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Listings of important Elizabethan Times England laws
Elizabethan England laws that were created during these times needed the approval and the consent of Queen Elizabeth I. Though the Queen can make laws like the Royal Proclamations, other laws cannot be passed just by the lone intention of the Queen. In order for the law to be passed, the Queen needed to craft a Bill and the Bill should be forwarded to the Parliament.
The Parliament was also the body that was tasked to pass laws. For the duration of the era, the Elizabethan Parliament composed of the House of Lords and the House of Commons passed 438 laws in all.
Of the hundreds Elizabethan laws that was passed, the ones considered as the more important was the 1559 Queen Elizabeth's Second Act of Supremacy revoking royal policy that was approved during Queen Mary's sovereignty. The law that was passed in 1559 restored the Crown's influence on the Church and the Realm.
Two other important laws that were passed during this era were the 1574 Sumptuary Laws which was also called as the 'Statutes of Apparel' and the 1601 Poor Law. The 1601 Poor Law Act then formalized the earlier practices making provisions for the National system that can be covered by levying property taxes. Four other Poor Law Acts were crafted during the Elizabethan Period.
The earliest one was the Poor Law Act of 1552 that was passed in order to record the number of poor people in each parish. The second Poor Law Act which was passed in 1563 categorized the poor people to determine the right treatment for them. The third Poor Law Act was passed in 1572 that made poverty alleviation a concern of the locals.
A poor tax was implemented at the local level in order to address poverty alleviation. The 1576 Poor Law Act was passed so that each town can provide work for their unemployed population. The last Poor Law Act was passed in 1597. The law enabled the Justices of the Peace to have more authority so as to raise more funds to give to the poor. The position of 'Overseer of the Poor' was created thanks to this law.
Other than these laws, there are other significant laws that were crafted in the 1500s. The Physicians and Surgeons Act that was passed in 1511 was one of those. This law limited medical training to persons who had been checked. The year 1522 saw the passage of the 'Privileges and Authority of Physicians in London'. The year 1534 saw the passage of the Act making King Henry VII the ultimate chief of the Church of England. By 1538, parish records commenced listing the weekly documentation of baptisms, marriages and deaths. The Act for the Dissolution of the Greater Monasteries and Abbeys was passed.
The year 1547 saw Edward VI decreed Branding and slavery as the penalty for relentless vagrancy. Laws were also passed that required people to do their share in the maintenance of highways. Perfect examples of this law were the 1555 Highways Act and the 1562 Highways Act that extended the amount of labor a person must perform, from four to six days.
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