The Sunday Observance Act 1780 (

21 Geo. 3 This is a complete list of acts of the Parliament of Great Britain for the year 1781. For acts passed until 1707, see the list of acts of the Parliament of England and the list of acts of the Parliament of Scotland. See also the list of acts of ...

. c. 49) was an Act of the

Parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union 1707, Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a ...

. Originally eight sections long, only sections 1 to 3 were still in force after the 1960s. These sections prohibited the use of any building or room for public entertainment or debate on a

Sunday Sunday (Latin: ''dies solis'' meaning "day of the sun") is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday. Sunday is a Christian sabbath, day of rest in most Western countries and a part of the Workweek and weekend, weekend. In some Middle Ea ...

. During November 1865, the National Sunday League (NSL) held a series of lectures for the general public entitled "Sunday Evenings for the People". This was fiercely opposed by the

Lord's Day Observance Society Day One Christian Ministries, formerly known as the Lord's Day Observance Society (LDOS), is a Christian organisation based in the United Kingdom that lobbies for no work on Sunday, the day that many Christians celebrate as the Sabbath, a day of r ...

(LDOS), who had the lectures cancelled after only four had been given. This was done by threatening the management of

St Martin's Hall The Queen's Theatre was a London theatre established in 1867 on the site of St Martin's Hall, a large concert room that had opened in 1850. It stood on the corner of Long Acre (formerly Charles Street) and Endell Street, with entrances in Wils ...

with legal action as lectures were forbidden under the Act. In 1931,

Millie Orpen Millie is a feminine given name, or diminutive form of various other given names, such as Emily, Millicent, Mildred, Camille, Camilla, Camila, Emilia, Maximillian, or sometimes Amelia. People with the given name Notable people with the given ...

, a

solicitor's clerk Articled clerk is a title used in Commonwealth countries for one who is studying to be an accountant or a lawyer. In doing so, they are put under the supervision of someone already in the profession, now usually for two years, but previously three ...

, brought an action as a

common informer The Common Informers Act 1951 ( 14 & 15 Geo. 6. c. 39) is an act of the United Kingdom Parliament that abolishes the principle of, and procedures concerning a common informer. Background A common informer was a person who provided evidence ...

against a

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ** Filmmaking, the process of making a film * Movie theate ...

chain for opening on a succession of Sundays, contrary to the Sunday Observance Act 1780, s.1. Orpen claimed £25,000 against the cinema company and individual members of its

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

. The claim was based on a forfeit of £200 per performance per

defendant In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one juris ...

. The

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

, Mr Justice Rowlatt, expressed some distaste for the proceedings. He found against the cinema chain, awarding Orpen £5,000, with

costs Cost is the value of money that has been used up to produce something or deliver a service, and hence is not available for use anymore. In business, the cost may be one of acquisition, in which case the amount of money expended to acquire it is ...

, but found for the individual directors on the grounds that there was no

evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports the proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the proposition is truth, true. The exact definition and role of evidence vary across different fields. In epistemology, evidence is what J ...

that they were guilty on any particular Sunday. Costs were awarded to the directors against Orpen. The judge granted a

stay Stay may refer to: Places * Stay, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the US Law * Stay of execution, a ruling to temporarily suspend the enforcement of a court judgment * Stay of proceedings, a ruling halting further legal process in a tr ...

pending an

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...

by the company.''Orpen v. Haymarket Capital Ltd & Others'', ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', July 18, 1931, ''p.''3, col E Later in the year, Orpen brought a claim against another chain, but was thwarted by a change in the law legalising Sunday opening for cinemas before her case could be decided.

Other legislation

This Act was affected by sections 1(1) and (3) of the

Common Informers Act 1951 The Common Informers Act 1951 (14 & 15 Geo. 6. c. 39) is an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the United Kingdom Parliament that abolishes the principle of, and procedures concerning a common informer. Background A common informer w ...

