The Statutes Project
@statutes.bsky.social
Opening up Historic British Law and Legislation and digitally deforming it
#OTD in 1819: The Seditious Meetings Act is passed. One of the 'Six Acts' passed to suppress radical movements in the wake of Peterloo.
statutes.org.uk/site/the-sta...
#History
statutes.org.uk/site/the-sta...
#History
December 24, 2025 at 8:04 AM
#OTD in 1819: The Seditious Meetings Act is passed. One of the 'Six Acts' passed to suppress radical movements in the wake of Peterloo.
statutes.org.uk/site/the-sta...
#History
statutes.org.uk/site/the-sta...
#History
Reposted by The Statutes Project
However, that section excepted the civil service. In the UK Foreign Service, the 'marriage bar' obliged women to retire upon marriage until 1973.
Many countries had similar rules. They weren't relics, either - most were enacted *after* WWI or WW2, and persisted the longest in foreign services.
Many countries had similar rules. They weren't relics, either - most were enacted *after* WWI or WW2, and persisted the longest in foreign services.
#OTD in 1919: the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act is passed.
"A person shall not be disqualified by sex or marriage from the exercise of any public function, or from being appointed to or holding any civil or judicial office or post"
statutes.org.uk/site/the-sta...
#History #LegalHistory
"A person shall not be disqualified by sex or marriage from the exercise of any public function, or from being appointed to or holding any civil or judicial office or post"
statutes.org.uk/site/the-sta...
#History #LegalHistory
1919: 9 & 10 George 5 c.71: Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act.
1919: 9 & 10 George 5 c.71: An Act to amend the Law with respect to disqualifications on account of sex. [23rd December 1919] Be it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and wi…
statutes.org.uk
December 23, 2025 at 8:14 PM
However, that section excepted the civil service. In the UK Foreign Service, the 'marriage bar' obliged women to retire upon marriage until 1973.
Many countries had similar rules. They weren't relics, either - most were enacted *after* WWI or WW2, and persisted the longest in foreign services.
Many countries had similar rules. They weren't relics, either - most were enacted *after* WWI or WW2, and persisted the longest in foreign services.
#OTD in 1919: the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act is passed.
"A person shall not be disqualified by sex or marriage from the exercise of any public function, or from being appointed to or holding any civil or judicial office or post"
statutes.org.uk/site/the-sta...
#History #LegalHistory
"A person shall not be disqualified by sex or marriage from the exercise of any public function, or from being appointed to or holding any civil or judicial office or post"
statutes.org.uk/site/the-sta...
#History #LegalHistory
1919: 9 & 10 George 5 c.71: Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act.
1919: 9 & 10 George 5 c.71: An Act to amend the Law with respect to disqualifications on account of sex. [23rd December 1919] Be it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and wi…
statutes.org.uk
December 23, 2025 at 7:36 PM
#OTD in 1919: the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act is passed.
"A person shall not be disqualified by sex or marriage from the exercise of any public function, or from being appointed to or holding any civil or judicial office or post"
statutes.org.uk/site/the-sta...
#History #LegalHistory
"A person shall not be disqualified by sex or marriage from the exercise of any public function, or from being appointed to or holding any civil or judicial office or post"
statutes.org.uk/site/the-sta...
#History #LegalHistory
December 22, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Reposted by The Statutes Project
Robin AI: a legal review AI that was humans! And it just went broke
‘Well, we’re building an AI lawyer’
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pdP... - video
pivottoai.libsyn.com/20251218-rob... - podcast
time: 6 min 55 sec
‘Well, we’re building an AI lawyer’
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pdP... - video
pivottoai.libsyn.com/20251218-rob... - podcast
time: 6 min 55 sec
December 18, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Robin AI: a legal review AI that was humans! And it just went broke
‘Well, we’re building an AI lawyer’
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pdP... - video
pivottoai.libsyn.com/20251218-rob... - podcast
time: 6 min 55 sec
‘Well, we’re building an AI lawyer’
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pdP... - video
pivottoai.libsyn.com/20251218-rob... - podcast
time: 6 min 55 sec
Reposted by The Statutes Project
I repeat: legal data is large.
The biggest thing I can think of is federal court filings. They’re around 180,000,000,000 pages, maybe. State cases are maybe 5x that, so maybe 1,000,000,000,000 pages total? LOC is maybe 50,000,000,000 pages based on some assumptions around book length…
November 27, 2025 at 5:39 AM
I repeat: legal data is large.
Reposted by The Statutes Project
I'm actually slightly mystified at how I managed to bypass the palaver, but I have this URL which is working for me without logging in to anything: edinburghuniversitypress.com/pub/media/eb...
November 20, 2025 at 8:04 AM
I'm actually slightly mystified at how I managed to bypass the palaver, but I have this URL which is working for me without logging in to anything: edinburghuniversitypress.com/pub/media/eb...
