43 Geo. 3. c. 58, commonly called Lord Ellenborough's Act and sometimes referred to as the Malicious Shooting Act 1803 or the Malicious Shooting or Stabbing Act 1803,Smith and Hogan. Criminal Law. Eighth Edition. Butterworths. 1996. Page xxii
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is an Act of the

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

of the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the union of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into one sovereign state, established by the Acts of Union 1800, Acts of Union in 1801. It continued in this form until ...

. The

Bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Pl ...

was proposed by the

Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales The Lord or Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales. Until 2005 the lord chief justice was the second-most senior judge of the English and ...

Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough (16 November 1750 – 13 December 1818), was an English judge. After serving as a member of parliament and Attorney General, he became Lord Chief Justice. Early life Law was born at Great Salkeld, in Cumber ...

. Lord Ellenborough wished to clarify the law relating to

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

, which, at the time, was not clearly defined in the

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

. The bill was introduced in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

in March 1803 as the Malicious Shootings Bill and also included provisions for clarifying certain other offences. After various amendments it was passed to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

on 18 May. The Act provided that it was an offence for any person to perform or cause an abortion. The punishment for performing or attempting to perform a post

quickening In pregnancy terms, quickening is the moment in pregnancy when the pregnant woman starts to feel the fetus's movement in the uterus. It was believed that the quickening marked the moment that a soul entered the fetus, termed ensoulment. Medical ...

abortion was the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

(section 1) and otherwise was

transportation Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

for fourteen years (section 2). Similar provision was made for Scotland by the Malicious Wounding, etc. (Scotland) Act 1825 ( 6 Geo. 4. c. 126, An Act to make provision in Scotland for the further prevention of malicious shooting and attempting to discharge loaded firearms, stabbing, cutting, wounding, poisoning, maiming, disfiguring, and disabling His Majesty's subjects). The Act was repealed by section 1 of the

Offences Against the Person Act 1828 The Offences Against the Person Act 1828 ( 9 Geo. 4. c. 31), also known as Lord Lansdowne's Act, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated for England and Wales provisions in the law related to offences against the ...

Notes

References

External links

Text of Lord Ellenborough's Act in Wikisource. {{Authority control United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1803 United Kingdom abortion law Repealed United Kingdom Acts of Parliament

See also

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References

External links