The Criminal Law Amendment Act 1871 (''34 & 35 Vict. c.32'') is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed by

W. E. Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

's Liberal Government. It was passed on the same day as the

Trade Union Act 1871 The Trade Union Act 1871 (34 & 35 Vicc 31 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which legalised trade unions for the first time in the United Kingdom. This was one of the founding pieces of legislation in UK labour law, though it has ...

. William Edward Hartpole Lecky described the Act's implications:

...
he Act He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
inflicted a punishment of three months' imprisonment, with hard labour, on any one who attempts to coerce another for trade purposes by the use of personal violence; by such threats as would justify a magistrate in binding a man to keep the peace; or by persistently following a person about from place to place, hiding his tools, clothes, or other property, watching and besetting his house, or following him along any street or road with two or more other persons in a disorderly manner. These last clauses were directed against the practice of picketing...William Edward Hartpole Lecky, ''Democracy and Liberty: Volume II'' (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1981), pp. 376-7.

It was repealed by

Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation o ...

's Conservative Government in 1875, which legalised picketing with their

Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act 1875 The Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act 1875 (38 & 39 Vict c 86) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom relating to labour relations, which together with the Employers and Workmen Act 1875, fully decriminalised the work of trad ...

(this Act was repealed by section 17 of that Act) and Employers and Workmen Act 1875.

Notes

United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1871 1871 in law United Kingdom labour law British trade unions history Criminal law of the United Kingdom 1871 in labor relations {{UK-trade-union-stub

See also

Notes