Corn Laws

British

plural noun

the laws introduced in Britain in 1804 to protect domestic farmers against foreign competition by the imposition of a heavy duty on foreign corn: repealed in 1846 See also Anti-Corn Law League

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

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Two hundred years earlier, people were going hungry in Middleton after the government introduced the Corn Laws, which imposed tariffs on imported grain, turning bread into the preserve of the rich.

From The Guardian • Aug. 16, 2019

Sir Robert Peel was converted to free trade and the repeal of the protectionist Corn Laws, with not much immediate effect on “the condition of England” about which Thomas Carlyle and many others wrote.

From New York Times • Mar. 30, 2018

The most important moment of the 19th century for the United States took place across the ocean: the Repeal of Britain’s Corn Laws.

From Time • Jun. 30, 2017

Peel resigned after winning - not losing - one of the biggest parliamentary battles in history, over the abolition of the Corn Laws.

From BBC • Jul. 13, 2016

Late in June, the Corn Laws were repealed.

From The Great House by Weyman, Stanley John

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023