Work on the Statutes Project in the last three months has mainly consisted of running bash scripts on the OCR of Pickering’s Statutes At Large, to correct the more obvious errors. It’s slowly getting into easonable shape. You can find the latest plain text on the Statutes Github repository.
More tables of acts have been added: they now run from 1716 to 1736, with some others up to 1760. The aim is to have a complete set covering the reigns of Georges one and two by autumn. Then some text mining can begin. Again, find them on Github.
Various individual acts have been added to this website, including the Licensing Act of 1737, the Irish Dependency Act, it’s repeal and a clarification of the repeal. Plus the Equal Franchise Act of 1928, to accompany the recent election and its surrounding ballyhoo.
Also added is 1661 Tumultuous petitioning act, taken from the Ruffhead edition of the Statutes at Large, as it does not appear in the Danby Pickering series I have been concentrating on. Consequently, it looks a little different, as the two versions have different standards and protocols.
On the agenda for the next couple of months: more automatic OCR correction, and more tables.