Editing Stocks (section)

==Form and applications==
[[File:Men in Bramhall stocks 1900.jpg|thumb|Village stocks in [[Bramhall]], England.]]
[[File:Millerd1728dhighcross.jpg|thumb|upright|The south prospect of the High Cross in Bristol (1728)]]

The stocks, [[pillory]], and pranger each consist of large wooden boards with hinges; however, the stocks are distinguished by their restraint of the feet.

The stocks consist of placing boards around the ankles and wrists, whereas with the pillory, the boards are fixed to a pole and placed around the arms and neck, forcing the punished to stand.

Victims may be insulted, kicked, tickled, spat on, or subjected to other inhumane acts. In the Bible, the treatment of [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] and [[Silas]], disciples of Jesus, was detailed in the [[Acts of the Apostles]]: "Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks."<ref>Bible, Acts 16:24. This most likely occurred around the year 57.</ref> The [[Old Testament]]'s [[book of Job]] also describes the stocks, referring to God:

<blockquote>He puts my feet in the stocks, he watches all my paths.<ref>Job 13:27. Biblical scholars are unable to agree on when Job lived. But, it is most likely that he lived somewhere between 2350 and 1400 B.C. {{cite web |url=http://amazingbibletimeline.com/bible_questions/job-bible-timeline/ |title=When is Job on the Bible Timeline? |access-date=2014-11-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20141202162622/http://amazingbibletimeline.com/bible_questions/job-bible-timeline/ |archive-date=2014-12-02}}</ref></blockquote>

The stocks were employed by civil and military authorities from [[medieval]] to [[early modern history|early modern]] times including Colonial America. Public punishment in the stocks was a common occurrence from around 1500 until at least 1748.<ref>Earle, Alice Morse. "Curious Punishments of Bygone Days," (1896), available in digitized form through the Gutenberg project. [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/34005/34005-h/34005-h.htm#Page_29]; {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924215451/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/34005/34005-h/34005-h.htm|date=2015-09-24}}</ref> The stocks were especially popular among the early American [[Puritan]]s, who frequently employed the stocks for punishing the "lower class".<ref>Cox, James A., [http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/spring03/branks.cfm "Colonial Crimes and Punishments"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121115071157/http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/spring03/branks.cfm |date=2012-11-15}}, ''[[Colonial Williamsburg|CW]] Journal'', Spring 2003. Retrieved 2011-11-09.</ref>

In the American colonies, the stocks were also used, not only for punishment, but as a means of restraining individuals awaiting trial.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM5KGA_Pillory_Stocks_and_Whipping_Post_Colonial_Williamsburg_VA|title=Pillory, Stocks and Whipping Post, Colonial Williamsburg, VA - Punishment and Disciplinary Devices on Waymarking.com|website=www.waymarking.com|access-date=18 March 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171007233108/http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM5KGA_Pillory_Stocks_and_Whipping_Post_Colonial_Williamsburg_VA|archive-date=7 October 2017}}</ref>

The offender would be exposed to whatever treatment those who passed by could imagine. This could include tickling of the feet. As noted by the ''[[New York Times]]'' in an article dated November 13, 1887, "Gone, too, are the parish stocks, in which offenders against public morality formerly sat imprisoned, with their legs held fast beneath a heavy wooden yoke, while sundry small but fiendish boys and girls improved the occasion by deliberately pulling off their socks and shoes and tickling the soles of their defenseless feet."<ref>David Ker, "England in Old Times" (page 11 of ''New York Times'', November 13, 1887)</ref>

England's [[Statute of Labourers 1351]] ([[25 Edw. 3. Stat. 2]]) prescribed the use of the stocks for "unruly artisans" and required that every town and village erect a set of stocks.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/statutesatlarge62britgoog/page/n58/mode/2up 25 Edward III - Statute 1, Chapter 2]</ref> In towns and cities they were commonly placed in prominent central locations, such as the one before Bristol's High Cross. The 1351 act was repealed in England and Wales by the [[Statute Law Revision Act 1863]].<ref>[https://archive.org/details/statutesunitedk37britgoog/page/n640/mode/2up?view=theater Statute Law Revision Act 1863, 26 and 27 Victoria, Chapter 125]</ref> Sources indicate that the stocks were used in England for over 500 years and have never been formally abolished.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.medieval-life-and-times.info/medieval-torture-and-punishment/stocks.htm|title=Stocks|website=www.medieval-life-and-times.info|access-date=18 March 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171224102154/http://www.medieval-life-and-times.info/medieval-torture-and-punishment/stocks.htm|archive-date=24 December 2017}}</ref>

Their last recorded use in the United Kingdom was on 11 June 1872 at [[Newbury, Berkshire]], [[England]].<ref>Unknown, ''Sheffield Daily Telegraph'' (Friday 14 June 1872)</ref>

In Toronto, Ontario, Canada, court records from 1811 required the building of a set of stocks for punishment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.russianbooks.org/crime/cph2.htm|title=Crime & Punishment in Colonial Upper Canada Toronto|website=www.russianbooks.org|access-date=18 March 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923234727/http://www.russianbooks.org/crime/cph2.htm|archive-date=23 September 2017}}</ref>

The Spanish [[conquistadores]] introduced stocks as a popular form of punishment and humiliation against those who impeded the consolidation of their settlements in the New World. They were still used in the 19th century in [[Latin America]] to punish indigenous [[miners]] in many countries for rebelling against their bosses.