Educational Decree

The Educational Decrees are laws created by the Ministry of Magic to set or modify standards at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. During the 1995 - 1996 school term, the Ministry (spearheaded by Dolores Umbridge) used educational decrees to suppress and outlaw behavior of which the Ministry did not approve. These new ones were abolished when Albus Dumbledore proved Lord Voldemort's return.

Known Educational Decrees

 * Educational Decree Number 22:
 * In the event of the current Headmaster being unable to provide a candidate for a teaching post, the Ministry should select an appropriate person.


 * Educational Decree Number 23:
 * Dolores Jane Umbridge has been appointed to the post of Hogwarts High Inquisitor.


 * Educational Decree Number 24 (Number 68 in film):
 * All Student Organizations, Societies, Teams, Groups, and Clubs are henceforth disbanded. An Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students. Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge). No Student Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor. Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.

This decree was reinstated in the 1997 - 1998 school year under the administration of Snape and the Carrows to restrict rebellion and revolts.
 * Educational Decree Number 25:
 * The High Inquisitor will henceforth have supreme authority over all punishments, sanctions and removal of privileges pertaining to the students of Hogwarts, and the power to alter such punishments, sanctions and removals of privileges as may have been placed by other staff members.


 * Educational Decree Number 26:
 * Teachers are hereby banned from giving students any information that is not strictly related to the subjects they are paid to teach.


 * Educational Decree Number 27:
 * Any student found in possession of the magazine The Quibbler will be expelled.


 * Educational Decree Number 28 (Number 119 in film):
 * Dolores Jane Umbridge (High Inquisitor) has replaced Albus Dumbledore as the Head of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


 * Educational Decree Number 29:
 * Although never actually passed, it was mentioned by Argus Filch, and would have presumably allowed Filch to torture the students as a punishment.

Known Educational Decrees from the Film

 * Educational Decree Number 24:
 * NO MUSIC IS TO BE PLAYED DURING Study Hours.


 * Educational Decree Number 30:
 * ''ALL WEASLEY PRODUCTS WILL BE BANNED IMMEDIATELY.


 * Educational Decree Number 45:
 * PROPER DRESS & DECORUM IS TO BE mantained AT ALL TIMES.


 * Educational Decree Number 82:
 * ALL STUDENTS WILL SUBMIT TO QUESTIONING ABOUT Suspected ILLICIT Activities.


 * Educational Decree Number 98:
 * THOSE WISHING TO JOIN THE INQUISITORIAL SQUAD for Extra Credit May sign up in the High Inquisitor's OFFICE.

Behind the scenes

 * In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the Ministry of Magic creates 119 decrees, which by the end of the year nearly cover the entire wall outside the Great Hall. These decrees included the prohibition of joke products made by Fred and George Weasley, a strict adherance to the student dress code, the forbidding of music-making in study hours, and the restriction of proximity between boys and girls to eight inches apart. When Fred and George Weasley fled from school after releasing a torrent of enchanted fireworks, one of them took the form of a dragon and destroyed all of the Educational Decrees hanging on the walls while chasing Umbridge, causing them all to crash down.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows