PREFACE 



While taking a course of lectures on the history of Eng- 

 lish Poor Law, given by Professor F. H. Giddings of 

 Columbia University, I became interested in the law of 

 parochial settlement and in its effect on the mobility of the 

 working-man. My original purpose had been to give an 

 account of its origin and development and of its final repeal 

 during the era of the abolition of the Corn laws. Begin- 

 ning with a study of the earliest instances of national legis- 

 lation dealing with the labouring classes, I was, of course, 

 led to consider the ordinance and the statute of labourers 

 of 1349 and 1 35 1, and found that although these measures 

 and their consequences had been frequently discussed by 

 economic historians, no detailed investigation had as 3^et 

 been made of the methods and machinery by which they 

 were enforced. This monograph presents the results of 

 such an investiga,tion, based chiefly on an examination of 

 the manuscript sources in the Public Record Office, London. 



I am indebted to many scholars both here and in England 

 for valuable assistance on specific problems, and in the dis- 

 cussion of these problems I have sought to make clear my 

 indebtedness. To others I am under still heavier obliga- 

 tions. My warm appreciation is due to my former teacher, 

 Professor C. M. Andrews, once of Bryn Mawr, now of 

 Johns Hopkins, who has given me freely of his time and 

 has helped me with many suggestions. It is not easy ade- 

 quately to express my gratitude to Mr. Hubert Hall, of the 

 Public Record Office, for the generosity with which his 



