title: Tort

text: As a result of the structure of Japan's tort system, the country experiences a significantly lower litigation rate than other jurisdictions. In a 1990 article, Takao Tanase posited that the structure of Japan's civil court system and its tort jurisprudence account for its low litigation rate, rather than any fundamental difference in culture between Japan and other countries. Indeed; present literature finds that, although Japanese jurists take a narrow view of tort law as solely serving to compensate plaintiffs for proven damages, the general Japanese public views punishment and deterrence as being just as desirable in civil litigation as the public in other countries. In Japan in 1986, fewer than 1% of automobile accidents involving death or an injury resulted in litigation, compared to 21.5% in the United States, a difference Tanase argues can be attributed to the availability of non-litigious methods of assessing fault, advising victims, determining compensation, and ensuring payment. Non-litigious dispute resolution mechanisms, mediation services, consultation centres operated by governments, the bar association, and insurance companies. The Japanese judiciary also works hard at developing clear, detailed rules that guarantee virtually automatic, predictable, moderate compensation for most accident victims. This contrasts with the tort system in common law jurisdictions, where the legal rules concerning both liability and general damages (i.e. non-economic loss) are stated in general terms, leaving a great deal to the judgment of constantly rotating lay juries—which in turn makes courtroom outcomes variable and difficult to predict. The result was a system that is vastly more efficient and reliable in delivering compensation than in common law jurisdictions, albeit without punitive or exemplary damages. Tanase estimated that legal fees comprised only 2% of the total compensation paid to injured persons. In the United States in the late 1980s, according to two big studies of motor vehicle accident tort claims (not just lawsuits), payments to lawyers equaled 47% of the total personal injury benefits paid by insurers. This expense drives up the cost of insurance to the point that huge numbers of drivers are uninsured or under-insured, which means that victims of their negligent driving will get little or nothing from the tort system.


title: Tort

text: North Korea's approach to tort liability is relatively unique in the 21st century since, as a result of its Juche ideology and centralised planned economy, its legal system puts little emphasis on civil liability between private citizens; instead, it views correcting damages caused by tortious acts as the prerogative of the state through its economic intervention and criminal penalties. Nevertheless, the Law on the Compensation of Damages adopted on 22 August 2001 provides for tort liability, including vicarious liability on the part of principals for the actions of agents, employers for the actions of employees, parents or guardians for the actions of children, and owners for the actions of pets or other animals under their control. North Korean tort law also recognises capacity as an important factor in determining whether or not someone may be held liable for their own actions.


title: Tort

text: The Philippines is a mixed law jurisdiction, shaped primarily by Spanish civil law and American common law as codified in the Philippine Civil Code. For the most part, the equivalent of tort law (insofar as it concerns negligence and product liability) in the Philippines is the law of quasi-delict. Article 2176 of the civil code provides that, in the absence of a contractual or quasi-contractual relationship, a person who "by act or omission causes damage to another" by way of fault or negligence is "obliged to pay for the damage done". Article 1174 (which is made applicable by article 2178) provides that an individual is generally exempt from liability if the events giving rise to the damage were unforeseeable or inevitable.


title: Tort

text: The Philippine law of quasi-delict is largely a codification of common law principles and doctrines. For instance, the common law doctrine of comparative negligence is codified in article 2179, providing for compensation to be reduced in proportion with the plaintiff's own fault for the damage they incurred. Similarly, the duty of care established in Donoghue v Stevenson is codified by article 2187 with regard to "manufacturers and processors of foodstuffs, drinks, toilet articles and similar goods", and is extended by article 2189 to provincial and local governments responsible for defective public amenities. Similarly, article 2190 establishes liability for the owners of defective buildings or structures that cause damage. Additionally, case law in the Philippines recognises the common law doctrine of res ipsa loquitur.


title: Tort

text: Outside the law of quasi-delicts, the civil code also codifies other provisions of tort law in Chapter 2 of the Preliminary Title under the heading "Human Relations". This chapter provides that "every person must, in the exercise of his rights and in the performance of his duties, act with justice, give everyone his due, and observe honesty and good faith" and that "every person who, contrary to law, wilfully or negligently causes damage to another, shall indemnify the latter for the same". While negligence and product liability are primarily covered by the law of quasi-delicts, this chapter covers intentional wrongs in article 21, which provides that "any person who wilfully causes loss or injury to another in manner that is contrary to morals, good customs or public policy shall compensate the latter for the damage". This chapter makes several other provisions in the realm of tortious liability, including: liability for defamation (article 33); violations of another person's privacy, causing humiliation on account of religion or economic status, causing another person to be alienated from their friends (article 26); benefitting from (without causing) damage to another person's property (article 23).


title: Tort

text: Damages under Philippine law are provided for in the Philippine Civil Code, which establishes harmonised rules for damages arising under any kind of obligation.In addition to pecuniary or economic damages, the code provides for two categories of non-economic damages with regard to quasi-delicts. Firstly, moral damages (i.e. damages for "physical suffering, mental anguish, fright, serious anxiety, besmirched reputation, wounded feelings, moral shock, social humiliation, and similar injury" resulting from a quasi-delict) may be awarded under article 2217. Secondly, exemplary damages may be awarded under article 2231 if there was "gross negligence" on the part of the defendant. In special cases, a court may choose to award nominal damages under article 2221 if it finds that, although it is unnecessary to compensate the plaintiff, it is nevertheless desirable to "vindicate" or "recognise" the violation of their right. Additionally, where a court cannot determine the value of damage incurred with sufficient certainty to award economic damages, it may instead award "temperate or moderate damages" under article 2224, which are higher than purely nominal damages but less than compensatory economic damages.


title: Tort

text: Private law in the Canadian province of Québec at the time of its annexation by the British Empire was originally derived from pre-Napoleonic French law but was eventually codified in the Civil Code of Lower Canada and later the present Code Civil du Québec (CCQ). While tort law in Canada's other provinces follows common law jurisprudence under which distinct nominate torts are recognised by precedent or statute, CCQ provides for a general and open-ended concept of "civil liability" or "la responsabilité civile" in article 1457:


title: Tort

text: The CCQ provides for and defines the scope of civil liability for damages caused by inanimate objects. Article 1465 makes the general provision that the custodian of a thing or object ("bien") is liable for any damage caused by it, while article 1466 provides that the owner of an animal is liable for damage or injury caused by it even if it had escaped from their custody at the time of the incident. Similarly, article 1467 imposes liability for damages caused by the ruin of an immovable (i.e. a building or other fixed structure) upon its owner even if construction defects are the ultimate cause of the ruin. Strict liability is imposed upon the manufacturers of moveable things (i.e. product liability) by article 1468 for injuries caused by safety defects. An individual is exempt from civil liability in cases of force majeure (article 1470), harm caused in the process of assisting or rescuing another (article 1471), and in certain other cases prescribed by law.


title: Tort

text: Thai tort law, as with contemporary Thai law in general, is a codified admixture of principles derived from common law and civil law systems. Title V of the Civil and Commercial Code of Thailand (CCT) establishes the principles of Thai tort law, with section 420 enshrining the basic doctrine that:


title: Tort

text: This is analogous to Article 709 of the Japanese Civil Code which establishes three criteria for tort liability: negligence or intentionality on the part of the tortfeasor, infringement of some legally recognised right and a causal link between the tortfeasor's action and the infringement in question.


title: Tort

text: The CCT comprehensively outlines rules for tort liability and the burden of proof. In general, section 429 provides the default rule that everyone is liable for their own tortious acts and that the guardians of a child or other person lacking capacity are jointly liable. While the burden of proof under Thai tort law is on the plaintiff by default, section 422 of the CCT provides that an individual who infringes "a statutory provision intended for the protection of others" is presumed to be liable. Sections 425 through 327 provide for vicarious liability in employer-employee and principal-agent relationships while providing that an employer or principal found vicariously liable may seek compensation from the employee or agent, respectively. Similarly, section 433 provides that the owner or caretaker of an animal is liable for any tortious conduct it may commit, with the caveat that the owner or caretaker may seek compensation for such liability from anyone who "wrongfully excited or provoked the animal" or from "the owner of another animal" which did so. Sections 434 to 436 provide special rules for liability for the owners and possessors/occupiers (e.g. tenants/lessees) of defective buildings and structures, whereby: 1) the possessor is liable for damage caused by defective construction or poor maintenance except if they exercised proper care to prevent the damage, 2) if the possessor exercised proper care, the owner is liable, 3) the occupier of a building is liable for damage caused by items that fall from the building, and 4) an individual who is at risk of damage or injury from such a building may require its owner or possessor to take preventive action. Certain provisions of the CCT also provide for strict liability with regard to specific categories of tortious conduct; for example, section 437 provides for strict liability for an individual in charge of a vehicle or conveyance which causes injury and for individuals possessing items which are "dangerous by nature" or "on account of their mechanical action", except where the individual demonstrates that the injury resulted from force majeure. Additionally, the CCT provides that self-defence, the aversion of a common danger, the use of reasonable and necessary force, and (where the thing or person damaged was the source of such danger) the aversion of an individual danger are defences against tort claims.


title: Tort

text: The rules regarding compensation under Thai tort law are prescribed by the CCT. In general, section 438 provides that courts may award such compensation as appears necessary with regard to "the circumstances and gravity of the act"; and that, in addition to damages, "compensation may include restitution" of any property of which the plaintiff has been deprived or which has decreased in value as a result of the tortious act. Per section 439, an individual who defaults on an obligation to return property they had wrongly deprived another individual of is liable to compensate the other individual for "the accidental destruction" or "accidental impossibility of returning" the property in question, except where such destruction or impossibility would have occurred regardless of the wrongful deprivation. Section 440 provides that compensation may additionally include interest for lost time. Where the tortious act contributed to an individual's death, compensation must include funerary expenses; and, where the act resulted in damage to an individual's health or body, compensation must include reimbursement of medical expenses and lost wages, and may additionally include non-pecuniary damages. Where the tortious act involves harm to an individual's reputation, the court may order "proper measures to be taken" to restore the individual's reputation either together with or in lieu of damages.


title: Tort

text: The legal framework of the European Union consists of the treaties, regulations, directives and case law. Specifically in the area of tort law, a number of rules can be found in tort law directives. Examples of directives include the Product Liability Directive and the Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices. A directives can be either a maximum harmonisation directives, which means member states are not allowed to deviate from it, or a minimum harmonisation directive, which only provide a general framework. Article 288 of the TFEU, however, concedes that a directive 'shall be binding as to the result to be achieved, upon each member State to which it is addressed, but shall leave to national authorities the choice of form and methods'. Liability can also be based on the violation of community provisions. Article 288 of the TFEU explicitly regulates the liability of Community Institutions for damage caused by the breach of Union Law. This article does not give precise liability rules but refers to the general principles common to the laws of Member States. It does not mean that 'the Community judicature must search for a solution favoured by a majority of Member States …. It simply means that the Community judicature must look to the national systems for inspiration in devising a regime of non-contractual liability adapted to the specific circumstances of the Community.'


title: Tort

text: The development of a general principle of liability for breach of Union Law is also in the Francovich case law of the ECJ. In this 1991 decision, the ECJ acknowledged liability of the Member States towards individuals for violation of Union law as being inherent in the system of the Treaty and being necessary for the effectiveness of Community of law. On the basis of the general principles to which Article 288 refers, the ECJ developed three requirements for liability:


title: Tort

text: The fulfilment of these requirements is sufficient for a right to compensation, which is directly based in Union Law.


title: Tort

text: Within the European Union and neighbouring countries, the European Group on Tort Law promotes the harmonisation of tort law within the region. The group meets regularly to discuss fundamental issues of tort law liability as well as recent developments and the future directions of the law of tort. The Group has founded the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law in Vienna. The Group has drafted a collection of Principles of European Tort Law similar to the Principles of European Contract Law drafted by the European Contract Law Commission. The "Principles of European Tort Law" are a compilation of guidelines by the European Group on Tort Law aiming at the harmonisation of European tort law. They are not intended to serve as a model code, even though their wording may resemble statutory texts. At least with respect to form and structure, they resemble an American "Restatement of the Law". The "Principles of European Tort Law" are intended to serve as a common framework for the further development of national tort laws and also of singular European legislation, which could avoid a further drifting-apart of piecemeal rule-making both on a national and on the European level.


title: Tort

text: In certain instances, different jurisdictions' law may apply to a tort, in which case rules have developed for which law to apply. In common law jurisdictions, the traditional approach to determine which jurisdiction's tort law is applicable is the "proper law" test. When the jurisdiction is in dispute, one or more state laws will be relevant to the decision-making process. If the laws are the same, this will cause no problems, but if there are substantive differences, the choice of which law to apply will produce a different judgment. Each state, therefore, produces a set of rules to guide the choice of law, and one of the most significant rules is that the law to be applied in any given situation will be the "proper law". This is the law which seems to have the closest and most real connection to the facts of the case, and so has the best claim to be applied. The general rule is that the "proper law" is the primary system of law that governs most aspects of the factual situation giving rise to the dispute. This does not imply that all the aspects of the factual circumstances are necessarily governed by the same system of law, but there is a strong presumption that this will be the case (see characterisation). Traditionally, common law jurisdictions such as England required "double actionability" for torts, effectively requiring the conduct to be considered tortious both in England and in the jurisdiction whose law is to apply under the proper law rule.


title: Tort

text: Over time, the proper law test has been refined or replaced in many common law jurisdictions either with reference to all instances of conflict of laws or specifically in the case of tort law. In English law, with the exception of defamation which continues to apply the "proper law" test, s10 Private International Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1995 abolishes the "double actionability" test, and s11 applies the "lex loci delicti" rule subject to an exception under s12 derived from "Boys v Chaplin" [1971] AC 356 and "Red Sea Insurance Co Ltd v Bouygues SA" [1995] 1 AC 190. Thus, it is no longer necessary for the case to be based on a tort actionable in England. The English courts must apply wider international tests and respect any remedies available under the "Applicable Law" or "lex causae" including any rules on who may claim (e.g. whether a personal representative may claim for a fatal accident) and who the relevant defendant may be (i.e. the English court would have to apply the applicable law's rules on vicarious liability or the identity of an "occupier" of land). The first step is for the court to decide where the tort occurred, which may be complicated if relevant events took place in more than one state. s11(2) distinguishes between:


title: Tort

text: In exceptional circumstances, the "lex loci delicti" rule is displaced in favour of another law, if the "factors relating to the parties" or "any of the events which constitute the tort" show that this other law will be "substantially" more appropriate.


title: Tort

text: Within the European Union, there have been efforts to harmonise conflict of tort laws rules between member states. Under Article 3 of the proposed "Rome II Regulation" on the "Law Applicable to Non-Contractual Obligations" (22 July 2003), there would be a general presumption that the "lex loci delicti" will apply subject to either: an exception in Paragraph 2 for the application of the law to any common habitual residence between the parties, or an exception in Paragraph 3 for cases in which "the non-contractual obligation is manifestly more closely connected with another country. . ." the so-called "proximity criterion". In effect, where other specific rules of the regulation are not applied, these general rules replicate the effect of the English rules outlined above. In product liability cases, Article 4 selects the law of the injured party's habitual residence if the product was marketed there with the consent of the defendant. The rationale is that if a defendant knows of, and is benefiting from, sales in the plaintiff's state, the choice of that state's law is reasonable. Article 6 specifies the "lex fori" for actions arising out of breach of privacy or defamation, a rule that may increase the risk of forum shopping. Whether the plaintiff has any right of reply in a defamation case will be determined under the law of the state where the broadcaster or publisher is established. In cases where contract and tort issues overlap, Article 9 states that the same law should govern both sets of issues, thus applying contractual choice of law clauses to related tort litigation.


title: Tort

text: In the United States, where each state constitutes a distinct jurisdiction for the purposes of tort law, different jurisdictions take different approaches to conflict of laws, and rules regarding conflict of tort laws apply equally to conflicts between the tort laws of two American states and conflicts between an American state and a foreign jurisdiction. Until the 20th century, traditional choice of law rules were based on the principle that legal rights vest automatically at legally significant and ascertainable times and places. For example, a dispute regarding property would be decided by the law of the place the property was located. Disputes in tort would be decided by the place where the injury occurred. During the first half of the 20th century, the traditional conflict of laws approach came under criticism from some members of the American legal community who saw it as rigid and arbitrary; the traditional method sometimes forced the application of the laws of a state with no connection to either party, except that a tort or contract claim arose between the parties in that state. This period of intellectual ferment (which coincided with the rise of the legal realism movement) introduced a number of innovative approaches to American choice of laws jurisprudence:


title: Tort

text: Scholars and lawyers have identified conflicting aims for the law of tort, to some extent reflected in the different types of damages awarded by the courts: compensatory, aggravated, and punitive. British scholar Glanville Williams notes four possible bases on which different torts rested: appeasement, justice, deterrence, and compensation.


title: Tort

text: William M. Landes, Richard A. Posner, and Steven Shavell have initiated a line of research in the law and economics literature that is focused on identifying the effects of tort law on people's behavior. These studies often make use of concepts that were developed in the field of game theory. Law and economic scholars characterise law in terms of incentives and deterrence, and identified the aim of tort as being the efficient distribution of risk. Ronald Coase, a principal proponent, argued in "The Problem of Social Cost" (1960) that the aim of tort law, when transaction costs are high, should be to reflect as closely as possible the allocation of risk and liability at which private parties arrive when transaction costs are low.


title: Tort

text: Since the mid-to-late 20th century, calls for reform of tort law have come from various perspectives. Some calls for reform stress the difficulties encountered by potential claimants. For example, because not all people who have accidents can find solvent defendants from which to recover damages in the courts, P. S. Atiyah has called the situation a "damages lottery". Consequently, in New Zealand, the government in the 1960s established a no-fault system of state compensation for accidents. In the 1970s, Australia and the United Kingdom drew up proposals for similar no-fault schemes but they were later abandoned.


title: Tort

text: A wide variety of tort reforms have been implemented or proposed in different jurisdictions, each attempting to address a particular deficiency perceived in the system of tort law. Generally, these can be broken down into two categories: reforms limiting damages recoverable by a plaintiff and procedural reforms limiting the ability of plaintiffs to file lawsuits. A large portion of tort reforms seek to limit the damages a plaintiff can be awarded. The rationale underlying these reforms is that, by limiting the profitability of tort lawsuits to plaintiffs, they will reduce the incentive to file frivolous lawsuits. There are several varieties of reforms to the system of damages:


title: Tort

text: In addition to reforms aimed at limiting plaintiff's abilities to claim particular categories of compensation, tort reform measures aimed at reducing the prevalence of lawsuits for negligence, the most commonly alleged tort, aim to revise the doctrine of comparative negligence. Comparative negligence is a partial legal defence that reduces the amount of damages that a plaintiff can recover in a negligence-based claim based upon the degree to which the plaintiff's own negligence contributed to cause the injury, which progressively displaced the erstwhile traditional doctrine of contributory negligence over the twentieth century which had precluded any damages being awarded in cases in which the plaintiff was deemed to be even partially at fault. Under standard or "pure" comparative negligence, a plaintiff can seek damages regardless of the portion of liability they bear, even where they are found to be more at fault than the respondent. As a tort reform measure aimed at combatting the perceived unfairness of allowing a party to seek extra-contractual damages where they are primarily at fault, many common law jurisdictions have adopted a "modified" doctrine of comparative negligence in which a party may only recover damages if it bears less than half the liability or if the other party bears more than half the liability. More radically, the American states of Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia continue to use contributory negligence, thus precluding a party who is even partly at fault from recovering damages for negligence.


title: Tort

text: The abolition of the collateral source rule (i.e. the principle that a respondent in a tort action cannot use the fact that a plaintiff has already been compensated as evidence) is another common proposal of tort reform advocates in jurisdictions where the rule exists. They argue that if the plaintiff's injuries and damages have already been compensated, it is unfair and duplicative to allow an award of damages against the respondent.As a result, numerous states have altered or partially abrogated the rule by statute.


title: Tort

text: Regulation of contingent fees; as well as rules regarding barratry, champerty and maintenance, or litigation funding more generally; is another aspect of procedural policies and reforms designed to reduce the number of cases filed in civil court.


title: Tort

text: In common law jurisdictions, which typically rely on judicial precedent for the creation and development of new torts, the creation of statutory torts is a means through which legislatures reform and modify tort law. A statutory tort is like any other, in that it imposes duties on private or public parties, however, they are created by the legislature, not the courts. For example, the European Union's "Product Liability Directive" imposes strict liability for defective products that harm people; such strict liability is not uncommon although not necessarily statutory. As another example, in England common law liability of a landowner to guests or trespassers was replaced by the Occupiers' Liability Act 1957; a similar situation occurred in the U.S. State of California in which a judicial common law rule established in "Rowland v. Christian" was amended through a 1985 statute. Statutory torts also spread across workplace health and safety laws and health and safety in food. In some cases, federal or state statutes may preempt tort actions, which is particularly discussed in terms of the U.S. FDA Preemption; although actions in the United States for medical devices are preempted due to "Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc." (2008), actions for medical drugs are not due to "Wyeth v. Levine" (2009).


title: Tort

text: Tort law is closely related to other areas of law, particularly contract and criminal law. On one hand, tort and contract law are typically regarded as the two primary fields within the law of obligations, with tort forming a catch-all category encompassing civil wrongs that arise by operation of law in contrast to breach of contract, which encompasses violations of obligations that are freely assumed by parties to a contract. On the other hand, both tort and criminal law aim to address wrongful conduct and often overlap such that conduct which gives rise to a claim under tort law may also give rise to a prosecution under criminal law.


title: Tort

text: Tort is sometimes viewed as the causes of action which are not defined in other areas such as contract or fiduciary law. However, tort and contract law are similar in that both involve a breach of duties, and in modern law these duties have blurred and it may not be clear whether an action "sounds in tort or contract"; if both apply and different standards apply for each (such as a statute of limitations), courts will determine which is the "gravamen" (the most applicable). Circumstances such as those involving professional negligence may involve both torts and contracts. The choice may affect time limits or damages, particularly given that damages are typically relatively limited in contract cases while in tort cases noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering may be awarded. Punitive damages are relatively uncommon in contractual cases versus tort cases. However, compensation for defective but not unsafe products is typically available only through contractual actions through the law of warranty.


title: Tort

text: In the United Kingdom, plaintiffs in professional negligence cases have some degree of choice in which law while in commercial transactions contract law applies; in unusual cases, intangible losses have been awarded in contract law cases.


title: Tort

text: The English case "Hadley v. Baxendale" (1854), which was adopted in the United States, split contract and tort damages by foreseeability of the damages when the contract was made. In the United States, the pure economic loss rule was adopted to further prevent negligence lawsuits in breach of contract cases. This "economic loss rule" was adopted by the Supreme Court of the United States "East River Steamship Corp V Transamerica Delaval Inc." (1986) and expanded across the country in a non-uniform manner, leading to confusion. Among other examples, the tort of insurance bad faith arises out of a contractual relationship, and "collateral torts" such as wrongful dismissal involving possible overlap with labour law contracts.


title: Tort

text: There is some overlap between criminal law and tort. For example, in English law an assault is both a crime and a tort (a form of trespass to the person). A tort allows a person to obtain a remedy that serves their own purposes (for example, the payment of damages or the obtaining of injunctive relief). Criminal actions on the other hand are pursued not to obtain remedies to assist a personalthough often criminal courts do have the power to grant such remediesbut to remove their liberty on the state's behalf. This explains why incarceration is usually available as a penalty for serious crimes, but not usually for torts. In early common law, the distinction between crime and tort was not distinct.


title: Tort

text: The more severe penalties available in criminal law also mean that it requires a higher burden of proof to be discharged than the related tort. As with other areas of private law, the burden of proof required in tort, known either as the 'balance of probabilities' in English common law or 'preponderance of evidence' in American law, is lower than the higher standard of 'beyond a reasonable doubt'. Sometimes a claimant may prevail in a tort case even if the defendant who allegedly caused harm were acquitted in an earlier criminal trial. For example, O. J. Simpson was acquitted in the criminal court of murder but later found liable for the tort of wrongful death.


title: Tort

text: Both tort law and criminal law may impose liability where there is intentional action, reckless behaviour, carelessness, product liability without negligence (in the US and the EU), innocence, provided there is strict liability, battery, assault, and/or trespass.


title: Tort

text: Under Indian tort law and in other jurisdictions which adopted a version of the 1860 Indian Penal Code, the torts of assault and battery are interpreted with reference to equivalent criminal offences under the Indian Penal Code.


title: Serfdom

text: Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which developed during the Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages in Europe and lasted in some countries until the mid-19th century.


title: Serfdom

text: Unlike slaves, serfs could not be bought, sold, or traded individually though they could, depending on the area, be sold together with land. The kholops in Russia, by contrast, could be traded like regular slaves, could be abused with no rights over their own bodies, could not leave the land they were bound to, and could marry only with their lord's permission. Serfs who occupied a plot of land were required to work for the lord of the manor who owned that land. In return, they were entitled to protection, justice, and the right to cultivate certain fields within the manor to maintain their own subsistence. Serfs were often required not only to work on the lord's fields, but also in his mines and forests and to labour to maintain roads. The manor formed the basic unit of feudal society, and the lord of the manor and the villeins, and to a certain extent the serfs, were bound legally: by taxation in the case of the former, and economically and socially in the latter.


title: Serfdom

text: The decline of serfdom in Western Europe has sometimes been attributed to the widespread plague epidemic of the Black Death, which reached Europe in 1347 and caused massive fatalities, disrupting society. Conversely, serfdom grew stronger in Central and Eastern Europe, where it had previously been less common (this phenomenon was known as "later serfdom").


title: Serfdom

text: In Eastern Europe, the institution persisted until the mid-19th century. In the Austrian Empire, serfdom was abolished by the 1781 Serfdom Patent; corvées continued to exist until 1848. Serfdom was abolished in Russia in 1861. Prussia declared serfdom unacceptable in its General State Laws for the Prussian States in 1792 and finally abolished it in October 1807, in the wake of the Prussian Reform Movement. In Finland, Norway, and Sweden, feudalism was never fully established, and serfdom did not exist; in Denmark, serfdom-like institutions did exist in both "s" (the "stavnsbånd", from 1733 to 1788) and its vassal Iceland (the more restrictive "vistarband", from 1490 until 1894).


title: Serfdom

text: According to medievalist historian Joseph R. Strayer, the concept of feudalism can also be applied to the societies of ancient Persia, ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt (Sixth to Twelfth dynasty), Islamic-ruled Northern and Central India, China (Zhou dynasty and end of Han dynasty) and Japan during the Shogunate. Wu Ta-k'un argued that the Shang-Zhou fengjian were kinship estates, quite distinct from feudalism. James Lee and Cameron Campbell describe the Chinese Qing dynasty (1644–1912) as also maintaining a form of serfdom.


title: Serfdom

text: Melvyn Goldstein described Tibet as having had serfdom until 1959, but whether or not the Tibetan form of peasant tenancy that qualified as serfdom was widespread is contested by other scholars. Bhutan is described by Tashi Wangchuk, a Bhutanese civil servant, as having officially abolished serfdom by 1959, but he believes that less than or about 10% of poor peasants were in copyhold situations.


title: Serfdom

text: The United Nations 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery also prohibits serfdom as a practice similar to slavery.


title: Serfdom

text: Social institutions similar to serfdom were known in ancient times. The status of the helots in the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta resembled that of the medieval serfs. By the 3rd century AD, the Roman Empire faced a labour shortage. Large Roman landowners increasingly relied on Roman freemen, acting as tenant farmers, instead of slaves to provide labour.


title: Serfdom

text: These tenant farmers, eventually known as "coloni", saw their condition steadily erode. Because the tax system implemented by Diocletian assessed taxes based on both land and the inhabitants of that land, it became administratively inconvenient for peasants to leave the land where they were counted in the census.


title: Serfdom

text: Medieval serfdom really began with the breakup of the Carolingian Empire around the 10th century. During this period, powerful feudal lords encouraged the establishment of serfdom as a source of agricultural labour. Serfdom, indeed, was an institution that reflected a fairly common practice whereby great landlords were assured that others worked to feed them and were held down, legally and economically, while doing so.


title: Serfdom

text: This arrangement provided most of the agricultural labour throughout the Middle Ages. Slavery persisted right through the Middle Ages, but it was rare.


title: Serfdom

text: In the later Middle Ages serfdom began to disappear west of the Rhine even as it spread through eastern Europe. Serfdom reached Eastern Europe centuries later than Western Europeit became dominant around the 15th century. In many of these countries serfdom was abolished during the Napoleonic invasions of the early 19th century, though in some it persisted until mid- or late- 19th century.


title: Serfdom

text: The word "serf" originated from the Middle French and was derived from the Latin ("slave"). In Late Antiquity and most of the Middle Ages, what are now called serfs were usually designated in Latin as . As slavery gradually disappeared and the legal status of became nearly identical to that of the , the term changed meaning into the modern concept of "serf". The word "serf" is first recorded in English in the late 15th century, and came to its current definition in the 17th century. "Serfdom" was coined in 1850.


title: Serfdom

text: Serfs had a specific place in feudal society, as did barons and knights: in return for protection, a serf would reside upon and work a parcel of land within the manor of his lord. Thus, the manorial system exhibited a degree of reciprocity.


title: Serfdom

text: One rationale held that serfs and freemen "worked for all" while a knight or baron "fought for all" and a churchman "prayed for all"; thus everyone had a place. The serf was the worst fed and rewarded however, although unlike slaves had certain rights in land and property.


title: Serfdom

text: A lord of the manor could not sell his serfs as a Roman might sell his slaves. On the other hand, if he chose to dispose of a parcel of land, the serfs associated with that land stayed with it to serve their new lord; simply speaking, they were implicitly sold in mass and as a part of a lot. This unified system preserved for the lord long-acquired knowledge of practices suited to the land. Further, a serf could not abandon his lands without permission, nor did he possess a saleable title in them.


title: Serfdom

text: A freeman became a serf usually through force or necessity. Sometimes the greater physical and legal force of a local magnate intimidated freeholders or allodial owners into dependency. Often a few years of crop failure, a war, or brigandage might leave a person unable to make his own way. In such a case, he could strike a bargain with a lord of a manor. In exchange for gaining protection, his service was required: in labour, produce, or cash, or a combination of all. These bargains became formalised in a ceremony known as "bondage", in which a serf placed his head in the lord's hands, akin to the ceremony of homage where a vassal placed his hands between those of his overlord. These oaths bound the lord and his new serf in a feudal contract and defined the terms of their agreement. Often these bargains were severe.


title: Serfdom

text: To become a serf was a commitment that encompassed all aspects of the serf's life. The children born to serfs inherited their status, and were considered born into serfdom. By taking on the duties of serfdom, people bound themselves and their progeny.


title: Serfdom

text: The social class of the peasantry can be differentiated into smaller categories. These distinctions were often less clear than suggested by their different names. Most often, there were two types of peasants:


title: Serfdom

text: Lower classes of peasants, known as cottars or bordars, generally comprising the younger sons of villeins; vagabonds; and slaves, made up the lower class of workers.


title: Serfdom

text: The system of the late Roman Empire can be considered the predecessor of Western European feudal serfdom.


title: Serfdom

text: Freemen, or free tenants held their land by one of a variety of contracts of feudal land-tenure and were essentially rent-paying tenant farmers who owed little or no service to the lord, and had a good degree of security of tenure and independence. In parts of 11th-century England freemen made up only 10% of the peasant population, and in most of the rest of Europe their numbers were also small.


title: Serfdom

text: Ministeriales were hereditary unfree knights tied to their lord, that formed the lowest rung of nobility in the Holy Roman Empire.


title: Serfdom

text: A villein (or "villain") represented the most common type of serf in the Middle Ages. Villeins had more rights and higher status than the lowest serf, but existed under a number of legal restrictions that differentiated them from freemen. Villeins generally rented small homes, with a patch of land. As part of the contract with the landlord, the lord of the manor, they were expected to spend some of their time working on the lord's fields. The requirement often was not greatly onerous, contrary to popular belief, and was often only seasonal, for example the duty to help at harvest-time. The rest of their time was spent farming their own land for their own profit. Villeins were tied to their lord's land and couldn't leave it without his permission. Their lord also often decided whom they could marry.


title: Serfdom

text: Like other types of serfs, villeins had to provide other services, possibly in addition to paying rent of money or produce. Villeins were somehow retained on their land and by unmentioned manners could not move away without their lord's consent and the acceptance of the lord to whose manor they proposed to migrate to. Villeins were generally able to hold their own property, unlike slaves. Villeinage, as opposed to other forms of serfdom, was most common in Continental European feudalism, where land ownership had developed from roots in Roman law.


title: Serfdom

text: A variety of kinds of villeinage existed in Europe in the Middle Ages. Half-villeins received only half as many strips of land for their own use and owed a full complement of labour to the lord, often forcing them to rent out their services to other serfs to make up for this hardship. Villeinage was not a purely uni-directional exploitative relationship. In the Middle Ages, land within a lord's manor provided sustenance and survival, and being a villein guaranteed access to land, and crops secure from theft by marauding robbers. Landlords, even where legally entitled to do so, rarely evicted villeins because of the value of their labour. Villeinage was much preferable to being a vagabond, a slave, or an unlanded labourer.


title: Serfdom

text: In many medieval countries, a villein could gain freedom by escaping from a manor to a city or borough and living there for more than a year; but this action involved the loss of land rights and agricultural livelihood, a prohibitive price unless the landlord was especially tyrannical or conditions in the village were unusually difficult.


title: Serfdom

text: In medieval England, two types of villeins existed–"villeins regardant" that were tied to land and "villeins in gross" that could be traded separately from land.


title: Serfdom

text: In England, the Domesday Book, of 1086, uses (bordar) and (cottar) as interchangeable terms, "cottar" deriving from the native Anglo-Saxon tongue whereas "bordar" derived from the French.


title: Serfdom

text: Status-wise, the bordar or cottar ranked below a serf in the social hierarchy of a manor, holding a cottage, garden and just enough land to feed a family. In England, at the time of the Domesday Survey, this would have comprised between about . Under an Elizabethan statute, the Erection of Cottages Act 1588, the cottage had to be built with at least of land. The later Enclosures Acts (1604 onwards) removed the cottars' right to any land: "before the Enclosures Act the cottager was a farm labourer with land and after the Enclosures Act the cottager was a farm labourer without land".


title: Serfdom

text: The bordars and cottars did not own their draught oxen or horses. The Domesday Book showed that England comprised 12% freeholders, 35% serfs or villeins, 30% cotters and bordars, and 9% slaves.


title: Serfdom

text: Kholops were the lowest class of serfs in the medieval and early modern Russia. They had status similar to slaves, and could be freely traded.


title: Serfdom

text: The last type of serf was the slave. Slaves had the fewest rights and benefits from the manor. They owned no tenancy in land, worked for the lord exclusively and survived on donations from the landlord. It was always in the interest of the lord to prove that a servile arrangement existed, as this provided him with greater rights to fees and taxes. The status of a man was a primary issue in determining a person's rights and obligations in many of the manorial court-cases of the period. Also, runaway slaves could be beaten if caught.


title: Serfdom

text: Serfdom was significantly more common than slavery throughout the feudal period. The villein was the most common type of serf in the Middle Ages. Villeins had more rights and status than those held as slaves, but were under a number of legal restrictions that differentiated them from the freeman. Within his constraints, a serf had some freedom. Though the common wisdom is that a serf owned “only his belly”—even his clothes were the property, in law, of his lord—a serf might still accumulate personal property and wealth, and some serfs became wealthier than their free neighbors, although this was rather an exception to the general rule. A well-to-do serf might even be able to buy his freedom.


title: Serfdom

text: The usual serf (not including slaves or cottars) paid his fees and taxes in the form of seasonally appropriate labour. Usually, a portion of the week was devoted to ploughing his lord's fields held in demesne, harvesting crops, digging ditches, repairing fences, and often working in the manor house. The remainder of the serf's time he spent tending his own fields, crops and animals in order to provide for his family. Most manorial work was segregated by gender during the regular times of the year. During the harvest, the whole family was expected to work the fields.


title: Serfdom

text: A major difficulty of a serf's life was that his work for his lord coincided with, and took precedence over, the work he had to perform on his own lands: when the lord's crops were ready to be harvested, so were his own. On the other hand, the serf of a benign lord could look forward to being well fed during his service; it was a lord without foresight who did not provide a substantial meal for his serfs during the harvest and planting times. In exchange for this work on the lord's demesne, the serfs had certain privileges and rights, including for example the right to gather deadwood – an essential source of fuel – from their lord's forests.


title: Serfdom

text: In addition to service, a serf was required to pay certain taxes and fees. Taxes were based on the assessed value of his lands and holdings. Fees were usually paid in the form of agricultural produce rather than cash. The best ration of wheat from the serf's harvest often went to the landlord. Generally hunting and trapping of wild game by the serfs on the lord's property was prohibited. On Easter Sunday the peasant family perhaps might owe an extra dozen eggs, and at Christmas, a goose was perhaps required, too. When a family member died, extra taxes were paid to the lord as a form of feudal relief to enable the heir to keep the right to till what land he had. Any young woman who wished to marry a serf outside of her manor was forced to pay a fee for the right to leave her lord, and in compensation for her lost labour.


title: Serfdom

text: Often there were arbitrary tests to judge the worthiness of their tax payments. A chicken, for example, might be required to be able to jump over a fence of a given height to be considered old enough or well enough to be valued for tax purposes. The restraints of serfdom on personal and economic choice were enforced through various forms of manorial customary law and the manorial administration and court baron.


title: Serfdom

text: It was also a matter of discussion whether serfs could be required by law in times of war or conflict to fight for their lord's land and property. In the case of their lord's defeat, their own fate might be uncertain, so the serf certainly had an interest in supporting his lord.


title: Serfdom

text: Within his constraints, a serf had some freedoms. Though the common wisdom is that a serf owned "only his belly"even his clothes were the property, in law, of his lorda serf might still accumulate personal property and wealth, and some serfs became wealthier than their free neighbours, although this happened rarely. A well-to-do serf might even be able to buy his freedom.


title: Serfdom

text: A serf could grow what crop he saw fit on his lands, although a serf's taxes often had to be paid in wheat. The surplus he would sell at market.


title: Serfdom

text: The landlord could not dispossess his serfs without legal cause and was supposed to protect them from the depredations of robbers or other lords, and he was expected to support them by charity in times of famine. Many such rights were enforceable by the serf in the manorial court.


title: Serfdom

text: Forms of serfdom varied greatly through time and regions. In some places, serfdom was merged with or exchanged for various forms of taxation.


title: Serfdom

text: The amount of labour required varied. In Poland, for example, it was commonly a few days per year per household in the 13th century, one day per week per household in the 14th century, four days per week per household in the 17th century, and six days per week per household in the 18th century. Early serfdom in Poland was mostly limited to the royal territories ("królewszczyzny").


title: Serfdom

text: "Per household" means that every dwelling had to give a worker for the required number of days. For example, in the 18th century, six people: a peasant, his wife, three children and a hired worker might be required to work for their lord one day a week, which would be counted as six days of labour.


title: Serfdom

text: Serfs served on occasion as soldiers in the event of conflict and could earn freedom or even ennoblement for valour in combat. Serfs could purchase their freedom, be manumitted by generous owners, or flee to towns or to newly settled land where few questions were asked. Laws varied from country to country: in England a serf who made his way to a chartered town (i.e. a borough) and evaded recapture for a year and a day obtained his freedom and became a burgher of the town.


title: Serfdom

text: In the Aztec Empire, the Tlacotin class held similarities to serfdom. Even at its height, slaves only ever made up 2% of the population.


title: Serfdom

text: Serfdom in France started to diminish after the Black Death in France, when the lack of work force made manumission more common from that point onward, and by the 18th-century, serfdom had become relatively rare in most of France.


title: Serfdom

text: In 1779, the reforms of Jacques Necker abolished serfdom in all Crown lands in France. On the outbreak of the French Revolution of 1789, between 140.000 and 1,500,000 serfs remained in France, most of them on clerical lands in Franche-Comté, Berry, Burgundy and Marche.


title: Serfdom

text: However, although formal serfdom no longer existed in most of France, the feudal seigneurial laws still granted noble landlords many of the rights previously exercised over serfs, and the peasants of Auvergne, Nivernais and Champagne, though formally not serfs, could still not move freely.


title: Serfdom

text: Serfdom was formally abolished in France on 4 August 1789, and the remaining feudal rights that gave landlords control rights over peasants were abolished in 1789-93.


title: Serfdom

text: In Gaelic Ireland, a political and social system existing in Ireland from the prehistoric period (500 BC or earlier) up until the Norman conquest (12th century AD), the ("hut-dweller"), (perhaps linked to , "soil") and ("old dwelling-house") were low-ranked semi-free servile tenants similar to serfs. According to Laurence Ginnell, the and "were not free to leave the territory except with permission, and in practice they usually served the "flaith" [prince]. They had no political or clan rights, could neither sue nor appear as witnesses, and were not free in the matter of entering into contracts. They could appear in a court of justice only in the name of the "flaith" or other person to whom they belonged, or whom they served, or by obtaining from an aire of the tuath to which they belonged permission to sue in his name." A was defined by D. A. Binchy as "a 'tenant at will,' settled by the lord ("flaith") on a portion of the latter's land; his services to the lord are always undefined. Although his condition is servile, he retains the right to abandon his holding on giving due notice to the lord and surrendering to him two thirds of the products of his husbandry."


title: Serfdom

text: Serfdom in Poland became the dominant form of relationship between peasants and nobility in the 17th century, and was a major feature of the economy of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, although its origins can be traced back to the 12th century.


title: Serfdom

text: The first steps towards abolition of serfdom were enacted in the Constitution of 3 May 1791, and it was essentially eliminated by the Połaniec Manifesto. However, these reforms were partly nullified by the partition of Poland. Frederick the Great had abolished serfdom in the territories he gained from the first partition of Poland. Over the course of the 19th century, it was gradually abolished on Polish and Lithuanian territories under foreign control, as the region began to industrialize.


title: Serfdom

text: Serfdom became the dominant form of relation between Russian peasants and nobility in the 17th century. Serfdom only existed in central and southern areas of the Russian Empire. It was never established in the North, in the Urals, and in Siberia. According to the "Encyclopedia of Human Rights":


title: Serfdom

text: Russia's over 23 million (about 38% of the total population) privately held serfs were freed from their lords by an edict of Alexander II in 1861. The owners were compensated through taxes on the freed serfs. State serfs were emancipated in 1866.


title: Emmerdale

text: Emmerdale (known as Emmerdale Farm until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, "Emmerdale Farm" was first broadcast on 16 October 1972. Interior scenes have been filmed at the Leeds Studios since its inception. Exterior scenes were first filmed in Arncliffe in Littondale, and the series may have taken its name from Amerdale, an ancient name of Littondale. Exterior scenes were later shot at Esholt, but are now shot at a purpose-built set on the Harewood estate. The programme is broadcast in every ITV region.


title: Emmerdale

text: The series originally aired during the afternoon and was intended to be a three-month television series. However, more episodes were ordered and transmitted during the daytime until 1978, when it was moved to an early-evening prime time slot in most regions. In the late 1980s, the soap was met with a new production team which oversaw the name change, more dramatic storylines and an increase in episode output. As a result of the changes, viewers and popularity surrounding the soap increased and "Emmerdale" began to be considered as a major British soap opera. The programme began broadcasting in high definition on 10 October 2011 and in 2016, "Emmerdale" won the award for Best British Soap at the British Soap Awards for the first time. Since January 2019, "classic episodes" of "Emmerdale" have been broadcast weekly on ITV3.


title: Emmerdale

text: "Emmerdale Farm" was created when Kevin Laffan was asked to write a lunchtime farming serial for ITV, as the network was looking to expand its daytime programming after government restrictions on broadcasting hours were relaxed. He initially said no as his agent advised him that writing a soap would tarnish his reputation as a playwright, which he found to be part of a snobbish attitude shown towards soap operas. Laffan eventually said yes and formed a 26-episode play that would act as a 13-week serial. Laffan had worked on a farm for six months in his youth, and said on writing about farm life: "I was intrigued by the idea that farming was a way of life, as opposed to simply a way of earning a living." The premise of "Emmerdale Farm" was similar to the BBC radio soap opera "The Archers", focusing on a family, a farm and characters in a nearby village. The programme's farmyard filming was originally modelled on RTÉ's "The Riordans", an Irish soap opera which was broadcast from the mid-1960s to the end of the 1970s. "The Riordans" broke new ground for soap operas by being filmed largely outdoors (on a farm, owned on the programme by Tom and Mary Riordan) rather than in a studio—the usual practice of British and American soap operas. "The Riordans" success demonstrated that a soap opera could be filmed largely outdoors, and Yorkshire Television sent people to its set in County Meath to see the programme's production first-hand.


title: Emmerdale

text: The first episode aired on 16 October 1972 at 1:30pm, and began with the Sugden family convening in the fictional village of Beckindale for the funeral of a relative. Peter Willes, the then-head of serial dramas at Yorkshire Television, did not like that the soap began with a funeral as he found it to be a "very downbeat way to start" and "a big switch-off". However, Laffan pushed the concept as he felt that a funeral would be the best option from a dramatic viewpoint. The show's early years as "Emmerdale Farm" centred on the Sugden family and rural farm life. The show was originally broadcast twice a week in the afternoon and was regarded by critics as a "sleepy soap" where not much happened. After its initial 13-week run, the positive viewer response led to an increase to 26 weeks and then a 6-month run, which led to the eventual year-long screening of the soap. The increase in episode output was accompanied by a move to a late afternoon time slot. By 1977, it was moved to a prime time evening slot in most ITV regions.


title: Emmerdale

text: In the late 1980s, a new production team headed by executive producer Keith Richardson was brought in, and the show's focus moved to the nearby village of Beckindale, with more dramatic storylines such as Pat Sugden's 1986 car crash and the 1988 Crossgill fire. By 1988, the show had been moved to an evening time slot in all ITV regions. "Emmerdale Farm" also began broadcasting episodes year-round that year. Reflecting its change in focus, the title was changed to "Emmerdale" on 14 November 1989. Coinciding with the title change was the introduction of the wealthy Tate family, bringing with them racier storylines. Under Richardson, the soap's popularity gradually began to improve. Richardson produced the programme for 24 years, overseeing its transformation from a minor, daytime, rural drama into a major prime time UK soap opera.


title: Emmerdale

text: By 1993, "Emmerdale" was into its third decade on the air and December 1993 saw a major turning point in the show's history, when an episode featured a plane crashing into the village of Beckindale, killing four main characters, giving "Emmerdale" its highest-ever audience of 18 million and marked its "graduation" into a major prime time soap opera. The plane crash "allowed the writers to get rid of much dead wood, and reinvent the soap virtually from scratch," which included survivors changing the village name from "Beckindale" to "Emmerdale". The production team had continually had issues with the fictional village's geography, but they found that the plane crash allowed them to introduce a village that had continuity. Since the plane crash, "Emmerdale" has had increasingly dramatic storylines and glamorous characters. In 1994, former "Coronation Street" producer Mervyn Watson was hired to inject more humour into the show. New long-term characters, such as the Windsor and Dingle families, were also introduced in the 1990s. The Tates became the soap's leading family during the decade.


title: Emmerdale

text: By 2000, "Emmerdale" episodes were regularly getting 12 million viewers, and the number of episodes per week was increased from three to five. An ITV talent show, "Soapstars", was held in 2001 to cast the new five-member Calder family; the Calders made their debut on the show in November that year, and all members had left by August 2002. In 2004, "Emmerdale" became the first British soap opera to broadcast six episodes a week. By 2006, "Emmerdale" was contending with, and at times beating, "EastEnders" in viewership. In 2007, an hour-long special episode revealing the murderer of Tom King (Kenneth Farrington) aired; the episode gained an average of 8.6 million viewers, peaking at 9.1 million viewers when Tom's son Carl (Tom Lister) confesses to the murder. The episode received more than double the amount of viewership "EastEnders" did.


title: Emmerdale

text: The early and mid-2000s saw the introduction of major long-term characters, including the King family and Cain (Jeff Hordley) and Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins). This era also saw high-profile castings such as Patsy Kensit as Sadie King in 2004, and Amanda Donohoe and Maxwell Caulfield as Natasha and Mark Wylde in 2008. Major storylines during this period included a bus crash, Sarah Sugden's death in a barn fire, a New Year's Eve storm, the Kings River explosion, and the Sugden house fire. In 2009, the longest-tenured character, Jack Sugden (Clive Hornby), was killed off. Jack's funeral featured the first on-screen appearance in 13 years of Annie Sugden (Sheila Mercier). Also in 2009, executive producer Keith Richardson was replaced by former series producer Steve November (later replaced by John Whiston). Gavin Blyth became the series producer, followed by Stuart Blackburn after his death.


title: Emmerdale

text: "Emmerdale" celebrated its 40th anniversary with its first-ever live episode on 17 October 2012. "Emmerdale Live" featured the death of Carl King (Tom Lister) and a live music festival with performances by Scouting for Girls and the Proclaimers as part of the anniversary celebrations. The story of Carl's death took the show into 2013, when Kate Oates replaced Blackburn as the new series producer. One of Oates' aims was to feature more of the village and rural countryside locations and to bring more "balance" to the show instead of focusing on "a few very high-profile stories". Major storylines during this period included a helicopter crash that killed Ruby Haswell (Alicya Eyo) and Val Pollard (Charlie Hardwick), and a multi-car pile-up. In 2016, "Emmerdale" was named Best British Soap for the first time at the British Soap Awards. In January 2019, ITV3 began airing episodes of "Emmerdale" from the beginning of the soap's inception. Billed "Classic Emmerdale", ten sequential episodes have been broadcast weekly since.


title: Emmerdale

text: In March 2019, an episode featuring an exclusively female cast and crew was aired in support of International Women's Day. Executive producer Jane Hudson said that the episode was "a great opportunity for "Emmerdale" to show the female talent we have both in front and behind the camera." In 2020, the production and filming of "Emmerdale" was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to prevent the programme from coming off air, the episodes shown per week were halved from six to three. They were later reduced to two episodes a week, but have since returned to the normal schedule. In September 2020, it was announced that there would be a "big autumn shake-up"; one of the changes included the casting of Paige Sandhu as Meena Jutla. She was later confirmed to be a serial killer and has been responsible for the murders of Leanna Cavanagh (Mimi Slinger), Andrea Tate (Anna Nightingale) and Ben Tucker (Simon Lennon). All of the actors involved expressed a decision to leave the soap and their exits were incorporated into Meena's serial killer arc, a storyline which has seen Sandhu awarded Best Villain at the 2021 "Inside Soap" Awards.


title: Emmerdale

text: On 12 October 2021, it was announced that "Emmerdale" would partake in a special crossover event involving multiple British soaps to promote the topic of climate change ahead of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference. The event was first suggested by "Emmerdale"'s executive producer Jane Hudson. It was confirmed that a social media clip featuring two characters from "Emmerdale" would be discussed in "Coronation Street", while "Emmerdale" itself would refer to events in "Casualty". In January 2022, it was confirmed that the production team were in the early stages of creating the 50th anniversary storylines set to air in October 2022. They hinted that the anniversary would see a "huge shake-up".


title: Emmerdale

text: "Emmerdale" has had a large number of characters since it began, with its cast gradually expanding in size. The series has also had changing residences and businesses for its characters. The series is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. It has been noted that the fictional village spans 3,217 acres and is located 39 miles from Bradford and 52 miles from Leeds. A farmhouse, Emmerdale Farm, was the original focal point of the show when it first broadcast in 1972. The farmhouse was eventually written out of the series in the early 1990s. Local public house The Woolpack is "the heart of the community". Owners of the Woolpack have included Amos Brearly (Ronald Magill), Diane Sugden (Elizabeth Estensen), Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter), and Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins). Home Farm is a mansion in Emmerdale; it was first introduced on-screen as Miffield Hall in 1973 and was renamed in 1978. Other locales include a factory, a bed-and-breakfast, a corner shop, an outdoor pursuits centre, and various cafés.


title: Emmerdale

text: The Sugdens and their relatives, the Merricks and the Skilbecks, were at the centre of the show during the series' first two decades in the 1970s and 1980s (the "Emmerdale Farm" era). The Sugdens, owners of Emmerdale Farm, were its first family. Many of its members, and those of the Merrick and Skilbeck families, have left or been killed off since the mid-1990s. Sugdens remaining in the village are Jack's daughter, Victoria Sugden (Isabel Hodgins), her son Harry, and Andy Sugden's (Kelvin Fletcher) daughter Sarah (Katie Hill).


title: Emmerdale

text: December 1984 saw the arrival of Caroline Bates; her teenage children, Kathy and Nick, followed in late 1985. Caroline left the show in 1989, returning for guest appearances in 1991, 1993–1994 and 1996. Nick was written out of the show when he was sentenced to ten years in prison in 1997. Kathy and her niece, Alice, remained in the village until late 2001; by then, Kathy had outlived two husbands. The wealthy Tates were introduced as the new owners of Home Farm in 1989, with the family consisting of Frank Tate (Norman Bowler), wife Kim (Claire King) and children Chris (Peter Amory) and Zoe (Leah Bracknell).


title: Emmerdale

text: Other families followed: the middle-class Windsors in 1993, known as the Hope family after Viv's (Deena Payne) 2001 marriage to Bob Hope (Tony Audenshaw), and the ne'er-do-well Dingle family in 1994. The Tate, Windsor-Hope and Dingle families predominated during the 1990s and 2000s. The era's storylines included the 1993 plane crash, the 1994 Home Farm siege, the 1998 post-office robbery, the 2000 bus crash, the 2003–04 storm and the 2006 King show-home collapse. By the mid- to late-2000s, the last of the Tates (Zoe, daughter Jean and nephew Joseph) had emigrated to New Zealand. In 2009, Chris Tate's ex-wife Charity and their son Noah returned to the village. In 2017, Joe Tate returned to the village. In 2018, Kim Tate returned to the village after nearly 20-year absence, and in the following year her son James returned as well. Members of the Windsor-Hope family left the village in early 2006, and Viv Hope was killed off in a village fire in February 2011 after nearly 18 years on the show. As of 2022, only Donna Windsor's daughter, April, and the Hope branch of the family (Bob and his children, twins Cathy and Heathcliff) remain.


title: Emmerdale

text: The King family arrived in 2004, as the Tates departed. All but Jimmy King, his half-sister, Scarlett Nicholls, and his three children, Elliott, Angelica and Carl, were killed off. By 2018, most of the Dingles still remained, having actually increased their numbers in Emmerdale over the years. Their circumstances had changed in their two decades in the village; Chas Dingle owned half of The Woolpack, with Charity Dingle owning the other half, and Marlon was a chef there. In 2014, the Dingles, Bartons and Whites were the central families; the Bartons are a farming family, and the Whites owned Home Farm. In 2022, Daniel Kilkelly of Digital Spy stated that the Dingles were "arguably the best-known family from the current cast."


title: Emmerdale

text: Over the years, along with its stories of romance and family life, "Emmerdale" has highlighted a range of different social issues. The issues it has covered include: rape (including marital rape), sexual assault, child sexual abuse, prostitution, sexual exploitation, domestic violence, cancer, childhood cancer, HIV, mesothelioma, amyloidosis, epilepsy, brain aneurysm, stroke, dementia, teenage pregnancy, premature birth, sudden infant death syndrome, stillbirth, adoption, homosexuality, bisexuality, asexuality, being transgender, homophobia, infidelity, murder, racism, abortion, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, schizophrenia, anorexia, acid attack, self-harm, suicide, assisted suicide, alcoholism, drug addiction, bereavement and gambling addiction.


title: Emmerdale

text: In January 2021, a poll was conducted by "YorkshireLive" to see which storylines in the soap's history viewers felt had impacted "Emmerdale" the most. The top ten, in order of first to tenth, was: the Emmerdale plane crash (1993), the storm that killed Tricia Dingle (Sheree Murphy) on the 10th anniversary of the plane crash (2003), the Hotten bypass crash (2016), Belle Dingle's (Eden Taylor-Draper) mental health battle (2016), the mirror maze which led to Val Pollard's (Charlie Hardwick) death (2015), Ashley Thomas' (John Middleton) battle with dementia (2016), the post office robbery (1994), Dave Glover's (Ian Kelsey) death (1996), Ross Barton's (Michael Parr) acid attack (2018) and the 40th anniversary episode which saw Carl King's (Tom Lister) death, two births and a wedding (2012).


title: Emmerdale

text: "Emmerdale" was first broadcast two afternoons a week in 1972, typically on Mondays and Tuesdays. From 1977, the series moved out of the daytime programming slot, with eight out of the fourteen ITV regions choosing to accommodate the programme in the 7:00pm Tuesday and Thursday slots. The other six regions, including all of Scotland and London, preferred the 5:15pm slots on Mondays and Tuesdays. From 6 January 1988, all ITV regions networked the show in the 6:30pm slot, but two years later, the transmission time reverted to 7:00pm, still twice weekly. By January 1997, ITV had opted to increase their output to three episodes a week, and from October 2000, a further two episodes were added, thus making "Emmerdale" a daily soap. A sixth episode begin to air on Sundays in 2004, making "Emmerdale" the first British soap to broadcast six episodes a week. In January 2008, as with "Coronation Street", ITV announced they would cease airing "Emmerdale" on a Sunday night; this meant that "Emmerdale" would still air at 7:00pm each weekday, but to compensate, the Tuesday episode would run until 8:00pm. Producers of the soap explained that "each hour-long episode on Tuesday will be specially written and won't be two half-hour ones put together."


title: Emmerdale

text: On 8 July 2009, ITV announced that they were to revamp their schedule yet again. This time, "Emmerdale"s Tuesday hour-long episode was reduced back down to 30 minutes, and replaced with a second Thursday episode. "Emmerdale" and "EastEnders" ratings improved due to this, with "Emmerdale" getting 7.7 million, its highest in over 6 months, on 1 October 2009. Between April and August 2019, ITV began airing an additional episode on Tuesdays at 8pm, bringing the total number of episodes a week to seven but it was reduced back to six due to the heavy amount of filming for cast and crew involved. In March 2020, due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, filming was suspended, and the episodes transmitted per week were decreased to three on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. For three weeks of June 2020, two episodes of "Emmerdale" were transmitted per week in order to preserve episodes. At the end of June, episodes returned to three per week. In September, "Emmerdale" returned to its regular transmission count of six weekly episodes. In January 2022, it was announced that after 32 years, "Emmerdale"s transmission time would move to 7:30pm due to the "ITV Evening News" receiving a longer duration. Thursday's episodes have merged into one hour-long slot. The new scheduling began on Monday 7 March 2022.


title: Emmerdale

text: "Emmerdale" reaches viewers in the Republic of Ireland via Virgin Media One, which broadcasts the series simultaneously with ITV in the UK. "Emmerdale" was formerly broadcast during the day on RTÉ One from 1972 to 2001, before it moved to TV3, now known as Virgin Media One. RTÉ were several months behind; for many years, they broadcast the show five days a week (instead of ITV's three days a week) and took a break during the summer. As the series began a five-night week, RTÉ fell behind the ITV broadcasts; the gap between RTÉ One's last episode and TV3's first episode was approximately three months. In 2015, UTV (the Northern Irish ITV Region holder) decided to buy the rights to ITV programming for the Republic of Ireland. It was broadcast on UTV Ireland (now Virgin Media Three) in 2015 and 2016, it was then moved back to TV3 (now known as Virgin Media one) when Virgin Media Ireland, the owners of the TV3 Group (now known as Virgin Media Television Ireland) bought UTV Ireland from ITV, following the sale of UTV to ITV a few months previously.


