312 



POOR-LAWS 



relief, the extent to which the right to relief is 

 matter of positive right, tin- conditions which give 

 rise to a claim of relief, the incidence of taxation, 

 and the obligation on relatives to aliment. 



It is only in Prussia, Denmark, and Sweden that 

 there is any legislative declaration of the right to 

 relief ; ami only in Britain and Denmark is any 

 special tax imposed for this purpose. On the con- 

 tinent of Europe, generally speaking, the adminis- 

 tration of relit'f falls on tin- parish or commune, 

 but the responsibility of siiper\ ision undertaken 

 by central departments varies greatly ; no work- 

 house teat is applied ; and the statistics are not 

 reliable. In northern Europe there has been a 

 more decisive severance of poor-law functions from 

 the church. In Denmark the old law was altered 

 in 1867-68 to one of elective unions in rural di- 

 tricts, the burgomaster and town-council In-coming 

 the poor-law authority in each considerable town. 

 The overseers are amateurs, and medical aid is 

 universal. In Sweden the law formerly rested on 

 the Church Ordinance of 1571, but the statutes of 

 1871 (translated by Nassau Jocelyn and criticised 

 by I .am mere) have made great changes, the relief 

 of the able-Wlicd l>eing prohibited, a direct liabil- 

 ity being placed on the larger employers of labour, 

 and a system of poll-taxation introduced. In Nor- 

 way (where tin- system of out-quartering still sub- 

 sists) the poor-law of 1845 was altered in 1863 in 

 the direction of greater strictness, relief being re- 

 stricted in theory to orphans and persons of un- 

 sound mind, and a maximum assessment fixed. 

 Among other sources of income there is an excise 

 duty on beer. In north Germany the old law of 

 1577 was gradually enlarged e.g. by the Conven- 

 tion of Gotha and Agreement of Kisenach, dealing 

 with the matter of settlement. In 1867 a law of 

 free settlement was passed, and in 1870 by a general 

 law the period of two years was fixed for pauper 

 domicile. In Prussia this is further developed by 

 a statute of 1871, which connects the Bezirks- 

 regiernng, or local government, with the parish 

 poor-law authority. The peculiar system of Leip/.ig 

 (founded on that of Hamimrg) is carried on by an 

 Armendirectoriitm, amateurs of good social posi- 

 tion, who make very strict inquiries by means of a 

 h'l-'i'iebogen, or question-pa|>er. 



In the Manse towns there was introduced in 1788 

 a system of voluntary contributions aided by fixed 

 subsidies from the government. This at length 

 resulted in government supplying all deficiencies, 

 which in the last few years nave been 80 per cent, 

 of the cost of the general tutor relief. At the 

 treaty of Versailles (1870) Havana preferred to 

 remain under her own law of 1816, amended 

 in IHtiO. In Belgium, known as the classic land 

 of pauperism, there is no poor rate, but large 

 parochial endowments exist. As in France, there 

 are hotpiret civile* for indoor relief, and bureaux 

 de bienfaitance for outdoor relief. The law may 

 lie enforced on communes by the Deputation 

 I'cnnanente of each province. One-third of the 

 Belgian proletariat are inscribed on the poor li-ts 

 (Bee Laurent, I.e. Pauptrume et Irx Associations de 

 Preooi/nnre). In Russia the poor-law has been 

 modified by the communal system of land tenure 

 and the large amount of unoccupied crown land. 

 Down to 1864 the landowner was Wind to feed the 

 s-'if. and there were also provincial charitable 

 societies receiving state aid. The administration 

 of the poor-law, however, was in that year handed 

 over to I he new Xfinnlfnx, or local representative 

 assemblies, who tax real property for this purpo-e. 

 Tin-re is in St Petersburg a (Hand Philanthropic 

 Society with numerous branches ; and many of the 

 pro\incial offices of charity were endowed in the 

 time of Catharine II. with the property of the 

 monasteries. In Italy there is a remarkable 



absence of compulsory provision, except for lunatics, 

 and foundlings, but the charitable foundations 

 amount to more than thirty millions sterling. 

 The law of 1802, however, requires each charitable 

 corporation to submit to the supervision of the 

 representative provincial assembly. In Home the 

 ' 'iiniinitisione de Carita has many peculiar features. 

 Holland has no law of settlement. 



In Austria each commune is charged with the 

 relief of it* poor. All who have legal domicile, 

 or who, iK-ing unable to prove their domicile, are 

 resident in the commune, are entitled to relief out 

 of the general assessment. There is no special 

 rate, ami the administration is strictly municipal. 

 In many provinces private charity is associated 

 with public assistance, administered by the priest, a 

 few chosen inhabitants, who are called -Tat here of 

 the Poor,' and an officer accountable to the com- 

 mune. This system is called the ' Pfarrarmen 

 Institute,' and their funds are principally derived 

 from private sources; but they receive a third part 

 of the property of ecclesiastics who die intestate, 

 and certain lines, &c. The 'einlager system,' or 

 boarding-oat system, obtains to a large extent as 

 regards both old and young paupers. 



In France the law of 1798 distinctly negatived 

 the right to relief. The present system rests 

 mainly on the legislation of IS.'jO .M. amended in 

 1872. The law of 1867 secured the intervention of 

 the prefect. The relief of the poor is not compul- 

 sory, in as far as its distributors may, after making 

 inquiry, refuse relief, except in the case of fonmf 

 lings and lunatics. The minister of the Interior 

 has a general superintendence of the machinery of 

 relief, as well as the immediate administration of 

 many large hospitals and refuges. The depart- 

 mental funds are called upon for compulsory relief, 

 but the commune is the main source of public 

 assistance. It encourages and stimulates volun- 

 tary charities, and receives gifts for the lenelit of 

 the poor. The administration of the hospitals, 

 and of the relief given at the homes of the poor 

 (secours ei domicile) is under (lie separate manage- 

 ment of unpaid commissions, who co-operate with 

 the communal authorities. The th/,,,t ifr, mcndi- 

 <,/: is a penal establishment for the repression of 

 vagrancy, and like the creche is departmental. 

 The work of the public dispensary is largely done 

 by sisters of charity at a small salary and with 

 unsatisfactory results, as at Boulogne. 



In Holland pauper colonies have l>een supported 

 by government for the last sixty years. Vagrants, 

 after a short imprisonment, are sent to one of 

 these, under a rigorous system of discipline. 

 Paupers of good character are sent to maintain 

 themselves and their families by agricultural 

 labour in free colonies. The working of the system 

 is pronounced costly and unsatisfactory. A descrip- 

 tion of the chief voluntary experiments in dealing 

 with the IMMII- in Europe will l>e found in The 

 < 'lniritir.it of Europe, by John de Liefde (1865). 



The annals of the poor in England are neither 

 short nor simple. Severe enactments for the repres- 

 sion of vagabondage and mendicity date from a 

 very early period. In ancient Saxon times the 

 householder was bound to provide for the laWirer, 

 and men who hail no master were, by the Kolkmote, 

 ned to some householder ; but when freedom 

 began to prevail this state of things naturally came 

 to an end. No master was Wind to provide for 

 the freeman, and when he failed to provide for 

 himself, by honest labour, he generally took to 

 vagrant lagging, often to violence. The statute of 

 Winchester! ISIhKd. I., 12KT> I shows the poor utterly 

 uncared for, and the roads infested by vagrant 

 rohlxTH. Up to the reign of Richard II. the sole 

 idea of English rulers was to treat pauperism as 

 a crime, and repress it by punishment, and by the 



