The acts passed in 1819, for the pacification of England, are so called. They, in effect, prohibited the training of persons to arms; authorized general searches and seizure of arms; prohibited meetings of more than fifty persons for the discussion of public grievances; repressed with heavy penalties and confiscations sedi-tious and blasphemous libels; and checked pamphleteering by extending the newspaper stamp duty to political pamphlets. Brown
Source: Black's Law Dictionary 2nd Ed (1910)
