POOR LA 



TOOK LAWS. 



a a was 1 '.'1U.241/. ; the earliest account after that date ia for 1801, 

 when the expenditure amounted to 4,01 7.87U, the assessment* having 

 b**n more than doubled in 17 years. It will be Been from the follow- 



to be nominated yearly under the hand* and Beak of two or more 

 jurtio-of the p^iLll be called ovenjeer* of the poor. [OVKH- 

 SKM.) Under thia statute overseers could be apjwuited for parishea 

 only. ThU proved very inaufflcient. becauae many Urge and populous 

 dUtricU were not situate within any pariah aud consequently no 



more ai, oue, . 



ruble how little connection there has been since that time between overseer* whatever could be appointed for them ; and also becauae 



s themselve. were of such manitude that one set of 



the sum* expended for relief and the price of corn : 



The extent to which the pauperising of the labourers of England 

 was carried had long been viewed with alarm, aud had formed the 

 subject of many parliamentary inquiries, but without producing any 

 substantial amendment, until, in 1 832, a commission was appointed by 

 the crown, consisting of the bishops of London aud Chester, Mr. Sturges 

 Bourne, Mr. Senior, and five other gentlemen, under whose direction 

 inquiries were carried on throughout England and Wales, and the 

 actual condition of the Labouring class in every parish was ascertained, 

 with the view of showing the evils of the existing practice, and of 

 suggesting some remedy. The labour of this inquiry was exceedingly 

 great ; but in a comparatively short time a report was presented by 

 the commissioners, which completely explained the operation of the 

 law a- administered, with its effects upon different classes, and sug- 

 gested remedial measures. This report was presented in February, 

 1834, and was followed by the passing, in August, 1834, of the Poor- 

 Law Amendment Act, in which the principal recommendations of the 

 commissioners were embodied. 



The chief provisions of this law are the establishment of the Poor- 

 Law Commissioners (now the Poor Law Board) to exercise a controlling 

 authority over the administration of relief to the destitute by the local 

 authorities. The administration of relief to the poor is placed under 

 the control of the commissioners, who make rules and regulations for 

 the purpose, which are binding upon all the local bodies. They are 

 empowered to order workhouses to be built, hired, altered, or 

 enlarged, with the consent of the majority of the board of guardians. 

 One very important power given to them was that of uniting several 

 parishes for the purposes of a more effective and economical adminis- 

 tration of poor relief. These united parishes, or unions, are managed 

 by boards of guardians annually elected by the ratepayers and owners 

 of property of the various pariahea, but the masters of workhouses and 

 other, paid officers, though appointed by the guardians, are under the 

 order* of the commissioners, mid removable by them. The system of 

 paying wage* partly out of poor-rates ia discontinued, and except in 

 extraordinary casts, as to which the commissioners are the judges, 

 relief ia only to be given to able-bodied persona or to their families 

 within the walla of the workhouse. Another branch of the poor-law, 

 which was materially altered by the Act of 1834, was that relating to 

 illegitimate children. Aud the law upon this subject has since been 

 further altered by the 7*8 Viet c. 101, and indi ed entirely discon- 

 nected with the Poor Laws, the mother being now left to enforce her 

 civil remedy against the father of the child. 



The number of unions formed, and places in which the rules and 

 regulations of the Poor Law Board are in force, to Lady-day, 1860, ia 

 Old, including 14,127 |rihe^with a population of 17,070,938 souk. 



It will be convenient to state how the law stood previously to the 

 p using of the Poor-Law Amendment Act (4 & 5 Wm. IV. c. 7'), and 

 then to notice more particularly some of iU leading provisions. 



Every indigent person, whether a native or a foreigner, l*ing in any 

 district of England or Wales, in which a fund ia raised for the main- 

 tenance of Uie poor, has a right U> be supplied with the necessaries 

 of life out of that fund. This right depend* on rtatute, and princi- 

 pally on the 48 KHz. c. 2, which enacts that the churchwardens of 

 every pariah, and four, three,' or two subrtantial householders there, 



many parishes themselve. were of such magnitude that one set of 

 overseers could not properly attend to all the poor. To supply this 

 defect, the 18 ft 14 Car. II. c. 1'J, authorised the apDoJobnant of 

 overseers in any township that wa either extra-parochial or was part 

 of a parish so large as to require distinct sets of officers for the ma- 

 nagement of iU poor. The 20 Viet c. 19 made further prm 

 for the appointment of overseers for extra-parochial places. 



