A Coercion Act was an

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of parliame ...

that gave a legal basis for increased state powers to suppress popular discontent and disorder. The label was applied, especially in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

, to acts passed from the 18th to the early 20th century by the Irish, British, and

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

parliaments.

London

In December 1816, a mass meeting took place at Spa Fields near

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. The Coercion Act of 1817 was an

act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of parliame ...

that suspended

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, ...

and extended existing laws against seditious gatherings in Britain. The Coercion Act was the result of this mass meeting.

Ireland

The total number of "Coercion Acts" relating to Ireland is a matter of definition, including whether to count separately an act which continues an expiring act. Michael Farrell in 1986 put the total from 1801 to 1921 at 105. John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer said in the House of Lords that 87 such acts had been passed between the Acts of Union 1801 and 1887, a rate of one per year. The figure was repeated by

John Redmond John Edward Redmond (1 September 1856 – 6 March 1918) was an Irish nationalist politician, barrister, and MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. He was best known as leader of the moderate Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) from ...

, whereas a writer in a Union Defence League pamphlet put the figure at 76 between 1801 and 1908, plus 22 during Grattan's Parliament (1782–1800). Some of the more notable Irish Coercion Acts were the Local Disturbances, etc. (Ireland) Act 1833, the Protection of Life and Property in Certain Parts of Ireland Act 1871, and the Protection of Person and Property Act 1881. An Irish Coercion Bill was proposed by Sir Robert Peel on 15 May 1846 in order to calm the increasingly difficult situation in Ireland as a result of the ongoing famine there. The bill was blocked, and this led, in part, to Peel's resignation as Prime Minister. From 1874, attempts to introduce other Irish coercion acts were blocked by the filibustering of Joseph Biggar. The

Protection of Persons and Property (Ireland) Act 1881 The Protection of Persons and Property (Ireland) Act,The Act had no official short title. It was referred to as ''Protection of Persons and Property (Ireland) Act'', or with ''Person'' in the singular, and/or with ''(Ireland)'' omitted. also call ...

allowed for internment without trial of those suspected of involvement in the Land War in Ireland. A total of 953 people were detained under the act. Many of them were active in the

Irish National Land League The Irish National Land League (Irish: ''Conradh na Talún'') was an Irish political organisation of the late 19th century which sought to help poor tenant farmers. Its primary aim was to abolish landlordism in Ireland and enable tenant farmer ...

; this was sufficient for the "reasonable suspicion" required by the act. On 13 October 1881, IPP leader

Charles Stewart Parnell Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1875 to 1891, also acting as Leader of the Home Rule League from 1880 to 1882 and then Leader of t ...

was arrested under the act after his newspaper, the '' United Ireland'', had attacked the

Land Law (Ireland) Act 1881 The Land Law (Ireland) Act 1881 (44 & 45 Vict. c. 49) was the second Irish land act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1881. Background The Liberal government of William Ewart Gladstone had previously passed the Landlord and Ten ...

.''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'', Arrest of Mr. Parnell, 14 October 1881 As a response to the Plan of Campaign of the mid-1880s the new

Chief Secretary for Ireland The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant, and officially the "Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant", from the early 19th century u ...

Arthur Balfour secured the

Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act 1887 The Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act 1887 (50 & 51 Vict. c. 20) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which amended the criminal law in Ireland to give greater law enforcement power to the authorities. It was introduced by Ar ...

or "Perpetual Crimes Act", a Coercion Act aimed at the prevention of

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict so ...

ing,

intimidation Intimidation is to "make timid or make fearful"; or to induce fear. This includes intentional behaviors of forcing another person to experience general discomfort such as humiliation, embarrassment, inferiority, limited freedom, etc and the victi ...

unlawful assembly Unlawful assembly is a legal term to describe a group of people with the mutual intent of deliberate disturbance of the peace. If the group is about to start an act of disturbance, it is termed a rout; if the disturbance is commenced, it is then t ...

and the organisation of conspiracies against the payment of agreed rents. The Act resulted in the imprisonment of hundreds of people including over twenty MPs. The act was condemned by the Catholic hierarchy since it was to become a permanent part of the law and did not have to be renewed annually by parliament, but Pope Leo XIII issued the bull ''Saepe Nos'' in 1888 which was uncritical of the Acts.

Trial by jury A jury trial, or trial by jury, is a legal proceeding in which a jury makes a decision or findings of fact. It is distinguished from a bench trial in which a judge or panel of judges makes all decisions. Jury trials are used in a significan ...

was abolished. An influential analysis of the pros and cons of the Act was published in 1888 by

William Henry Hurlbert William Henry Hurlbert (July 3, 1827—September 4, 1895) was an American journalist and the possible author of “ The Diary of a Public Man,” published in the ''North American Review'' in 1879. His responsibility for the Diary—once dubbed t ...

, a Catholic Irish-American author. Many hundreds were imprisoned at times under the Acts, including many prominent politicians and agrarian agitators, Joseph Biggar, Alexander Blane, Michael Davitt, John Dillon, James Gilhooly, Patrick Guiney, Matthew Harris, John Hayden, J. E. Kenny, Andrew Kettle, Denis Kilbride, Pat O'Brien,

William O'Brien William O'Brien (2 October 1852 – 25 February 1928) was an Irish nationalist, journalist, agrarian agitator, social revolutionary, politician, party leader, newspaper publisher, author and Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons ...

, James O'Kelly,

, Douglas Pyne, Willie Redmond, and Timothy Sullivan. The act was the first of over a hundred such Acts applied to Ireland under the Union. It was strongly opposed by the

Irish Parliamentary Party The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nation ...

(IPP), which

filibuster A filibuster is a political procedure in which one or more members of a legislative body prolong debate on proposed legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent decision. It is sometimes referred to as "talking a bill to death" or "talking out ...

ed the

second reading A reading of a bill is a stage of debate on the bill held by a general body of a legislature. In the Westminster system, developed in the United Kingdom, there are generally three readings of a bill as it passes through the stages of becoming ...

for 41 hours. Eventually, the Speaker of the House of Commons, Henry Brand, resorted to ignoring IPP members of Parliament who requested the right of speech and put the question, a controversial move that allowed Gladstone to pass the act.

References

Sources

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Citations

External links

* {{cite web , url=http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/bills/coercion-bill , title=Index: Coercion Bill , work=Hansard History of Ireland (1801–1923) 19th century in the United Kingdom Emergency laws in the United Kingdom