title: Emmerdale

text: The series has appeared in Sweden as "Hem till gården" ("Home to the Farm") since the 1970s – originally on TV2, and since 1994, on TV4. "Emmerdale" is the most-watched daytime non-news programme in Sweden, attracting from 150,000 to 200,000 viewers daily. The programme appears in Finland on MTV3 where it attracts an average of 200,000 to 250,000 viewers per episode, making it the most watched non-Finnish every-weekday program in Finnish television. Ratings have, however, declined in the past few years, previously being consecutively around 350,000 to 400,000 per episode. "Emmerdale" is broadcast in New Zealand on TVNZ 1, where it is the second-most-watched daytime programme, after the news. "Emmerdale" was broadcast in Australia for the first time in July 2006, when UKTV began airing the series with episode 4288. "Emmerdale" has been available to viewers in the United States of America via the BritBox streaming service since March 2017. New episodes typically appear on the service within five hours of their original broadcast in the UK.


title: Emmerdale

text: The original "Emmerdale Farm" buildings are located near to the village of Leathley. The buildings are one of the few original filming locations used for the entire series and have been involved in numerous storylines. Scenes initially filmed in the farmhouse were filmed at Lindley Farm, owned by Arthur Peel, a farmer. Laffan and the researchers found his farm ideal for scenes and the location was large enough for cast and crew members to park their vehicles there. Yorkshire Television promised Peel to keep his identity and the location of his farm a secret, but viewers eventually discovered both and would visit in the hopes of meeting the cast there. Location shooting was originally filmed in the village of Arncliffe in Littondale, a quiet valley in the Yorkshire Dales. The Falcon, the village hotel, served as the fictional Woolpack Inn. After four years of filming there, it was moved to the village of Esholt in 1976. The Woolpack's real-life location was changed to Commercial Inn in Esholt, and eventually, the real owner of the inn agreed to change the name to the Woolpack.


title: Emmerdale

text: After the soap began transmitting episodes 52 weeks of the year, the production needed more space. This led to the purchase of a four-floor mill in Farsley for £2 million, which a building team converted into the "Emmerdale" Production Centre. Construction of another purpose-built set began on the Harewood estate in 1996 and it has been used since 1997, after being opened by Prime Minister John Major. The Harewood set is a replica of Esholt, with minor alterations. Filming returned to Esholt for a one-off episode in 2016 for a special episode centred around Ashley Thomas' (John Middleton) dementia which aired in December 2016. The location was used to represent Ashley's onset of dementia to the viewer. Location filming is also done in the City of Leeds and other West Yorkshire locations; scenes set in the fictional market town of Hotten are currently filmed in Otley, and previously in Farsley. Benton Park School in Rawdon and the primary school in Farnley were also used for filming. Interiors are primarily filmed at Yorkshire Television's Emmerdale Production Centre in Leeds, next to Yorkshire's Leeds Studios.


title: Emmerdale

text: "Emmerdale" first sponsor (from 14 December 1999 to 20 February 2002) was Daz detergent, followed by Heinz Tomato Ketchup and Heinz salad cream from May 2003 to May 2005, a deal that cost Heinz £10 million. Reckitt Benckiser took over until 2009 in another £10 million deal, advertising Calgon, Air Wick, Veet, and Lemsip. After reports of Littlewoods pulling out of a two-year deal, Tombola Bingo underwrote the show from November 2009 to March 2012, followed by Bet365 Bingo until March 2014. McCain Foods began a two-year £8 million sponsorship on 7 April 2014. Then on 15 April 2020, the People's Postcode Lottery took over as sponsor of the programme. Two years later, Confused.com replaced the People's Postcode Lottery as "Emmerdale"s sponsor.


title: Emmerdale

text: As of 2022, "Emmerdale" generally attracts an average of 5 million viewers. During the 1990s, the series had an average of 10–11 million viewers per episode. On 30 December 1993, "Emmerdale" had its largest-ever audience of 18 million when a plane crashed into the village. On 27 May 1997, 13 million viewers saw Frank Tate (Norman Bowler) die of a heart attack after the return of wife Kim (Claire King). On 20 October 1998, 12.5 million viewers saw the Woolpack explode after a fire. Kim Tate's departure from the show on 19 January 1999 was watched by nearly 15 million viewers.


title: Emmerdale

text: The village storm on 1 January 2004 attracted 11.19 million viewers. 18 May 2004 episode in which Jack was shot by his adopted son, Andy, attracted 8.27 million viewers. On 17 March 2005, 9.39 million watched Shelly Williams fall from the Isle of Arran ferry. Zoe Tate (Leah Bracknell) left the show after 16 years on 22 September 2005 before 8.58 million viewers, marking her departure by blowing up Home Farm. On 13 July 2006, the Kings River house collapse was seen by 6.90 million viewers. Sadie King (Patsy Kensit) and Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) left on 21 September 2006, before an audience of 8.57 million viewers. On Christmas Day 2006, 7.69 million saw Tom King (Kenneth Farrington) murdered on his wedding day. Billy Hopwood (David Crellin) crashed his truck into a lake on 1 February 2007, attracting 8.15 million viewers. The end of the "Who Killed Tom King?" storyline on 17 May 2007, had an audience of 8.92 million.


title: Emmerdale

text: On 14 January 2010, 9.96 million saw Mark Wylde shot dead by wife Natasha. Natasha's 27 October confession to daughter Maisie attracted an audience of nearly 8 million. On 13 January 2011, 9.15 million saw a fire kill Viv Hope and Terry Woods. The live 40th-anniversary episode on 17 October 2012, drew an audience of 8.83 million. On 16 October 2013, 8.15 million watched Cameron Murray take the occupants of The Woolpack hostage and shoot Alicia. The next day, 7.65 million viewers saw Cameron die. In January 2022, their overnight viewing figures saw "Emmerdale" become the most watched soap opera in the United Kingdom. They beat "Coronation Street", a fellow ITV soap that had consistently beaten "Emmerdale" in the ratings. The rise in viewers was accredited to Meena's serial killer storyline.


title: Emmerdale

text: Numerous "Emmerdale" storylines have been criticised by viewers due to feeling that they are too controversial. In March 2022, "Leeds Live" compiled a list of top storylines that viewers were disgusted by, with the list including: Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) raping an underage Ollie Reynolds (Vicky Binns), Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins) having a baby with her second-cousin Cain, Aaron Livesy (Danny Miller) assisting a quadriplegic Jackson Walsh (Marc Silcock) to die, Maya Stepney (Louisa Clein) grooming step-son Jacob Gallagher (Joe-Warren Plant) and Pierce Harris (Jonathan Wrather) raping Rhona Goskirk (Zoë Henry).


title: Emmerdale

text: Another storyline that attracted a strong viewer response is an arc that saw Meena Jutla (Paige Sandhu) be revealed as a serial killer, with her confessing to two off-screen murders, as well as murdering regulars Leanna Cavanagh (Mimi Slinger), Andrea Tate (Anna Nightingale) and Ben Tucker (Simon Lennon). Meena immediately caused division in viewers' opinions from her introduction, and after Meena is revealed to be a serial killer, critics and viewers began to praise the character and Sandhu's acting skills, with many believing Meena had become a "top soap serial killer". Duncan Lindsay of the "Metro" described Meena as "the most unique and entertaining soap villain ever" and admitted that he wanted her to get away with her crimes due to her strong presence on "Emmerdale". Many viewers praised Meena and accredited her with being the most interesting part of "Emmerdale", while some complained about the violence shown in her murderous scenes, with Ofcom receiving hundreds of complaints about her brutality. Despite criticism, Meena regularly trended on Twitter and garnered an online fandom, the 'Meeniacs', who felt that the soap would not be the same following her exit. Her storyline also increased "Emmerdale"s ratings to the point of becoming the most-watched soap opera in the United Kingdom. In September 2021, it was announced that Sandhu had been nominated for Best Newcomer and Best Villain at the 2021 "Inside Soap" Awards. Meena murdering Leanna was also nominated for Best Show-Stopper. Sandhu went on to win the award for Best Villain.


title: Elias (wrestler)

text: Jeffrey Daniel Sciullo (born November 22, 1987) is an American professional wrestler and musician. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Elias.


title: Elias (wrestler)

text: Under the name Elias, shortened from Elias Samson, he portrays a musician who often uses music to mock his opponents or the fans in attendance. Sciullo began his WWE career on the NXT brand, appearing there from 2014 to 2017 where he developed his "Drifter" ring character. Prior to joining WWE, he worked for various companies on the independent circuit under the ring name Logan Shulo. In 2018, the album "" was released by the WWE Music Group featuring Sciullo followed by "Universal Truth" in 2020.


title: Elias (wrestler)

text: Sciullo wrestled extensively on the independent circuit for various promotions in the Northeastern USA, primarily for the International Wrestling Cartel (IWC) under the ring name Heavy Metal Jesus, Logan Shulo. While in the IWC, Shulo won the promotion's Super Indy Championship and World Heavyweight Championship.


title: Elias (wrestler)

text: In early 2014, Sciullo was signed to a developmental deal by WWE under the ring name Elias Samson. He made his "NXT" debut at the April 24, 2014, tapings, working as an enhancement talent and teaming with Buddy Murphy in a losing effort against The Ascension. Samson was then used sporadically on television throughout 2014 and early 2015, mostly appearing as enhancement talent to wrestlers such as Baron Corbin.


