POOR-LAWS 



315 



seldom done except on occasions like the Lancashire 

 distress. The la\y as to the settlement of the poor 

 is somewhat intricate, and gives rise to much liti- 

 gation. There are various grounds on which this 

 settlement is acquired. Thus, every person has, 

 primA facie, a settlement in the parish where he 

 was born, until some other is proved ; and there are 

 so many other qualifications that it is seldom a 

 birth-settlement is resorted to. By marriage a 

 woman immediately acquires the settlement of her 

 husband, if he has one, whether the husband be an 

 Englishman or a foreigner. If the Tinsband has no 

 settlement, then the wife is thrown back on her 

 maiden settlement. If any person shall be l>ound 

 an apprentice by indenture, and reside forty days 

 under such apprenticeship, or has resided three 

 years in a parish, or shall rent a tenement in a 

 parish, and actually occupy the same, and be rated 

 to the poor for one whole year, the rent being not 

 less than 10, and paid by the person so actually 

 occupying the tenement, or shall acquire an estate 

 in land, however small in value, and reside forty 

 days in the parish, or shall buy an estate, and the 

 consideration amount to 30 at least, he shall by 

 any of these methods acquire a settlement. Unless 

 a pauper has acquired a settlement in the parish or 

 union where he receives relief, he is liable to be 

 removed compulsorily to the parish where he last 

 acquired a settlement. Paupers who have resided 

 for one whole year in the parish or union in which 

 they became destitute cannot, however, be re- 

 moved. The general expense of maintaining the 

 poor is paid out of the common fund, and not 

 by each parish in the union. When a pauper is 

 sought to l>e removed it is necessary to take him 

 before two justices of the peace for examination ; 

 and, on proper evidence of his settlement, the 

 justices will make the order of removal, which is 

 an authority to the overseers to take or send the 

 pauper to the overseers of the parish of settlement. 

 If, however, the pauper is too ill at the time to 

 admit of removal without danger, the justices may 

 suspend the order of removal till he is recovered. 

 Whenever a pauper is to be removed the removing 

 union is bound to give notice to the union of 

 settlement ; and it is on these occasions that so 

 many obstinate and costly litigations take place 

 as to which is the union of settlement. The union 

 also may appeal to the court of quarter sessions 

 against the removal order; and the quarter 

 .serious may state a case for the opinion of the 

 Court of Queen's Bench, if any nice point of law 

 should arise, as frequently happens. This evil of 

 litigation was greatly diminished by the Union 

 Chargeability Act of 1865. The Local Government 

 Act of 1894 left the administration of the poor-laws 

 of England with the guardians and overseers. But 

 churchwardens ceased to be ex officio overseers; 

 the parochial electors appoint the guardians, and 

 the parish council appoints the overseers, addi- 

 tional ones being appointed in place of the church- 

 wardens. 



Scotland and Ireland have been legislated for 

 separately. Their poor-laws are similar to the 

 English in principle and practice ; both are admin- 

 istered by a central board, which supervises the 

 local bodies charged with relief, and in both the 

 rate is levied on the annual value of real property. 

 In Scotland the usual early legislation was passed 

 against sturdy beggars and vagabonds. A system of 

 assessment by the owners in each landward (i.e. non- 

 urban) parish was set up in 1579 and 1663, and the 

 general policy of the poor-laws was stated in procla- 

 mations by trie Privy -council in the end of the 17th 

 century. Until the 19th century, however, the poor 

 in nifwt parishes were supported out of the volun- 

 tary collections at the parish church, administered 

 by the heritors and kirk-session. In spite of the 



opposition of Dr Chalmers, a new system was in- 

 stituted in 1845. Relief was administered by a 

 parochial board, appointed by the ratepayers, the 

 burgh magistrates, and the kirk-session ; and the 

 board appointed 'inspectors of the poor' as re- 

 lieving-omcers. The Scots law differs from the 

 English and Irish in allowing no relief to able- 

 bodied adults. Claimants must be aged, infirm, or 

 disabled. Outdoor relief is the rule. In 1845 a 

 central board was established, called the Board of 

 Supervision, controlling the parochial board of each 

 parish like the Local GovernmentBoard inEngland, 

 though with less extended powers thus, although 

 parochial boards mightcombine tobuild workhouses, 

 there are no unions, properly so called, in Scotland. 

 A settlement can be acquired in Scotland by resi- 

 dence of five years. Children follow the settlement 

 of their parents, and wives that of their husbands ; 

 and if no other settlement be proved, then the 

 settlement of birth is liable. In Scotland the poor- 

 rate, except in a few cases where the local usage 

 established in 1845 is followed, is universally im- 

 posed equally upon owners and occupiers according 

 to the annual value of the houses, works, farms, 

 mines, &c., by which is meant the net annual 

 value, after allowing for repairs, insurance, and 

 other expenses, and not the gross annual value 

 appearing in the valuation-roll. Each parochial 

 board, however, may exercise an important power of 

 classifying subjects according to the use to which 

 they are put, and giving appropriate deductions 

 from annual value. The tendency of this system 

 is to approach an assessment imposed upon prob- 

 able income, the older assessment in Scotland 

 having frequently been laid on means and sub- 

 stance. The parochial boards, originally created 

 solely for administering the poor-laws, were gradu- 

 ally utilised for carrying out the law as to burial- 

 grounds, the registration of births, deaths, and 

 marriages, vaccination, public health, and public 

 libraries. The Local Government (Scotland ) Act 

 of 1894 (unlike the English act) transferred the 

 powers and responsibilities of the parochial boards 

 to the newly constituted Parish Councils ; and in 

 Scotland the administration of the poor-laws, 

 especially of the great act of 1845, is the most im- 

 portant duty of the Parish Council. At the same 

 time the Board of Supervision is abolished, and its 

 powers transferred to the Local GovernmentBoard 

 lor Scotland, a semi-independent body being thus 

 superseded by a state department ( in Edinburgh, 

 as oefore ). The Secretary for Scotland is president 

 of the b> ard, which through him is responsible to 

 parliament. 



In Ireland the Poor-law Act was passed for the 

 first time in 1838, and numerous amending statutes 

 have followed, the code of laws being substantially 

 founded on the English acts. Each union has a 

 workhouse managed by a Board of Guardians 

 elected by the ratepayers. Every destitute person 

 has an absolute right to relief, which is adminis- 

 tered almost entirely in the workhouse. The Local 

 Government Act of 1898 made no essential changes. 

 There are special acts of parliament regulating the 

 conditions on which paupers are removable between 

 England, Scotland, and Ireland respectively. 



In recent times a new policy has been devised, 

 and in the German empire carried into practical 

 effect, of providing against the evils which the 

 poor-law is intended to alleviate. This policy is 



fjnerally known as that of compulsory insurance, 

 he German law of 13th June 1883 on sickness 

 insurance was followed by that of 6th July 1884 

 on accident insurance, and that of 22d June 1889 

 on insurance against permanent disability and old 

 age. Compulsory contributions are collected, to 

 which the workman, the employer, and the state aro 

 all parties. The disability pension is given after 



