Black Act 1723

This article is about the Black Act 1723. For the Black Act 1774, see Building Act 1774.

Parliament of Great Britain
Long titleAn Act for the more effectual punishing wicked and evil disposed Persons going armed in Disguise and doing Injuries and Violence to the Persons and Properties of His Majesty's Subjects, and for the more speedy bringing the Offenders to Justice
Citation9 Geo. 1. c. 22
Dates
Commencement27 May 1723
Other legislation
Repealed byCriminal Statutes Repeal Act 1827, s 1[1]
Status: Repealed

The Act 9 Geo. 1. c. 22, commonly known as the Black Act,[2] or the Waltham Black Act,[3] and sometimes called the Black Act 1722,[4] the Black Act 1723,[5] the Waltham Black Act 1722,[6] the Criminal Law Act 1722,[7] or the Criminal Law Act 1723,[8][9] was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. It was passed in 1723 in response to a series of raids against landowners by two groups of poachers, known as the Blacks from their habit of blacking their faces when they undertook the raids. The Act was expanded over the years and greatly strengthened the criminal code by specifying over 200 capital crimes, many with intensified punishment. Arson, for example, had its definition expanded to include the new crime of burning (or threatening to burn) haystacks.

The legal rights of suspects and defendants under this Act were strictly limited. For example, suspects who did not surrender within 40 days could be summarily judged guilty and sentenced to execution, so that if they were apprehended at a later date they could be executed without delay. Villages were punished if they failed to find, prosecute and convict alleged criminals.[10]

The Act originated in the aftermath of the South Sea Bubble collapse and the ensuing economic downturn. The Blacks quickly demonstrated both "a calculated programme of action, and a conscious social resentment",[11] and their activities led to the introduction of the Black Act to Parliament on 26 April 1723. The Act came into force on 27 May and introduced the death penalty for over 350 criminal offences,[12] including being found disguised in a forest and carrying a weapon; "no other single statute passed during the eighteenth century equalled [the Black Act] in severity, and none appointed the punishment of death in so many cases".[13] A criminal law reform campaign in the early 19th century caused it to be largely repealed on 8 July 1823, when a reform bill introduced by Robert Peel came into force.

The Building Act 1774, which imposed restrictions on exterior decoration, was also known as the Black Act.[14][15]

  1. ^ The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 7 & 8 George IV. 1827. pp 152, 156 & 165
  2. ^ Lowe v Inhabitants of the Hundred of Broxtowe (1832) 3 Barnewall & Adolphus 550 at 560
  3. ^ William Blackstone. Commentaries on the Laws of England. A New Edition, adapted to the Present State of the Law, by Robert Malcolm Kerr. John Murray. Albemarle Street, London. 1857. Volume 4. Page 286.
  4. ^ Cornish et al. The Oxford History of the Laws of England. Oxford University Press. 2003. Volume 13. Page xlvii.
  5. ^ Clive Emsley. Crime and Society in England: 1750-1900. Fourth Edition. Taylor & Francis. 2010. Routledge. 2013. Page 325.
  6. ^ Turner and Armitage. Cases on Criminal Law. Third Edition. Cambridge University Press. 1964. p 58. Leon Radzinowicz. A History of English Criminal Law and Its Administration from 1750. The Macmillan Company. New York. 1948. Volume 4. Page 799.
  7. ^ Mackenzie and Johnson (eds). The Law Relating to Municipal Corporations in England and Wales. Fourth Edition. Shaw and Sons. London. 1894. Page ix.
  8. ^ Cornish et al. Law and Society in England 1750-1950. Second Edition. Hart. 2019. Page xli.
  9. ^ As to the year of an Act, see Johnson, Privatised Law Reform, 2018, p 31; Johnson, Parliament, Inventions and Patents, 2018, note 1 to Introduction; Chitty's Statutes of Practical Utility, 6th Ed, 1911, vol 1, title "Act of Parliament", p 28.
  10. ^ A. J. Graham Cummings and Jack Fruchtman, ed. (1997). Britain in the Hanoverian Age, 1714-1837: An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. p. 58. ISBN 9780815303961.
  11. ^ Rogers 1974, p. 468.
  12. ^ Radzinowicz 1945, p. 72.
  13. ^ Radzinowicz 1945, p. 56.
  14. ^ Santo, Philip (2013). Inspections and Reports on Dwellings: Assessing Age. Taylor & Francis. p. 83.
  15. ^ Street, Emma (2011). Architectural Design and Regulation. John Wiley & Sons.