enclosure act

noun

, English History.

1. any of the acts of Parliament passed from 1709 to 1869, requiring that private lands be fenced off from common lands.

Word History and Origins

Origin of enclosure act¹

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

The remains of this cast-off shell still survive in parishes where no Enclosure Act happens to have swept them away.

From Project Gutenberg

What they call a statutory proceeding, shockingly careless and haphazard, and most ungermainely thrust into an Enclosure Act.

From Project Gutenberg

No general enclosure act could be passed, though often suggested.

From Project Gutenberg