concern for their plight.