Government attempts to instil respect go back a long way. The Victorians also saw the fabric of society unravelling: urchins rang doorbells and ran away, housemaids beat carpets in the street, inebriated youths sang lewd ballads and the lower classes got above their station by flying kites. In 1847 Parliament had had enough: offenders were to be fined up to a maximum of £1,000 for each offence — a more effective deterrent than an ASBO. Carpet-beating is no longer the nuisance it was. But the statute against it and scores of others remain in force. We are surprised, though, that the Law Society’s researchers missed others, which could well be invoked against today’s ills.
The Eye-Podde Nuisance Abatement of 1753 makes it an offence to bring the new-fangled mechanical music box on board a stagecoach or set it in motion on the high seas, in theatres, markets and ale-houses. The fine of £8 7s 4d is doubled on Swan-Upping Sunday. Under Cromwell, Parliament passed a law to curb “doctores of spinney” — charlatans who clustered in Westminster and paid gullible MPs to set up committees to “protect privacie” or “ regulate pharmacie”. An Elizabethan statute makes it an offence to read a broadsheet newspaper in any carriage designed for public transportation. Edward I was disgusted with the spectacle of men in armour kissing and embracing after scoring a jousting hit, and commanded the Keeper of the Horses to maintain order or face relegation. Another, still extant, dealt with a vexatious minister who failed to pay window tax on his mansion, claiming his builder had forgotten to brick them up. He was ordered to forfeit to the Crown one of two prized pet Jaguars.