BLACK ACT

Black Act.Hist. An English statute (9 Geo. ch. 22) establishing the death penalty for the unlawful killing or maiming of animals. • The statute was passed in 1722 in the wake of crimes committed by persons with faces blackened or otherwise disguised. The statute was repealed in 1827. The classic study of this law is E.P. Thompson, Whips and Hunters: The Origins of the Black Act (1975).[Blacks Law 8th]