43 Elizabeth c. 7, "An Act to avoid and prevent divers Misdemeanors in lewd and idle Persons" prescribed the punishment of whipping for anyone convicted of "unlawful cutting or taking away of corn and grain growing, robbing of orchards and gardens, digging up or taking away fruit-trees, breaking of hedges, pales, or other fences, cutting or spoiling of woods or underwoods standing and growing, and such like offenses..." who is unable to make compensation for such damages.
I call attention to the terms "lewd and idle Persons" and "breaking of hedges." The first phrase is just a standard lawyerly disparagement of the character of the persons who might be charged with such an offense. The meaning of the term "lewd" at the time would have been more along the line of ignorant or uncouth rather than sexually wanton or even, necessarily, vicious. The second phrase, "breaking of hedges" refers, albeit not exclusively, to an activity that was a more or less customary practice for commoners resisting unauthorized enclosures of common lands. The radical Levellers and Diggers of the mid 17th century took their name from the practice of hedge breaking. Back in the 13th and 14th centuries, when enclosures had previously been fairly widespread, it was legally expedient to tear down an offending hedge right away, before it acquired tenure through usage. In the context of the long history of hedge-levelling, along with the intensification of enclosure acts in the 18th and early 19th centuries, the incidents of frame-breaking that broke out in response to the introduction of mechanized looms and spinning machines don't appear all that novel. They are simply the application of a customary response to a new kind of enclosure -- an enclosure of what had formerly been craft labor. Hedge-levelling evolved from a sometimes legally legitimized practice to a misdemeanor. In response to the Luddite riots of 1811-1812, frame-breaking was made a felony punishable by hanging. The legendary "General" or "King" Ned Ludd was a fictional character who was said to be simple-minded and quick-tempered, qualities consistent with the earlier meanings of lewd. Variant spelling of lewd included leod, luyd and lude. The name "Ludd" was sometimes spelled "Lud." -- Cheers, Tom Walker (Sandwichman)
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