- "He is clearly unfit to draw up our laws and his ridiculous Muggle Protection Act should be scrapped immediately."
- — Lucius Malfoy in the Daily Prophet regarding Arthur Weasley and the act[src]
The Muggle Protection Act was a proposed Ministry of Magic bylaw that was presumably designed to protect Muggles from potentially harmful magical artefacts. According to Lucius Malfoy, it was partially written by Arthur Weasley, the head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, and resulted in the Ministry conducting searches for Dark objects, including those located at Malfoy Manor.
Some pure-bloods found the proposed legislation offensive, presumably because they were prejudiced against Muggles and did not want the Ministry searching their possessions. Lucius Malfoy went so far as to try to sabotage Arthur's career by planting an old diary of Tom Riddle's on Arthur's daughter, which led to the opening of the Chamber of Secrets and the petrification of several Muggle-born students. This law was passed in 1992, despite opposition from Lucius Malfoy. When Arthur was found in violation of his own department's laws by bewitching the Ford Anglia to fly, Lucius brought this up during an interview as an example of Arthur's ineptitude and that the Muggle Protection Act should be scrapped because the proposer is not fit to uphold laws.
Behind the scenes
- In the Game Boy Color version of the video game of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, this is referred to as the "Non-Magical-Folk Protection Act", as the game curiously goes to great lengths to avoid using the term "Muggle".
Appearances
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (First mentioned)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film) (Deleted scene) (Mentioned only)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game) (Mentioned only)