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in 1804 to protect domestic farmers against foreign competition by the imposition of a heavy duty on foreign corn: repealed in 1846 See also Anti-Corn Law League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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What would it be like if, every time a white English actor received a script, it always concerned the 1846 repeal of the Corn Laws?

From The Guardian • Jul. 20, 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

After six months of debate, the Corn Laws were repealed, but Peel's Tories were bitterly divided.

From BBC • Jul. 13, 2016

When the controversy against the Corn Laws was at its height, the advocates of repeal were taunted with wishing to explode native wheat.

From The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, October 1879 by Various

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