STATE PAPERS. 



297 



ticeship, or hiring and service, 

 gain any settlement in snch parish. 

 Anothej' act was passed to ensure 

 the regular execution of such cer- 

 tificate, by the attestation of wit- 

 nesses, and again for the nnre 

 certain reimbursement by the cer- 

 tifying parish, of the expenses at- 

 tendant on the removal of the 

 certificated person. After all, it 

 was solemnly decided, that the 

 gianting ttiese certificates was 

 quite discretionary, both with re- 

 gard to the parish officers and the 

 magistrates. .\nd such continued 

 to be the only means by which 

 this restraint on the free circula- 

 tion of labour could be avoided, 

 till in the thirty-fifth year of the 

 ]»!esent reign, the privilege of per- 

 sons not being removed till ac- 

 tually chargeable, which had been 

 recently conferred on members of 

 friendly societies, was extended by 

 a law which deserves perhaps more 

 notice and applause tlian it has 

 received, and the liberty of re- 

 moving fiym place to place was 

 luade no longer to de|)end upon 

 the will and judgment either of 

 parish officers or magistrates, but 

 the removal of poor persons was 

 prevented till they were actually 

 chargeable. 



No material alteration has been 

 made in the law of settlement 

 since this act; ami the result of 

 the various enactments on this 

 subject now is, that every poor 

 person, when entitled to parochial 

 relief, can claim it only (except in 

 cases of sudden accident or cala- 

 mity) in that parish in which he 

 has resided duringfortydays, cither 

 on an estate of his own, if pur- 

 chased, of the value of 30/. or in a 

 tenement rented by him of the 

 annual value of 10/. or under in- 



dentures of apprenticeship, or 

 having served a year under a yearly 

 hiring, as an unmaiiied man, 

 without a child, or by executing a 

 public annual office during the 

 year. If a settlement has been 

 ftccjuired by neither of these means, 

 the father's settlement becomes 

 that of his issue ; if that be un- 

 known, the mothers ; and if that 

 also should not be ascertained, re- 

 course must be had to the place 

 of birth, which is also (with cer- 

 tain exceptions) the place of set- 

 tlement of illegitimate children, 

 till they have acquired another by 

 one of the modes described by the 

 statute above enumerated. Per- 

 sons not born within the kingdom, 

 and who have acquired no settle- 

 ment by either of the above means, 

 are by the humane interpretation 

 of the law to be relieved, in case 

 of necessity, in the parish in which 

 they are found. 



These various provisions have 

 given ri.?e to a course of expensive 

 and embarrassing litigation, of 

 which a very inadequate measure 

 would be formed by reference to 

 the cases, numerous as they are, 

 which have been reported in the 

 superior court; for sui)posing all 

 that have been there decided to 

 have been re})orted, still they are 

 decisions of such questions of law 

 only as seemed doubtful to the 

 m;igistrates and courts below, ex- 

 clusive of the infinitely gieater 

 number of questions of fact, on 

 which it is the peculiar province 

 of the justices alone to decide, 

 either in the first instance, or by 

 way of a})peal ; and it may per- 

 haps be ad<led, that on no branch 

 of the law have the judgments of 

 the superior cotn t Ijeen so contra- 

 dictory. A better judgment may 



perhaj s 