It is the duty of these overseers to raise the fund for the relief of the 

 poor of their district This fund, which i called the poor-rate, th-y 

 are directed by the statute of Kliz. in nirihe*, and l>y the statute of 

 Car. II. in townships, to raise " weekly or otherwise, by taxation of 

 every inhabitant, parson, vicar, and other, and every occupier of lands, 

 houses, tithes impropriatc, propriations of tithes, coal-mines or sale- 

 able underwoods in the said parish, in such competent sum and sums 

 of money as they shall think fit, ftc., according to the ability of the 

 parish." 



The rate may be made according to the exigencies of the place, 

 which, whether parish or township, may conveniently in either case 

 be called a parish, for any period not loss than a week nor exceeding a 

 year. The rate, which is made in writing, gives the names of the 

 persons rated, a description of the property for which they are rated, 

 and the amount payable by them; it contains also a doclara'in. 

 signed by the parish officers, that the rate is, to the beat of their i 

 correct, and that they have used their best endeavours to make it so. 

 The rate so made aud signed must be taken to two justices for their 

 assent, which ia called the allowance of the rate, and public notice of 

 such allowance must be given on the Sunday following, or the rate 

 will be entirely void. 



As the statute expressly mentions both inhabitants and occupiers, 

 inhabitants were held liable to be rated in proportion to their ability 

 within the parish, although they had no property there which was 

 capable of occupation, and occupiers of property therein were held 

 liable although they resided elsewhere. Accordingly both re.il cor- 

 poreal property and personal property within the parish may be 

 assessed, as constituting " the ability of the parish ; " real corporeal 

 property, as land or houses, may be assessed, wheresoever the occupier 

 resides, and personal property, if the owner is resident within the 

 parish. Incorporeal real property, since it is not the subject of occu- 

 pation, seems not to be rateable unless incidentally, when, as in the 

 cose of the tolls of a canal, it is, as it were, annexed to and enhances 

 the value of corporeal real property, which is the subject of occu- 

 pation. As it is the occupier and not the owner of real corp<uv,d 

 property who is rated for it, it will be obvious that the term " real 

 property " is not used in the poor-laws according to its strict legal 

 sense, and that the occupier of a house is rated for it, although he 

 has a mere chattel interest in it. The term " personal property " is 

 also used in a restricted sense ; it denotes stock in trade, and such 

 things as are not at all of the nature of realty, and excludes chattels 

 real. The assessment is laid in respect of the revenue or annual 

 profit of the property rated, whether real or personal. Such property 

 therefore as is incapable of yielding profit is not rateable. The assess- 

 ment upon land and houses, &c., is calculated upon an estimate of 

 their net annual value, which is defined to be the rent at which they 

 would let from year to year, free of all tenant's rates and taxes, aud 

 tithe commutation rent-charge, if any, and deducting the probable 

 average of annual costs of repairs, insurance, and any other expenses 

 which may be necessary to maintain the premises in a state to com- 

 mand such rent. Personal property was not rated unless it had, as it 

 were, a local existence ; and therefore neither stock in the funds nor 

 money was rateable. Furniture also was exempted, because it yielded 

 no profit. In practice the only kind of personal pro|>erty ever i 

 and that in very few places, was stock in trade aud ships. The rating 

 of this species of projwrty was attended with many disadvantages. 

 The rate was to be made on the profit, which was defined to be not 

 the whole profit, but the excess after payment of debts. Thus it 

 was nearly impossible to ascertain the rateable amount of such 

 projicrty, and the proprietor might always evade the tax by re- 

 aiiling out of the parish. So long however as personal property was 

 rateable by law, the omission of it in the rate w;is a ground of appeal, 

 because all persons liable are to be rated equally according to their 

 ability. The inconvenience of this state of things induced the legis- 

 lature to enact by 3 & 4 Viet. c. 89 that no inhabitant should be 

 rated for his stock in trade or other property. The word " inhabi- 

 tant/' may now be considered as struck out of the statute of Kliza- 

 beth ; nobody will have to contribute henceforward to the poor- 

 rate except in his character of occupier. Personal property therefore 

 is no longer rateable ; but nevertheless the exemption depends upon 

 the passing annually of an act of parliament continuing the 

 exemption. 



If a parish is unable to" furnish a sufficient sum for the maintenance 

 of its poor, any other parish in the same hundred, with the sanction of 

 wo justices, or in any other part of the county, with the sanction of 



