Legal Definition and Related Resources of Curfew

A practice attributed to the time of William the Conqueror involving the ringing of bells at eight o’clock in the event whereupon everyone was required to extinguish his lights and the fire.

(French, couvre, to cover, and feu, fire). This is generally supposed to be an institution of William the Conqueror, who required, by ringing of the bell at eight o’clock in the evening, that all lights and fires in dwellings should then be extinguished. But the custom is evidently older than the Norman; for we find an order of King Alfred that the inhabitants of Oxford should, at the ringing of that bell, cover up their fires and go to bed. And there is evidence that the same practice prevailed at this period in France, Normandy, Spain, and probably in most of the other countries of Europe. Henry, Hist. Brit. vol. 3, 567. It was doubtless intended, as a precaution against fires, which were very frequent and destructive when most houses were built of wood. That it was not intended as a badge of infamy is evident from the fact that the law was of equal obligation upon the nobles of the court and upon the native-born serfs. And yet we find the name “curfew law” employed as a by-word denoting the most odious tyranny. It appears to have met with” so much opposition that in 1103 we find Henry I. repealing the enactment of his father on the subject; and Blackstone says that, though it is mentioned a century afterwards, it is rather spoken of as a time of night, than as a still subsisting custom. Shakespeare frecfuently refers to it in the same sense. This practice is still pursued in many parts of England and in this country, as a very convenient mode of apprising people of the time of night.

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Curfew in Historical Law

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This definition of Curfew is based on the The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary . This entry needs to be proofread.

Vocabularies (Semantic Web Information)

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Curfew order in Law Enforcement

Main Entry: Law Enforcement in the Legal Dictionary. This section provides, in the context of Law Enforcement, a partial definition of curfew order.

Resources

See Also

• Law Enforcement Officer
• Policeman
• Law Enforcement Agency

Further Reading

• curfew order in A Dictionary of Law Enforcement (Oxford University Press)
• curfew order in the Encyclopedia of Law Enforcement
• A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis

Curfew condition in Law Enforcement

Main Entry: Law Enforcement in the Legal Dictionary. This section provides, in the context of Law Enforcement, a partial definition of curfew condition.

Resources

See Also

• Law Enforcement Officer
• Policeman
• Law Enforcement Agency

Further Reading

• curfew condition in A Dictionary of Law Enforcement (Oxford University Press)
• curfew condition in the Encyclopedia of Law Enforcement
• A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis

Curfew requirement in Law Enforcement

Main Entry: Law Enforcement in the Legal Dictionary. This section provides, in the context of Law Enforcement, a partial definition of curfew requirement.

Resources

See Also

• Law Enforcement Officer
• Policeman
• Law Enforcement Agency

Further Reading

• curfew requirement in A Dictionary of Law Enforcement (Oxford University Press)
• curfew requirement in the Encyclopedia of Law Enforcement
• A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis