Roman Britain

The Emperor Diocletian imposed rigid controls on the movement of labour. Inflation was tackled (ineffectually) by detailed price legislation concerning, amongst other things, duffel coats, rugs and beer

Saxon England

Edward the Confessor (1042-66) inherited the most extensive bureaucracy in 11th century Europe, including a highly efficient system for tax collection, with a complex assessment process. This period also saw the emergence of the royal Writ as a way of issuing orders.

Medieval England

By the 13th century villages were required to maintain roads and bridges, participate in juries, and mount watches to protect life and property. There were also by-laws controlling access to land and the use of meadows. Additionally, each community had to provide one man for the army and pay his wages.

In the next century, a statute of labourers introduced a maximum wage for agricultural workers and prohibited the giving of alms to able-bodied beggars. One clause read, "No-one is to be paid at haymaking more than a penny a day…and reapers of corn in the first week of August 2d and the second 3d."

Elizabethan England

Parliament introduced regulations which laid down the clothing to be worn by different social ranks, classified as: knights, squires, yeomen, merchants, artisans and labourers who earned less than 40 shillings a year.

Victorian Britain

The Victorian era saw the growth of the type of regulation to protect individuals, particularly workers and the very young; that we take for granted today. At the turn of the 19th century many children worked for over 16 hours a day under atrocious conditions, alongside their parents. Legislation to regulate the hours of workhouse children in factories and cotton mills was passed as early as 1802, but proved largely ineffective. Child labour was also to be found in the iron and coal mining industries (where children began work at the age of five and generally died before they were 25), gasworks, shipyards and, most notoriously, chimney-sweeping.

After political pressure, principally by Evangelical Christian groups, the first Factory Act was passed by Parliament in 1833. Under the terms of the new act, it became illegal for children under nine to work in textile factories and children aged between nine and thirteen could not be employed for more than eight hours a day. However, children over thirteen could still work for up to twelve hours a day.

To make sure this legislation was obeyed, the government appointed four factory inspectors. The inspectors were soon complaining that they were having great difficulty checking the ages of the children working in the factories. Although factory children had to obtain age certificates from local doctors it soon became clear that this was not stopping children under nine from working in textile factories.

By the end of the 19th century seven more factory acts had been passed to offer adults and children more protection. Amongst numerous reforms, employers were now obliged to make sure their machinery was (relatively) safe, women had the right to four weeks off work after giving birth, and the minimum age for child workers had been raised from ten to eleven. All of these measures were considered radical at the time.

Modern day

The 20th century undoubtedly saw an enormous increase in the number and type of regulations issued by governments around the world.

The historian Asa Briggs suggests that, in the UK at least, this was for several reasons. There was the desire to make laws credible and enforceable, which could involve deregulatory legislation, as in the case of the Betting and Gaming Act. Humanitarianism was another factor, illustrated by various measures, from the regulation necessary to clear slum areas to the abolition of the death penalty in 1965.

The increase in the importance attached to egalitarian principles can be seen, for instance, in the Equal Pay and Sex Discrimination Acts of 1970 and 1975 respectively.

Finally, there was liberalisation - the freeing of people and markets from unnecessary constraints – regulations introduced to establish the European Single Market being good examples of this type, as they have cut red tape across Europe.

This brings us to the most significant development affecting the regulatory process during the last century, at least from a western European perspective: European integration and the emergence of supranational legislation. We have seen how modern employment rights and health and safety at work regulation in the UK originated in Parliament in the 19th century. Of course, the UK and the other EU Member States still have their own regulations. But many of today’s national regulations must comply with minimum standards set by European law. For example, the length and organisation of the average working week varies from one Member State to another. However, a European directive adopted in 1993, limiting the maximum working week to 48 hours and providing for four weeks per year paid annual leave set common minimum rules.

Community directives, regulations and recommendations now cover many more of the areas mentioned above. There is now a ban on child labour for children aged under 15 and the regulation of labour for 15-18 year olds, restricting the number of hours they may work, night work and imposing compulsory rest periods. The European institutions also uphold the principle of equal treatment for men and women, and act where necessary. In 1997, the European Court of Justice found France guilty of breaching European law in this respect. The European Commission then asked the ECJ to impose a daily penalty of 142,245 euros (around £84,400) on France for failing to comply with the judgement, which the court did.