Laws passed by the British Parliament in 1799 and 1800 in order to prevent the meeting (‘combining together’) of two or more people to obtain improvements in their working conditions. Flouting the law resulted in trial before a magistrate, and trade unions were thus effectively made illegal. The Combination Acts were repealed in 1824 as a result of the skilful campaign by Francis Place and Joseph Hume, and were followed by an outbreak of strikes. In 1825 another Act was passed that allowed trade union activity but limited the right to strike.