Chapter 8: Legislation Flashcards
Who did pressure to remove the disabilities of the Test of Corporations Acts come from?
Protestant Dissenters. They saw them as outdated.
What was the opinion of Dissenting groups on Catholic toleration?
Some believed that toleration should extend to Catholics, but others remained strongly anti-Catholic.
Who was the pro-Repeal group led by?
A rising young Whig, Lord John Russell, who put forward a motion for repeal in the Commons.
What were the Corporation act?
1661 passed to ensure that anyone who held a position in a municipal office e.g the mayor had to be confirmed into the Anglican Church and take Holy Communion.
What was the Test act?
1673 same as Corporations act, designed to exclude Roman Catholics and to a lesser extent Nonconfirmists from office.
Why did many support/not support the Test and Corporation Acts repeal?
Because it would lead the way to Catholic Emancipation. Some believed that it might make emancipation more difficult, their fear being that if Prtestant Dissenters were reieved first, many of them would then turn against their Catholic ‘allies’.
What was the Sliding Scale?
Huskisson revisited the idea in 1828. It was the concept of substituting the fixed rate of duty for a sliding scale to address the problems caused when, for example, there was a poor harvest and corn prices rose.
What did the Sliding Scales mean?
Allowed the tax on imported corn to be cut gradually according to the price of home corn, so as the price of home corn rose, the duty of foreign corn fell.
To Huskisson, what was the Sliding Scales a solution for?
A solution to maintain a steady market and income for the farmers and also achieve a lowering of bread prices to satisfy the working man.
When was the sliding scale brought in?
1829 by Peel. Wellington and Huskisson quarelled over it.
What was the 1829 Metropolitan Police Act?
Peel founded the Metropolitan police force.
Why did Peel found the Metropolitan Police Force?
To reverse the upward trend of crime rates, particularly in London. It was a corresponding measure to his earlier Penal Code reform: the removal of so many capital offences had increased the crime rate, noticeabl in London and thus he thought a fully supported police force would act as a detrrent.
Was the Metropolitan Police Act successful?
Not immediately, and it was peceived by some as the tool of the Tory government, however it improved on the existing inadequate system. It took years to establish an efficient, effective nationwide police force, but Peel’s model formed the basis of our modern policing system.
How was the existing system of policing inadequate?
It relied on parish constables and watchmen, and was often corrupt and had no cohesive, centalised maintenance of law and order.
