Ordainers, Lords.
A commission of twenty-one persons, to whom the Government of England was confided for a period of eighteen months (1309-1310) during the reign of Edward II. Their task was to propound a scheme for the reform of the Government.
Ordeal, Trial by.
This is of Norse origin, and was practised in England in Anglo-Saxon and early Norman times. The ordeal was of various kinds, one of the most severe consisting in the accused walking barefoot and blindfold over red-hot ploughshares. If within a given period the burns so caused were not healed he was adjudged guilty. The ordeal was forbidden by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215.
Orders in Council, 1807.
England’s reply to Napoleon’s Berlin Decree, establishing the Continental Blockade, was the issue of a series of Orders in Council. They forbade vessels to trade between any ports in France or the territories of the allies, granted the right of reprisals against Tuscany, Naples, Dalmatia and the Ionian Islands, declared a blockade against all ports from which the English flag was excluded, and finally declared the sale of ships by a belligerent to a neutral illegal. These orders had a very serious effect upon the American carrying trade, and the irritation caused thereby was one of the causes of the outbreak of war in 1812.
Ordinance of 1784.
An Act providing for the Government of the North-West Territory, passed by the United States Congress in 1784.
Ordinance of 1787.
An Act of Congress making further provision for the government of the North-West Territory, and decreeing freedom from slavery and religious toleration.