An_Act_against_Plowing_by_the_Tayle,_and_pulling_the_Wooll_off_living_Sheep
An Act against Plowing by the Tayle, and pulling the Wooll off living Sheep
United Kingdom legislation
An Act against Plowing by the Tayle, and pulling the Wooll off living Sheep (10 & 11 Chas. 1 c. 15 (I)) was an act of the Parliament of Ireland passed in 1635. It was one of the first pieces of legislation to protect the rights of animals. The act was one of several proposed to deal with what the Protestant Ascendancy viewed as the barbarous practices of the Gaelic Irish. The committee for preparing acts (under Poynings' Law) on 26 July 1634 ordered the Attorney General and Solicitor-General to "make a draught of one or more Acts to be passed for restraining the barbaric custom of plowing by the tail, of pulling the wool off living sheep, of burning corn in the straw, of barking of standing trees, of cutting young trees by stealth, of forcing cows to give milk, and of building houses without chimneys". One other act arose from this order: "An Act to Prevent the unprofitable Custom of Burning of Corne in the Straw" (10 & 11 Chas. 1 c. 17 (I)).