THEMES

Edward Coke 1552 – 1634

Edward Coke and British Government and Democracy

Edward Coke, supreme barrister and politician of the C16th and C17th, whose belief and work in Common Law became part of the English and US Constitution whose name should be known by every child in the UK.

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Constitutional Crisis People’s Budget 1909

This entry is part 2 of 6 in the series Reform
This entry is part 2 of 15 in the series Reformers and Radicals
This entry is part 3 of 5 in the series Reforming Women

What would cause a king to contemplate the end of the Monarchy and that his son might be the last King? When his Barons, the Lords would rise-up and revolt against the rule of democracy and seek to reinvent the will of the people via its commons from being fulfilled. Lloyd George and Winston Churchill would be the advocates for the poor and common man. Asquith would seek to calm the rage and the King would plead with the Lords to let the Bill pass but it would take two General Elections and never again would this unwritten convention be relied upon without statute to support it.

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Corn Laws Economic History and Big Data

This entry is part 7 of 15 in the series Reformers and Radicals
This entry is part 6 of 7 in the series Poor Law through the Ages

Learn a little and want to know more then this video by Cambridge University Expert D’Mariss Coffman can help. Find out how this humble grain and cereal returns lead to the “birth of political economy” and the start of Big Data as evidence for economic outcomes. Lecture given as part of the excellent Gresham College series.

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Act of Settlement 1701

Act of Settlement 1701 ensures that preference is given to Sophia and her issues as Elector of Hanover if William or Anne die without a surviving heir. In effect it bypasses the stronger hereditary claim of the Stuarts and ensues that the Enligh Monarch will remain Protestant.

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Treaty of Troyes 1420

Treaties for peace, to resolve conflict, seal a marriage, create trade opportunities or simply to fuel naked ambition of a king? Treaty of Troyes a wedding and a truce for England or does it seal the fate of the House of Lancaster, see the sun set on York and an early dawn for a new dynasty the Tudors? Sounds far-fetched? Read-on since when did a Treaty actually create the conditions for lasting peace? Part 1 of a series of posts on Treaties and the Trouble that lies ahead.

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Witchcraft Act 1562

The Witchcraft Act of 1562 replaced an earlier act to deal with the fear people had that witches were prevalent in society. They took the blame for all manner of ills in society.

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Europes Oldest University

Europe's oldest university

The Medieval universities and the cities in which they sit continue to inspire and engage us. Bologna Italy, lays claim to founding Europe’s oldest university in 1088, how far reaching was this seat of learning?

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Anatomy Act 1832

Anatomy Act 1832
This entry is part 2 of 9 in the series Statutes of Law

Body Snatching could make your body worth more dead than alive and the Anatomy Act was one way of starting toa ddress this dreadful and workhouse Regime fuelled fear by legislating to protect the corpses of the poor, this act lasts into the 20th Century so it was certainly significant well-beyond it’s original foundation,,,

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