The Piracy Act 1717 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. Its long title was “An Act for the further preventing Robbery, Burglary, and other Felonies, and for the more effectual Transportation of Felons, and unlawful Exporters of Wool; and for declaring the Law upon some Points relating to Pirates.”
Not only dealing with pirates, the act established a seven-year banishment to North America as a possible punishment for those convicted of lesser felonies, or as a possible sentence that capital punishment might be commuted to by royal pardon. Transportation of criminals to North America continued until 1776, when the American War of Independence made it unfeasible to carry out the practice. After that, felons were sentenced to be punished with imprisonment or hard labour instead. It wasn’t until 1787 that convicted convicts were transported to Australia, continuing until 1868.
Furthermore, it allowed courts to prosecute at their discretion either under civil law (The Suppression of Piracy Act 1698) or common law (Offences at Sea Act 1536).…
Although not the most well-known pirate captain, Edward England was considered important enough to receive his own chapter in Charles Johnson’s 
This act was passed during the reign of William III. The main purpose behind the statute was to make some corrections to the Offences at Sea Act 1536. These changes included allowing for acts of piracy to be “examined, inquired of, tried, heard and determined, and adjudged in any place at sea, or upon the land, in any of his Majesty’s islands, plantations, colonies, dominions, forts, or factories”. This enabled admirals to hold a court session to hear the trials of pirates in any place they deemed necessary, rather than requiring that the trial be held in England, thus avoiding the costly and time-consuming transport of captured pirates across the Atlantic. It also meant those accused of piracy didn’t necessarily have to be tried by a jury.
By the time the Great Fire occurred, London was by far the largest city in England. Its inhabitants numbering between 300,000 and 400,000, it had become a crowded, unregulated sprawl of houses. This wasn’t the first large scale fire, the city having experienced several major fires in the past, the most recent having been in 1633. Additionally, London had been hit by an epidemic of bubonic plague called the Great Plague of London only the year before, during which between 60,000 and 100,000 are thought to have died. As well as disease, fires were always a danger in a city made mostly of timber and tar paper. There were so many possible causes: fireplaces, candles, ovens, lamps, as well a large stores of combustibles such as pitch and hemp. To combat the perpetual danger, there were watchmen, also known as bellmen, who patrolled the city at night, who sounded the alarm should a fire break out.…