Reasons to Be Cheerful III

1823 The practice of burying a suicide at a crossroads with a stake through the heart is banned

1839 Custody of Infants Act Allowed mothers to petition for custody of their children up to the age of seven

1871 Bank Holidays Act introduces idea of holidays with pay

1873 First non-Anglican students at Cambridge

1885 First of the Land Purchase Acts starts the exodus of the Ascendancy (in Ireland)

1900 UK shop workers allowed seats

1967 Supreme Court declares Virginia's anti-miscegenation law unconstitutional

1970 A man’s right to petition a court for “the restoration of conjugal rights” abolished

1985 Badger baiting outlawed

1999 Capital punishment was abolished in the 11th century by William the Conqueror but was reinstated by his son William Rufus. Efforts to have the death penalty abolished began in the late 1700s. On 10 December 1999, International Human Rights Day, the government ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights thus totally abolishing capital punishment in Britain.

2000 In Germany, parental right to discipline abolished

2011 Anglican priests who have been divorced, or whose wives have been divorced, are allowed to become bishops.

2011 Defense Bill repeals military ban on sodomy in US

1540-1640: 48 people tortured at The Tower. It was not officially part of English law was usually used in interrogation. (@HRP_learning)

1907 The Romanian peasants’ revolt. Around 11,000 shot by government troops.

1971 Free school milk for over-sevens scrapped by Margaret Thatcher.

A form of serfdom existed in Russia from the 13th century. In the 17th century most of the peasants were made serfs. In the 17th/18th century there were several rebellions. There were also slaves (turned into serfs in 1792). Many slaves committed suicide, prompting many a fanciful explanation by the nobles and bourgeoisie, none of which was “because they couldn’t stand being serfs”. Serfdom was abolished in 1861, on terms unfavourable to ex-serfs.

45 years ago, 16 US states deemed marriages between two people of different races illegal.

More Reasons to Be Cheerful... ish.
More Reasons to Be Cheerful here, here and here.