Home / Bizarre Laws / The Caps Act 1571
The Caps Act 1571
In Elizabethan England, you were required to wear a wool cap on Sundays and holidays.
- Status
- Repealed in 1597
- Penalty
- 3s. 4d. for each day of not wearing one
What it said
The Caps Act 1571 required everyone over the age of six to wear a cap of wool, made and finished in England, on Sundays and holidays. Travelers were excused, and so were maids, ladies, gentlewomen, nobles and landed gentlemen above a certain income. The fine was 3s. 4d. for every day you went without.
Why
It was about trade, not fashion. The law is generally described as a measure to support the English wool and cap-making trade, which is why the cap had to be English-made.
What happened to it
It was repealed in 1597 by the Continuance, etc. of Laws Act 1597, reportedly because it was unworkable. This is one of the weaker-sourced pages on the site, since a lot of the available material leans on the same secondary summaries. We have checked it against the Wikipedia article on the Act and the 1571 act list, plus the V&A’s catalogue record for a surviving cap, and we have kept the claims to what those agree on.
Curious what else daily life under Elizabeth I involved? The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England affiliate link by Ian Mortimer is a good place to start. Prefer a library copy? Try Open Library.