. Its provisions were tightened by the Fairs and Markets Act 1850. Its provisions were excluded in relation to certain activities by: *the Sunday Entertainments Act 1932, which amended section 4, and allowed a

local authority Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

to grant a licence for cinematographic performances on Sundays "subject to such conditions as the authority think fit to impose". The provision on cinematographic licences and the discretion exercised by

Wednesbury Wednesbury ( ) is a market town in the Sandwell district, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England; it was historically in Staffordshire. It is located near the source of the River Tame, West Midlands, River Tame and ...

Corporation in relation to the Gaumont Cinema in Wednesbury gave rise to a judicial requirement that the exercise of such discretion by a public authority must not be " unreasonable". *section 9 of the Cinemas Act 1985 *section 1 of the Sunday Theatre Act 1972 *section 21 of the

Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994 The Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994 (c. 40) is an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament. It introduced wide-ranging measures with aims including reducing burdens on people in trade created by previous acts such as the Shops Act 1950, ...

*article 2 of the Deregulation (Sunday Dancing) Order 2000 (S.I. 2000/3372), and *section 88 of the Licensing Act 1964.

Case law

The following cases were decided in relation to the Act: *Baxter v. Langley (1868) LR 4 CP 21, 38 LJMC 1 *Terry v. Brighton Aquarium Co (1875) LR 10 QB 306, 39 JP 519 *Reid v. Wilson and Ward

895 __NOTOC__ Year 895 ( DCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * The Magyars are expelled from western Siberia, and settle in the Carpathian Basin, under the leadership of Árpád ( ...

1 QB 315, 891 - 1894All ER Rep 500 *Williams v. Wright (1897) 13 TLR 551 * Orpen v. Haymarket Capitol Ltd (1931) 145 LT 614,

931 Year 931 ( CMXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place North Africa * The Ummayad Caliphate of Córdoba invades and conquers the city of Ceuta, which was ruled by the Berber dynasty Banu I ...

All ER 360 * Orpen v. New Empire Ltd (1931) 48 TLR 8, 75 Sol Jo 763 *R v. London County Council, ex parte Entertainments Protection Association Ltd

2 KB 215, 100 LJKB 760 *Green v. Kursal (Southend on Sea) Estates Ltd

937 Year 937 ( CMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * A Hungarian army invades Burgundy, and burns the city of Tournus. Then they go southwards to Italy, pillaging the environs of ...

1 All ER, 81 Sol Jo 279 *Houghten Le Touzel v. Mecca Ltd

950 Year 950 ( CML) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Arab–Byzantine War: A Hamdanid army (30,000 men) led by Sayf al-Dawla raids into Byzantine theme Anatolia. He defea ...

2 KB 612,

1 All ER 638 *Culley v. Harrison

956 Year 956 ( CMLVI) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Summer – Emperor Constantine VII appoints Nikephoros Phokas to commander of the Byzantine field army (''Domestic o ...

2 QB 71,

2 All ER 254

Repeal

Sections 1 to 3 were repealed by the

Licensing Act 2003 The Licensing Act 2003 (c. 17) is an act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act establishes a single integrated scheme for licensing premises in England and Wales used to sell or supply of alcohol, provide regulated entertainm ...

(with effect from 24 November 2005).Licensing Act 2003 (Commencement No. 7 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2005 Sections 4 and 5 were repealed by the

Statute Law Revision Act 1966 The Statute Law Revision Act 1966 (c. 5) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The whole act was repealed by section 1 of, and part XI of the schedule to, the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1974. The enactments which were repealed ...

. Section 6 was repealed in part by section 2 of the Limitation of Actions and Costs Act 1842 and entirely by section 2 of the Public Authorities Protection Act 1893. Section 7 was repealed by section 87 of, and Schedule 5 to, the

Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963 The Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963 (No. 1) is a Church of England measure simplifying ecclesiastical law as it applied to the Church of England, following the recommendations of the 1954 Archbishops' Commission on Ecclesiastical Courts. ...

. Section 8 was repealed by the

References

External links

The Sunday Observance Act 1780
as in force immediately before its repeal, from the

National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

. {{UK legislation Great Britain Acts of Parliament 1780 History of Christianity in the United Kingdom Law about religion in the United Kingdom Sunday Sabbatarianism