Timeline: Legal Development of Citizens Rights and Equality UK
1215: Magna Carta passed, declaring the sovereign to be subject to the rule of law and documenting the liberties held by “free men,” this provided provided the foundation for individual rights.
1679: Habeas Corpus Act passed: granting rights to a fair trial
1807: Abolition of slave trade Act passed, prohibiting the trade of slaves by Britain
1833: The Factory Act passed, prohibiting children under the age of 9 working in factories
1837: Campaign for national schools began
1870: Elementary education Act made school compulsory for children aged 5-13 (unless exceptionally educated by aged 10)
1884: Parliamentary Reform Act extended the franchise (vote) to more working class men enabling 2/3 men to vote in the UK
1891: Made state schooling free for all children
1928: Representation of the People Act gave women an equal right to vote (amended the 1918 act which only allowed married women over 30 to vote)
1946: NHS Act passed – creating free healthcare for all people in Britain at point of access
1948: Universal declaration of Human Rights
1967: Abortion Act passed, making abortion legal on a wide number of grounds in all of Great Britain (but not Northern Ireland) up to 28 weeks’ gestation
1967: Sexual Offences Act decriminalised homosexual sex in England and Wales- later extended to Scotland
1975: The Sex discrimination Act outlawed discrimination on the basis of sex in employment, education and training
1976: Race relations Act: made racial discrimination unlawful
1989: UN convention on rights of a child: gave children under 18 same rights as adults
1997: Law passed to make it compulsory to be in education, employment or training until aged 18
1997: EU Human Rights Act determined it was unlawful to have a higher age of consent for homosexuals – reducing lawful age from 21 to 18-passed in Parliament 1999
1997-8: Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland given the right to make their own domestic laws.
2000: Freedom of Information Act-granted public access to information held by public authorities
2005: Civil Partnership Act, enabling same sex couples to form civil partnerships
2010: Equality Act ensured equal treatment in public and private services and employment regardless of sex, race, ethnicity, religion, belief and sexual orientation
2013: Same Sex Couples Act enabled same sex couples to marry and have equal legal rights and benefits to heterosexual married couples