title: Elias (wrestler)

text: In August 2015, Samson debuted a new drifter musician character in a match taped prior to , approaching the ring with a guitar before defeating Bull Dempsey, and established himself as a heel at the same time. Samson then entered the "Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic" tournament, where he was paired with Tucker Knight, but the two were eliminated from the tournament by Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson. On the December 23 episode of "NXT", taped before , Samson defeated Bull Dempsey with a diving elbow drop, which he would dub as a finishing move onwards. In the following weeks, Samson would rack up victories over various competitors such as Steve Cutler and Jesse Sorensen. On the March 23, 2016, episode of "NXT", after he suffered a loss to Johnny Gargano, Samson would attack him only to be fended off by Apollo Crews. This led to a match between Samson and Crews that took place at , where Samson was defeated. Throughout the rest of the year, Samson would compete in different matches against competitors such as Shinsuke Nakamura and Finn Bálor, but he would be on the losing side.


title: Elias (wrestler)

text: In what would be his final feud in NXT, Samson faced Kassius Ohno (whom he mocked after he had just lost an NXT Championship match against Bobby Roode) in the first ever "loser leaves NXT" match that took place on the March 29, 2017, episode of "NXT", where Samson was defeated. Just a week later, on the April 5 episode of "NXT" (which was taped as part of prior to the beginning of the event), Samson wrestled his final match on NXT as the masked "El Vagabundo" (Spanish for "The Vagabond"), where he lost to Oney Lorcan, who unmasked him afterwards.


title: Elias (wrestler)

text: On the April 10, 2017, episode of "Raw", Samson made his main roster debut, appearing on the stage briefly during an eight–man tag team match, as well as walking through the crowd during another match later that night. Samson continued to appear in the background playing his guitar during backstage segments over the next few weeks. In his in–ring debut match on the May 22 episode of "Raw", Samson defeated Dean Ambrose by disqualification after The Miz intentionally attacked him. In June, Samson started his first feud as part of the main roster with Finn Bálor, who interrupted him during one of his performances. This led to a match between the two, where Samson defeated Bálor in a No Disqualification match after interference from Bray Wyatt. In the end of July, WWE shortened his ring name to "Elias".


title: Elias (wrestler)

text: Elias was then placed in a feud with Jason Jordan, after Jordan would interrupt Elias during his songs by throwing vegetables at him at No Mercy. This would lead to a match between the two at , where Elias was defeated by Jordan. On the November 6 episode of "Raw", Elias was defeated by Jordan in a Guitar–on–a–Pole match, ending their feud. Two weeks later, Elias competed in his first title match as he unsuccessfully challenged Roman Reigns for the Intercontinental Championship.


title: Elias (wrestler)

text: On January 28, 2018, at the Royal Rumble, Elias entered his first Royal Rumble match at No. 6, lasting 26 minutes before being eliminated by John Cena. A month later, Elias competed for the first time in an Elimination Chamber match at the namesake pay–per–view, where he entered last, but was the second participant eliminated by Braun Strowman. Elias also appeared at WrestleMania 34, where he was attacked by Cena. Three weeks later, Elias competed at the Greatest Royal Rumble event, where he entered at No. 20, lasting over 30 minutes and eliminating five wrestlers before being eliminated by Bobby Lashley. Shortly after, Elias started a feud with Seth Rollins, whom he attacked with his guitar after interrupting his performance. The two eventually faced off for the Intercontinental Championship at the Money in the Bank, where Elias lost.


title: Elias (wrestler)

text: In October, Elias turned face for the first time in his career, as he attacked Baron Corbin with his guitar. Throughout November, Elias started a feud with Bobby Lashley, who would defeat him in different matches via count–out, disqualification or a distraction by his manager Lio Rush. This led to a match at the event, where Elias defeated Lashley in a ladder match with a guitar hanging over the ring, after which Lashley would attack him with the guitar after the match. The following night on "Raw", Elias would gain revenge as he would attack Lashley with a guitar. This sparked a Miracle on 34th Street Fight between the two, in which Elias was victorious.


title: Elias (wrestler)

text: At the Royal Rumble on January 27, 2019, Elias entered the Royal Rumble match at entrant 1 and was prepared for a concert before being interrupted by Jeff Jarrett, who proposed a duet. After seemingly accepting, Elias attacked Jarrett with his guitar. Afterwards, as the match officially began, Elias lasted fifteen minutes before being eliminated by the eventual winner Seth Rollins. The following night on "Raw", Elias turned heel after insulting the crowd, proclaiming that they disappointed him for lackluster reactions towards him, and was subsequently interrupted by Jeff Jarrett and Road Dogg, who proceeded to sing "With My Baby Tonight" until Elias attacked both men, smashing a guitar over both Jarrett and Road Dogg. On the February 4 episode of "Raw", Elias defeated Jeff Jarrett, who wrestled in his first match on "Raw" since Jarrett left WWE after No Mercy. After the match, Jarrett smashed Elias with his guitar as payback for the previous week. Elias was attacked on both WrestleMania 35 and the Raw after the event by John Cena and The Undertaker respectively during his musical performances.


title: Elias (wrestler)

text: During the 2019 WWE Superstar Shake-up, Elias was drafted to the SmackDown brand. Just before Elias was to have a musical performance, he was interrupted and attacked by Roman Reigns who was also making his SmackDown debut. The following week, Shane McMahon challenged Reigns to a fight for attacking his father. Reigns came out and was attacked from behind by Elias, who assisted McMahon in beating up Reigns. Elias then challenged Reigns to a match at Money in the Bank, and Reigns accepted. At the event, Elias was defeated by Reigns in 8 seconds. On the May 28 episode of "SmackDown Live", Elias pinned R-Truth with the help of McMahon and Drew McIntyre, winning the 24/7 Championship, his first title in WWE. He lost the title in the same night against R-Truth, after a tag team match that also involved Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre. R-Truth pinned him after the match with the help of Roman Reigns.<ref name="5/28/19"></ref>


title: Elias (wrestler)

text: The following week at "SmackDown Live" he defeated again R-Truth in a Lumberjack match for the 24/7 Championship, but in the same episode, while the lumberjacks brawled with each other, Truth pinned him under the ring ending his second reign.<ref name="6/4/19"></ref> Elias participated at the 51-Man Battle Royal at the 2019 Super Showdown but he was the last competitor eliminated by the eventual winner Mansoor. After this, Elias continued his alliance with Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre, helping them in various feuds and matches. During the special episode WWE Smackville, he was defeated by Shane's new rival Kevin Owens. On August 12, 2019, during the "Raw" episode post-SummerSlam, Elias pinned R-Truth in the backstage after hitting him with his guitar, regaining the 24/7 Title.


title: Elias (wrestler)

text: One week later, at "SmackDown", Elias participated in the King of the Ring tournament, defeating Kevin Owens during the first match thanks to the help of Shane, who made himself the special referee while the match was in progress and distracted the latter. Elias then lost and regained the 24/7 title on August 23 during the Fox Sports Founder's Day events in Los Angeles, ultimately pinning Fox Sports host Rob Stone on the set of the Fox College Football pregame show immediately after Stone had pinned R-Truth (who had pinned Elias earlier in the day while Elias was doing a concert to kick off the Founder's Day festivities). On August 27 at "SmackDown Live", Drake Maverick defeated Elias for the title after the latter was attacked by Kevin Owens. It was announced on September 10, 2019, that Elias was suffering from an ankle injury and was not able to compete in the 2019 King of the Ring semi-final match against Chad Gable. After a two-month hiatus, He returned on November 29, 2019, edition of SmackDown making fun of Drake Maverick, turning face in the process. The next week, he cemented his face turn when he sang with Dana Brooke and attacked Maverick.


title: Elias (wrestler)

text: Elias participated in the Royal Rumble match at the namesake pay-per-view and entered at No. 2 but was eliminated by the WWE Champion Brock Lesnar. Elias would then begin a feud with King Corbin defeating him at Wrestlemania 36 at Night 1 of the event with a roll-up pin. On the May 15 episode of "SmackDown", Elias defeated Corbin again during the first round of the tournament for the vacant Intercontinental Championship. On the May 29 episode of "SmackDown", he was unable to continue the tournament when he suffered an injury caused, in storyline, by a car incident. In reality, Elias had suffered a torn pectoral muscle and required surgery rendering him out of action for 6–9 months. As part of the 2020 Draft in October, Elias was drafted to the Raw brand. On the October 12 episode of "Raw", he returned from injury and attacked Jeff Hardy by bashing his guitar, turning heel once again. At Hell in a Cell, Elias defeated Hardy by disqualification after Hardy smashed him with his guitar. On the November 2 "Raw", Elias was defeated by Hardy in a Guitar on a Pole match and a few weeks later would again be defeated in a Symphony of Destruction match, ending the feud.


title: Elias (wrestler)

text: In December 2020, Elias formed an alliance with Jaxson Ryker. At the Royal Rumble, Elias would enter his fourth Rumble match at No. 13, eliminating Carlito before being eliminated by Damian Priest. At Fastlane, Elias would replace Shane McMahon in his match against Braun Strowman, in which he was defeated. On the May 31, 2021 episode of "Raw", after challenging AJ Styles and Omos for the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship in a losing effort, Elias split up with Ryker. The two would briefly feud until the July 19 episode of "Raw", where in a match between the two Ryker was victorious. In August, WWE aired vignettes where Elias burned his guitar, ending the musician character.


title: Elias (wrestler)

text: On the April 4, 2022 episode of "Raw", Sciullo, now under the new ring name "Ezekiel", returned to WWE television as a face, debuting a look consisting of a clean shaven face, shorter hair, and trunks, claiming that he was the younger brother of Elias. In the following weeks on "Raw", Ezekiel entered a feud with Kevin Owens, who refused to believe Ezekiel was really Elias's brother, and thought he was actually Elias himself. At Hell in a Cell, Ezekiel lost to Owens. On the June 20 episode of "Raw", the two brothers "reunited" in a doctored backstage segment. Later that night, Elias appeared to perform a concert, before being interrupted by Owens. Still refusing to believe that the brothers were different people, Owens challenged Ezekiel, Elias or their "even younger brother Elrod" to a match. On the August 8 episode of "Raw", Owens stretchered Ezekiel out of the arena after attacking him with an Apron Powerbomb, thus ending their feud. On September 16, it was reported that the Ezekiel gimmick was dropped and Sciullo would revert back to the Elias gimmick.


title: Anaconda

text: Anacondas or water boas are a group of large snakes of the genus "Eunectes". They are found in tropical South America. Four species are currently recognized.