Editing Corn Laws (section)

==Origins==
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Corn Act 1772
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of Great Britain
| long_title            = An Act to regulate the Importation and Exportation of Corn.
| year                  = 1772
| citation              = [[13 Geo. 3]]. c. 43
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 10 May 1773
| commencement          = 
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 15 November 1791
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = [[Importation and Exportation (No. 2) Act 1791]]
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = Repealed
| legislation_history   = 
| theyworkforyou        = 
| millbankhansard       = 
| original_text         = 
| revised_text          = 
| use_new_UK-LEG        = 
| UK-LEG_title          = 
| collapsed             = yes
}}
As a staple of life, as well as an important commodity of trade, corn and its traffic was long the subject of debate and of government regulation – the Tudors legislating against speculating in corn, and the Stuarts introducing import and export controls.{{sfn|Sutherland|2008|pp=535, 552}} Import had been regulated as early as 1670;{{sfn|Sutherland|2008|p=543}} and in 1689 traders were provided [[Export subsidy|bounties]] for exporting [[rye]], [[malt]] and [[wheat]] (all classified as corn at the time, the same commodities being taxed when imported into England).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Stevenson|first1=John|editor1-last=Fletcher|editor1-first=Anthony|title=Order and disorder in early modern England|date=1987|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=9780521349321|pages=230–231}}</ref> In 1773, the '''{{visible anchor|Corn Act 1772}}''' ([[13 Geo. 3]]. c. 43), "An act to regulate the importation and exportation of corn" repealed Elizabethan controls on grain speculation; but also shut off exports and allowed imports when the price was above 48 [[shilling]]s{{efn|About £{{inflation|UK|2.4|1773}} today}} per [[quarter (unit)#Volume|quarter]]{{efn|A 'quarter' was a unit of volume rather than of weight but a 'quarter of wheat' weighed about {{convert|224|kg|abbr=on}}. (The density of wheat is 0.770,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/foods-materials-bulk-density-d_1819.html | title= Bulk densities of some common food products | website= engineeringtoolbox.com | access-date = 19 January 2020}}</ref> and a quarter by volume (64 gallons) equates to 291 litres, multiplied by 0.770 gives 224&nbsp;kg).}} (thus compromising to allow for interests of producers and consumers alike).{{sfn|Sutherland|2008|p=543}}<ref>{{cite book|last=MacPherson|first= David|title=Annals of Commerce, Manufactures, Fisheries, and Navigation with Brief Notices of the Arts and Sciences Connected with Them: Containing the Commercial Transactions of the British Empire and Other Countries, Volume III|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YPQ_AAAAcAAJ|pages=537–538|publisher=Nichols and Son|location=London|date=1805}}</ref> The issue however remained one of public debate (by figures such as [[Edmund Burke]]) into the 1790s;{{sfn|Sutherland|2008|pp=554–555}} and amendments to the 1773 act, favouring agricultural producers, were made in both 1791 and 1804.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.math.grin.edu/~simpsone/Teaching/Romantics/ellen.html |title=The corn laws |access-date=15 August 2018 |archive-date=28 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181128210330/http://www.math.grin.edu/~simpsone/Teaching/Romantics/ellen.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1813, a [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] committee recommended excluding foreign-grown corn until the price of domestically grown corn exceeded 80 shillings{{efn|or £4, about £{{Inflation|UK|4|1813|r=-1}} today, Inflation between 1775 and 1815 was substantial, so 80s in 1813 was actually worth less than 44s in 1773.}} per quarter (8 [[bushel]]s),<ref>{{cite book|last1=de Morgan|first1=Augustus|author-link=Augustus De Morgan|title=The Elements of Arithmetic |url=https://archive.org/details/elementsarithme02morggoog |date=1830 |publisher=Taylor |location=London |oclc=22852767|page=[https://archive.org/details/elementsarithme02morggoog/page/n52 100]|edition=1st}}</ref> or the equivalent in 2004 prices of around £1,102 per [[tonne]] of wheat.{{efn|Price comparisons between this period and modern times are mainly based on the work of economists [[Henry Phelps Brown]] and Sheila Hopkins, published in 2004.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=O'Donoghue|first1=Jim|last2=Goulding|first2=Louise|title=Consumer Price Inflation since 1750|journal=Economic Trends|date=March 2004|issue=604|page=38}}</ref> For comparison, international wheat prices from 2010 to 2018 have been in the range of £100–£225 per tonne. (Where a value given in this article is preceded by the word 'about', this indicates that the modern equivalent value has been arrived at by reference to the general index of consumer prices rather than a specific index for grains). £1,102 in 2004 is about £{{inflation|UK|1102|2004|fmt=c|r=-2}} today. }} The political economist [[Thomas Malthus]] believed this to be a [[fair price]], and that it would be dangerous for Britain to rely on imported corn because lower prices would reduce labourers' [[wages]], and manufacturers would lose out due to the decrease of purchasing power of landlords and farmers.{{sfn|Woodward|1962|p=61}}

{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Importation Act 1815
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of the United Kingdom
| long_title            = An Act to amend the Laws now in force for regulating the Importation of Corn.
| year                  = 1815
| citation              = [[55 Geo. 3]]. c. 26
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = [[United Kingdom]]
| royal_assent          = 23 March 1815
| commencement          =
| expiry_date           =
| repeal_date           = 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = Importation Act 1822
| repealing_legislation = Importation Act 1846
| related_legislation   = [[Customs Act 1826]]
| status                = Repealed
| original_text         = {{GBurl|85taAAAAYAAJ|page=50}}
| collapsed             = yes
}}
With the advent of peace when the [[Napoleonic Wars]] ended in 1815, corn prices decreased, and the [[Tories (British political party)|Tory]] government of [[Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool|Lord Liverpool]] passed the '''{{visible anchor|Importation Act 1815}}''' ([[55 Geo. 3]]. c. 26) (officially ''An Act to amend the Laws now in force for regulating the Importation of Corn'')<ref name="BritainTomlins1816">{{cite book|author1=Sir Thomas Edlyne Tomlins|author2=John Raithby|author3=Nicholas Simons|author4=Charles Dacres Bevan|author5=Sir George Kettilby Rickards|title=The statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=85taAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA50|year=1816|publisher=Printed by G. Eyre and A. Strahan, printers to the King|pages=50–51}}</ref> to keep bread prices high. This resulted in serious rioting in London.<ref>Hirst, p. 15.</ref>

In 1816, the [[Year Without a Summer]] (caused by the [[1815 eruption of Mount Tambora]] in Indonesia) caused famine by disastrously reducing crop yields. Reduced standard of living and food shortages due to poor harvests led to riots.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-36276197|title=Littleport's hunger riots: Descendants mark 200th anniversary|publisher=BBC News|date=28 May 2016|access-date=28 May 2016}} including the [[Ely and Littleport riots of 1816]]</ref> But the ceiling price of 80 shillings a quarter for domestic grain was so high that, between 1815 and 1848, it was never reached. [[David Ricardo]], however, espoused [[free trade]] so that Britain could use its capital and population to its [[comparative advantage]].{{sfn|Woodward|1962|p=61}}