14. An existing Act of 1405 means any English place without stocks is a hamlet
On the subject of public humiliation, stocks are a quirky part of English History. First mentioned in 1227, stocks are wooden devices to restrain people in one place. Persistent naggers, liars, drunkards, and petty thieves found themselves locked in stocks, where locals pelted them with rotten fruit or dung. Medieval English law demanded that all parishes running their own affairs possessed their own stocks. An Act of 1405 states that any village without stocks is, in fact, a mere hamlet, with fewer rights. Since this law has never been repealed, there are some very large hamlets in England!