New #OpenAccess (though it was a bit of a palaver downloading it) #LegalHistory and #WomensHistory book:
Early Modern Women’s Life-Writing and English Law
by Lotte Fikkers
edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-early-m...
#History 🗃️
Early Modern Women’s Life-Writing and English Law
by Lotte Fikkers
edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-early-m...
#History 🗃️
Early Modern Women’s Life-Writing and English Law
Early Modern Women’s Life-Writing and English Law
edinburghuniversitypress.com
November 19, 2025 at 10:32 AM
New #OpenAccess (though it was a bit of a palaver downloading it) #LegalHistory and #WomensHistory book:
Early Modern Women’s Life-Writing and English Law
by Lotte Fikkers
edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-early-m...
#History 🗃️
Early Modern Women’s Life-Writing and English Law
by Lotte Fikkers
edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-early-m...
#History 🗃️
1605: 3 James 1 c.1: An act for a publick thanksgiving to Almighty God every year on the fifth day of November.
statutes.org.uk/site/the-sta...
#LegalHistory
statutes.org.uk/site/the-sta...
#LegalHistory
November 5, 2025 at 8:22 AM
1605: 3 James 1 c.1: An act for a publick thanksgiving to Almighty God every year on the fifth day of November.
statutes.org.uk/site/the-sta...
#LegalHistory
statutes.org.uk/site/the-sta...
#LegalHistory
A very interesting piece, including this from @gwenseabourne.bsky.social
"you can always tell the historians from the lawyers at a conference, because the lawyers start a paper with the argument, while the historians always start with a story"
#History #LegalHistory 🗃️
"you can always tell the historians from the lawyers at a conference, because the lawyers start a paper with the argument, while the historians always start with a story"
#History #LegalHistory 🗃️
“If the point is that we need to restore these human stories, why frame them within law's stories first?”
Some thoughts on history, law, storytelling and Mrs Burns
williamgpooley.wordpress.com/2025/11/04/h...
🗃️
Some thoughts on history, law, storytelling and Mrs Burns
williamgpooley.wordpress.com/2025/11/04/h...
🗃️
Her Story
Valerie Margaret Small was born in 1941. In her teens, her domineering father was sick and bedridden, and she was expected to look for work. She trained as a tailor and then, aged 19, took driving …
williamgpooley.wordpress.com
November 4, 2025 at 11:12 AM
A very interesting piece, including this from @gwenseabourne.bsky.social
"you can always tell the historians from the lawyers at a conference, because the lawyers start a paper with the argument, while the historians always start with a story"
#History #LegalHistory 🗃️
"you can always tell the historians from the lawyers at a conference, because the lawyers start a paper with the argument, while the historians always start with a story"
#History #LegalHistory 🗃️
Reposted by The Statutes Project
“If the point is that we need to restore these human stories, why frame them within law's stories first?”
Some thoughts on history, law, storytelling and Mrs Burns
williamgpooley.wordpress.com/2025/11/04/h...
🗃️
Some thoughts on history, law, storytelling and Mrs Burns
williamgpooley.wordpress.com/2025/11/04/h...
🗃️
Her Story
Valerie Margaret Small was born in 1941. In her teens, her domineering father was sick and bedridden, and she was expected to look for work. She trained as a tailor and then, aged 19, took driving …
williamgpooley.wordpress.com
November 4, 2025 at 6:27 AM
“If the point is that we need to restore these human stories, why frame them within law's stories first?”
Some thoughts on history, law, storytelling and Mrs Burns
williamgpooley.wordpress.com/2025/11/04/h...
🗃️
Some thoughts on history, law, storytelling and Mrs Burns
williamgpooley.wordpress.com/2025/11/04/h...
🗃️
Reposted by The Statutes Project
'AI shows great potential to help deliver swifter, fairer, and more accessible justice for all - reducing court backlogs, increasing prison capacity and improving rehabilitation outcomes as well as victim services.'
Jesus fucking christ will this dangerous nonsense never end?
Jesus fucking christ will this dangerous nonsense never end?
AI action plan for justice
www.gov.uk
October 26, 2025 at 12:22 PM
'AI shows great potential to help deliver swifter, fairer, and more accessible justice for all - reducing court backlogs, increasing prison capacity and improving rehabilitation outcomes as well as victim services.'
Jesus fucking christ will this dangerous nonsense never end?
Jesus fucking christ will this dangerous nonsense never end?
Reposted by The Statutes Project
Some new open access #LegalHistory: inc. some thoughts from me on medieval 'petty treason'. www.qub.ac.uk/schools/Scho...
