The bill that passed the Senate last week (even harsher legislation has been approved by the House) would hurt many people, would kill some and would help no one.

Increasingly harsh anti-polygamy legislation in the US led some Mormons to emigrate to Canada and Mexico.

The measures against trafficking of women focus on harsher criminal legislation and punishments, and improving international police cooperation.

The bills follow the publication last week of other harsh legislation introducing stricter controls and harsher penalties for illegal squatting.

In the East, however, progressively harsher legislation was devised.

Partly triggered by Catholics' disillusionment with the new king, the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 led to a new wave of anti-Catholicism and even harsher legislation.

This helped support the case to pass harsher legislation against Catholicism in Britain.

It began four years ago with a fusillade of harsh legislation.

There were experiments with steam buses in the 1830s, but harsh legislation in 1861 virtually eliminated mechanically propelled road transport from Britain until the law was changed in 1896.

The movement, some organizers say, may have blunted some of the harsher legislation that had been under consideration in Congress.