The Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1871

In 1871, parliamentary opinion in Britain insisted that the criminal law should be strong enough to ensure that those individuals or groups of individuals who chose not to belong to trade unions or take part in strikes would be protected from being coerced, by physical acts, abuse, or personal harassment, into doing so. As a concession to the unions who demanded for the repeal of the law, the government hived off the criminal provisions into a separate bill, enacted in June 1871 as the Criminal Law Amendment Act (CLAA). Such a gesture, however, did not appease the unions, with the rhetoric of the labour laws agitation depicting the CLAA as an oppressive law directed against them. The Home Office sought to remove any criminality that might attach to strikes, or threats of strikes, as a result of extended applications of the law of conspiracy. The most controversial practical aspect of the CLAA concerned its effect upon picketing.