Malicious Injuries to Property Act 1827


The Malicious Injuries to Property Act 1827 or the Malicious Injuries to Property Act 1827 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated enactments relating to malicious injuries to property in England and Wales.
The act was one of Peel's Acts which consolidated, repealed and replaced a large number of existing statutes. The enactments replaced by the act were repealed by the Criminal Statutes Repeal Act 1827.
Similar provisions were made for Ireland by the .

Background

In the United Kingdom, acts of Parliament remain in force until expressly repealed. Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, published in the late 18th-century, raised questions about the system and structure of the common law and the poor drafting and disorder of the existing statute book.
In 1806, the Commission on Public Records passed a resolution requesting the production of a report on the best mode of reducing the volume of the statute book. From 1810 to 1825, The Statutes of the Realm was published, providing for the first time the authoritative collection of acts. In 1816, both Houses of Parliament, passed resolutions that an eminent lawyer with 20 clerks be commissioned to make a digest of the statutes, which was declared "very expedient to be done." However, this was never done.
In 1822, Sir Robert Peel entered the cabinet as home secretary and in 1826 introduced a number of reforms to the English criminal law, which became known as Peel's Acts. This included efforts to modernise, consolidate and repeal provisions from a large number of earlier statutes, including:

Provisions

Apprehension without a warrant

All those committing an offence under the act could be apprehended without a warrant by the property's owner, his or her servant, anyone authorised by the owner or any "Peace Officer". All its provisions applied whether or not it was committed from malice against the property's owner and to principals in the first and second degrees and all accessories. Prosecutions were to be brought within three months of the offence. Any of its provisions from imprisonment could also be upgraded to hard labour. The Act also outlined the summoning of offenders and the administration of its punishments, pardons, discharges, convictions and appeals under it, record-keeping of convictions and where and how such offences were to be tried.

Death penalty for setting fire

It instituted the death penalty for maliciously setting fire to homes, workplaces, granaries and both Anglican and Dissenting churches and chapels and for setting fire to a ship, wrecking by false lights and destroying shipwrecked cargo. However, damage to a ship by means other than fire or damage to rivers, canals, harbours or sea defences only brought imprisonment or transportation.

Punishments for the Luddites

The act also responded to the Luddites and their hostility to the Industrial Revolution and Agricultural Revolution, setting penalties of transportation or imprisonment for damaging textile goods and factory or farm machinery, with the addition of public or private whipping for male offenders. Similar punishments were put in place for flooding or setting fire to coal mines and their associated machinery and structures, unless this was done accidentally in working a neighbouring mine. It also covered damage to public bridges, turnpike gates and toll houses, dams, fishponds and millponds, cattle, crops, hay, hops and fruit and fences, walls, stiles and gates. The act also instituted compensation for offences to property not covered by its other sections.

Subsequent developments

In 1827, Peel's Acts were passed to modernise, consolidate and repeal provisions of the criminal law of England and Wales, including:
In 1828, parallel bills for Ireland to Peel's Acts were introduced, becoming:
In 1828, the Offences Against the Person Act 1828 was passed, which consolidated enactments relating to offences against the person and repealed for England and Wales almost 60 related enactments. In 1829, the Offences Against the Person (Ireland) Act 1829 was passed, which consolidated enactments relating to offences against the person and repealed for Ireland almost 60 enactments relating to the criminal law of Ireland.
In 1861, bills were introduced, drafted by Charles Sprengel Greaves to mirror Peel's Acts, to consolidate and modernise the criminal law across:
In 1861, the Criminal Consolidation Acts were passed for that purpose:

Repeal

The whole act was repealed by section 1 of, and the schedule to, the Criminal Statutes Repeal Act 1861.