If 95% of the population were still farmers (not anymore due to technological progress) those laws would never have been passed, and wouldn't have meant anythin

If 95% of the population were still farmers (not anymore due to technological progress) those laws would never have been passed, and wouldn't have meant anything if they did because you're going to starve unless you put in the gruelling hours every day ploughing fields, chopping wood, tending livestock - forever.