Celebrating "Law and Constitutional Change" New Conference Volume | School of Law | Queen's University Belfast
A new conference volume, Law and Constitutional Change, co-edited by Professor David Capper, Dr Conor McCormick and Professor Norma Dawson, has been published open access by Cambridge University Press...
www.qub.ac.uk
October 24, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Some new open access #LegalHistory: inc. some thoughts from me on medieval 'petty treason'. www.qub.ac.uk/schools/Scho...
Reposted by The Statutes Project
Researching a legal moment that was supposed to change everything - whether it did or not? The call for papers for 'Moments of Rupture' is open until 23 October!
Free, online conference in November, hosted by the Open Universities legal histories research cluster.
#LegalHistory #cfp
Free, online conference in November, hosted by the Open Universities legal histories research cluster.
#LegalHistory #cfp
The Open University
Moments of Rupture Online 20-21 November 2025Some legal and social changes are so profound that they create what seem to be moments of rupture: breaks between the ‘before’ and ‘after’. These moments c...
law-school.open.ac.uk
October 14, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Researching a legal moment that was supposed to change everything - whether it did or not? The call for papers for 'Moments of Rupture' is open until 23 October!
Free, online conference in November, hosted by the Open Universities legal histories research cluster.
#LegalHistory #cfp
Free, online conference in November, hosted by the Open Universities legal histories research cluster.
#LegalHistory #cfp
Statutes.org.uk is currently having server problems, and has been up and down like the proverbial yoyo for the last few hours.
Apologies for the interruption; I'm trying to find out what is going on.
Apologies for the interruption; I'm trying to find out what is going on.
October 17, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Statutes.org.uk is currently having server problems, and has been up and down like the proverbial yoyo for the last few hours.
Apologies for the interruption; I'm trying to find out what is going on.
Apologies for the interruption; I'm trying to find out what is going on.
Short thread answering a query about the dating of 5 Elizabeth 1 c.16, An Act Against Conjurations, Inchantments and #Witchcraft.
(Text of act: statutes.org.uk/site/the-sta... )
#LegalHistory
(Text of act: statutes.org.uk/site/the-sta... )
#LegalHistory
Welcome to the wacky world of regnal codes and statute dating!
My source for the text, which gives the year as 1563, can now be found at:
www.scribd.com/document/347...
Statutes of the Realm dates the parliamentary session as 1562-3:
babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ps...
1/?
My source for the text, which gives the year as 1563, can now be found at:
www.scribd.com/document/347...
Statutes of the Realm dates the parliamentary session as 1562-3:
babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ps...
1/?
SMRT 131 Witchcraft and The Act of 1604 PDF | PDF | Witchcraft | Magic (Paranormal)
Scribd is the world's largest social reading and publishing site.
www.scribd.com
October 14, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Short thread answering a query about the dating of 5 Elizabeth 1 c.16, An Act Against Conjurations, Inchantments and #Witchcraft.
(Text of act: statutes.org.uk/site/the-sta... )
#LegalHistory
(Text of act: statutes.org.uk/site/the-sta... )
#LegalHistory
An academic article on free legal databases has just been published by a university press.
Behind a paywall.
And the uni I work at doesn't have access.
Behind a paywall.
And the uni I work at doesn't have access.
October 9, 2025 at 11:57 AM
An academic article on free legal databases has just been published by a university press.
Behind a paywall.
And the uni I work at doesn't have access.
Behind a paywall.
And the uni I work at doesn't have access.
Can anyone confirm that there is no free, individual access to Hein Online's "Slavery in America and the World" collection?
I had an individual account, which now doesn't work, and can't see any other way to access it without going through an instititution.
#LegalHistory
I had an individual account, which now doesn't work, and can't see any other way to access it without going through an instititution.
#LegalHistory
October 5, 2025 at 8:23 AM
Can anyone confirm that there is no free, individual access to Hein Online's "Slavery in America and the World" collection?
I had an individual account, which now doesn't work, and can't see any other way to access it without going through an instititution.
#LegalHistory
I had an individual account, which now doesn't work, and can't see any other way to access it without going through an instititution.
#LegalHistory
Reposted by The Statutes Project
We're moving our Mastodon account.
As our previous provider is shutting down, we've moved to hcommons.social/@bho
Gi' us a follow!
As our previous provider is shutting down, we've moved to hcommons.social/@bho
Gi' us a follow!
British History Online (@bho@hcommons.social)
1 Post, 239 Following, 1 Follower · BHO is a digital library of historic source material and the Victoria County Histories, based at the Institute of Historical Research
hcommons.social
October 1, 2025 at 10:06 AM
We're moving our Mastodon account.
As our previous provider is shutting down, we've moved to hcommons.social/@bho
Gi' us a follow!
As our previous provider is shutting down, we've moved to hcommons.social/@bho
Gi' us a follow!
Reposted by The Statutes Project
More on the Ancestry vs National Records Scotland battle:
Ancestry and the NRS - when the corporate genealogy world turns ugly
by @chrismpaton.bsky.social
scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2025/09/ance...
#Archives
Ancestry and the NRS - when the corporate genealogy world turns ugly
by @chrismpaton.bsky.social
scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2025/09/ance...
#Archives
Ancestry and the NRS - when the corporate genealogy world turns ugly
From Scotland, a daily news blog about genealogy, family history and personal heritage.
scottishgenes.blogspot.com
September 29, 2025 at 1:16 PM
More on the Ancestry vs National Records Scotland battle:
Ancestry and the NRS - when the corporate genealogy world turns ugly
by @chrismpaton.bsky.social
scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2025/09/ance...
#Archives
Ancestry and the NRS - when the corporate genealogy world turns ugly
by @chrismpaton.bsky.social
scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2025/09/ance...
#Archives
This is the Ancestry vs National Records of Scotland decision. There is one mention of the Open Govt License, but opening up the records isn't really discussed. Doesn't seem to have copyright implications, but I can't claim to understand all the details.
September 29, 2025 at 11:10 AM
This is the Ancestry vs National Records of Scotland decision. There is one mention of the Open Govt License, but opening up the records isn't really discussed. Doesn't seem to have copyright implications, but I can't claim to understand all the details.
I can't find the General Regulatory Chamber decision on this case (probably because I'm completely unfamiliar with such modern matters).
Can anyone point me in the right direction?
#Archives #Law #FreedomOfInformation #FOI
Can anyone point me in the right direction?
#Archives #Law #FreedomOfInformation #FOI
The condition of state archives in the UK, part 2:
Commercial co. demands access to state records.
(But not, it seems, that the records are made freely available.)
"Ancestry in legal bid to access Scottish family records"
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
#History #Archives
Commercial co. demands access to state records.
(But not, it seems, that the records are made freely available.)
"Ancestry in legal bid to access Scottish family records"
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
#History #Archives
Ancestry in legal bid to access Scottish family records
DNA testing site, Ancestry.com, has taken legal action to access millions of Scottish family records held by the National Records of Scotland (NRS).
www.bbc.co.uk
September 29, 2025 at 9:02 AM
I can't find the General Regulatory Chamber decision on this case (probably because I'm completely unfamiliar with such modern matters).
Can anyone point me in the right direction?
#Archives #Law #FreedomOfInformation #FOI
Can anyone point me in the right direction?
#Archives #Law #FreedomOfInformation #FOI
Reposted by The Statutes Project
Does anyone know of a list of early modern and c18th English spellings of words?
i.e. a list of alternative spellings, such as 'publick' for publick, 'Wyllyam' for William, and so on?
Surely such a thing must have been compiled?
#History #LinguisticHistory 🗃️
i.e. a list of alternative spellings, such as 'publick' for publick, 'Wyllyam' for William, and so on?
Surely such a thing must have been compiled?
#History #LinguisticHistory 🗃️
September 22, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Does anyone know of a list of early modern and c18th English spellings of words?
i.e. a list of alternative spellings, such as 'publick' for publick, 'Wyllyam' for William, and so on?
Surely such a thing must have been compiled?
#History #LinguisticHistory 🗃️
i.e. a list of alternative spellings, such as 'publick' for publick, 'Wyllyam' for William, and so on?
Surely such a thing must have been compiled?
#History #LinguisticHistory 🗃️
Another 'weird laws' article:
Wirral to scrap 90-year-old ban on carpet beating and ‘wanton singing’
Those ‘sounding a noisy trumpet’ or ‘inciting a dog to bark’ along part of the Merseyside coast will no longer risk arrest
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
#LegalHistory
Wirral to scrap 90-year-old ban on carpet beating and ‘wanton singing’
Those ‘sounding a noisy trumpet’ or ‘inciting a dog to bark’ along part of the Merseyside coast will no longer risk arrest
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
#LegalHistory
Wirral to scrap 90-year-old ban on carpet beating and ‘wanton singing’
Those ‘sounding a noisy trumpet’ or ‘inciting a dog to bark’ along part of the Merseyside coast will no longer risk arrest
www.theguardian.com
September 16, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Another 'weird laws' article:
Wirral to scrap 90-year-old ban on carpet beating and ‘wanton singing’
Those ‘sounding a noisy trumpet’ or ‘inciting a dog to bark’ along part of the Merseyside coast will no longer risk arrest
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
#LegalHistory
Wirral to scrap 90-year-old ban on carpet beating and ‘wanton singing’
Those ‘sounding a noisy trumpet’ or ‘inciting a dog to bark’ along part of the Merseyside coast will no longer risk arrest
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
#LegalHistory