CURFEW, CURFEU or COUVRE-FEU, a signal, as by toll ing a bell, to warn the inhabitants of a town to extinguish their lights and fires or cover them up and retire to rest. This was a common practice throughout Europe during the middle ages. In mediaeval Venice the Barbers' Quarter was exempt, doubtless be cause they were also surgeons and their services might be needed during the night. The curfew originated in the fear of fire when most cities were built of timber. Its use is obvious, as the house hold fire was usually made in a hole in the middle of the floor, under an opening in the roof through which the smoke escaped. The custom is said to have been introduced into England by William the Conqueror; but as there is good reason to believe that the curfew-bell was rung each night at Carfax, Oxford (see Peshall, Hist. of Oxford) , in the reign of Alfred the Great, it would seem that all William did was to enforce more strictly an existing regulation. The absolute prohibition of lights after the ringing of the curfew-bell was abolished by Henry I. in I I oo. The practice of tolling a bell at a fixed hour in the evening, still extant in many places, is a survival of the ancient curfew. In 1848 the curfew was still rung at Hastings, Sussex, from Michael mas to Lady-Day, and this was the custom too at Wrexham, North Wales.
On April 2, 1918, the British Board of Trade with a view to economy in the consumption of coal, introduced the "Curfew Order," by which all restaurants, etc., had to extinguish their lights at 1 o P.M. ; no lighting was to be used in theatres after 10.3o P.M., and no shop fronts were to be lighted. This order was rescinded on Dec. 23, 1918.
On Aug. 31, 192o, in consequence of the prevailing disorder, the military authorities in Belfast instituted the Curfew law, by which all citizens were required to remain within doors from 10.3o P.M. to 5 A.M. This order, save for two brief intervals, remained in force throughout Northern Ireland until Dec. 1924.