The
Sale of Spirits Act 1750 (commonly known as the
Gin Act 1751) was an
ActAn act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament....
of the
Parliament of Great BritainThe Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland...
(citation 24 Geo. II c. 40) which was enacted in order to reduce the consumption of
spiritsA distilled beverage, liquor, or spirits is a drinkable liquid containing ethanol that is produced by means of distilling fermented grain, fruit, or vegetables.This excludes undistilled fermented beverages such as beer and wine, and often the term hard liquor is used to contrast distilled beverages...
, a popular pastime that was regarded as one of the primary causes of crime in London. By prohibiting gin distillers from selling to unlicensed merchants and increasing fees charged to merchants, it eliminated small Gin shops thereby leaving the distribution of Gin to larger distillers and retailers.
First imported from the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
in the 1690s,
ginGin is a spirit flavoured primarily with juniper berries. Distilled gin is made by redistilling white grain spirit which has been flavoured with juniper berries. Compound gin is made by flavouring neutral grain spirit with juniper berries without redistilling.The most common style of gin,...
began to rival
beerBeer is the world's oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic beverage and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from cereal grains—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize , and rice are widely...
as the most popular drink in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
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The
Sale of Spirits Act 1750 (commonly known as the
Gin Act 1751) was an
ActAn act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament....
of the
Parliament of Great BritainThe Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland...
(citation 24 Geo. II c. 40) which was enacted in order to reduce the consumption of
spiritsA distilled beverage, liquor, or spirits is a drinkable liquid containing ethanol that is produced by means of distilling fermented grain, fruit, or vegetables.This excludes undistilled fermented beverages such as beer and wine, and often the term hard liquor is used to contrast distilled beverages...
, a popular pastime that was regarded as one of the primary causes of crime in London. By prohibiting gin distillers from selling to unlicensed merchants and increasing fees charged to merchants, it eliminated small Gin shops thereby leaving the distribution of Gin to larger distillers and retailers.
History
First imported from the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
in the 1690s,
ginGin is a spirit flavoured primarily with juniper berries. Distilled gin is made by redistilling white grain spirit which has been flavoured with juniper berries. Compound gin is made by flavouring neutral grain spirit with juniper berries without redistilling.The most common style of gin,...
began to rival
beerBeer is the world's oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic beverage and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from cereal grains—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize , and rice are widely...
as the most popular drink in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. In 1689, the English government opened the distilling trade to all English people who paid certain taxes. Over the next sixty years, however, the government regulated the sale of gin with an inconsistent taxation policy. The ready availability and low cost of Gin led to the a massive rise in consumption known as the
Gin CrazeThe Gin Craze was a period in the first half of the 18th century when the consumption of gin became popular with the working classes in Britain - especially in London...
, by the 1730s, consumption in London had risen to the equivalent of 2 pints per week for every single Londoner. Politicians and religious leaders began to argue that gin drinking encouraged laziness and criminal behaviour. In 1729, Parliament passed a Gin Act which increased the retail tax to 5 shillings per gallon. With the Gin Act 1736 the government imposed a high licence fee for gin retailers and a 20 shillings retail tax per gallon. These actions were unpopular with the working-classes and in 1743 resulted in riots in London. The license fee and tax were significantly lowered within a few years.
The Act
The Gin Act of 1751 prohibited gin distillers from selling to unlicensed merchants, restricted retail licenses to substantial property holders, and charged high fees to those merchants eligible for retail licenses. To offer the masses another invigorating (and non-alcoholic) beverage the import of
teaTea is the agricultural product of the leaves, leaf buds, and internodes of the Camellia sinensis plant, prepared and cured by various methods...
was also encouraged.
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