BLACK, a well known colour, supposed to be owing to the absence of light, most of the rays falling upon black substances being not reflected but absorbed by them. Concerning the peculiar structure of such bodies as fits them for appearing of this or that particular colour, see COLOUR and DYEING.
Black-Act; the statute of 9 Geo. I. c. 22. is commonly called the Waltham black act, because it was occasioned by the devastations committed near Waltham in Essex, by persons in disguise, or with their faces blacked. By this statute it is enacted, that persons hunting armed and disguised, and killing or stealing deer, or robbing warrens, or stealing fish out of any river, &c. or any persons unlawfully hunting in his majesty's forests, &c. or breaking down the head of any fish-pond, or killing, &c. of cattle, or cutting down trees, or setting fire to house, barn, or wood, or shooting at any person, or sending letters either anonymous or signed with a fictitious name demanding money, &c. or rescuing such offenders, are guilty of felony, without benefit of clergy. This act is made perpetual by 31 Geo. II. c. 42.