S (which must be read in the church and registered) and resided there unmolested for forty days after such notice, he was legally settled thereby. For the law presumed that such a one at the time of notice was not likely to become chargeable, else he would not have ventured to give it; or that in such case, the parish would have taken care to remove him. But there were also other circumstances equivalent to such notice; therefore, 5. Renting for a year a tenement of the yearly value of ten pounds, and residing forty days in the parish, gained a settlement without notice ;t upon the principle of having substance enough to gain credit for such a house. 6. Being charged to and paying the public [364] taxes and levies of the parish; (excepting those for scavengers, highways," and the duties on houses and windows) and, 7. Executing, when legally appointed, any public parochial office for a whole year in the parish, as churchwarden, &c., were both of them equivalent to notice, and gained a settlement, if coupled with a residence of forty days. 8. Being hired for a year, when unmarried and childless, and serving a year in the same service; and 9. Being bound an apprentice gave the servant, and apprentice a settlement without notice,x in that place wherein they served the last forty days. This was meant to encourage application to trades, and going out to reputable services. 10. Lastly, the having an estate of one's own, and residing thereon forty days, however small the value may be, in case it be acquired by act of law or of a third person, as by descent, gift, devise, &c., was a sufficient settlement: but if a man acquired it by his own act, as by purchase, (in it's popular sense, in consideration of money paid) then unless the consideration advanced, bona fide, were 30%. it was no settlement for any longer time, than the person should inhabit thereon. He was in no case removable from his own property; but he could not, by any trifling or Stat. 13 & 14 Car. II. c. 12. 1 Jac. II. c. 17. 3 & 4 Wm. and Mar. c. 11. t Stat. 13 & 14 Car. II. c. 12. "Stat. 9 Geo. I. c. 7, §. 6. V Stat. 21 Geo. II. c. 10. 18 Geo. III. c. 26. w Stat. 3 & 4 W. and M. c. 11. y Salk. 524. Z Stat. 9 Geo. I. c. 7. C C All persons not so settled were removable. fraudulent purchase of his own, acquire a permanent and lasting settlement. All persons, not so settled, might have been removed to their own parishes, on complaint of the overseers, by two justices of the peace, if they should adjudge them likely to become chargeable to the parish, into which they have intruded: unless they were in a way of getting a legal settlement, as by having hired a house of 10l. per annum, or living in an annual service; for then they were not removable.a And in all other cases, if the parish to which they belonged, would grant them a certificate, acknowledging them to be their parishioners, they could not be removed merely be[365] cause likely to become chargeable, but only when they became actually chargeable. But such certificated person could gain no settlement by any of the means above-mentioned; unless by renting a tenement of 10l. per annum, or by serving an annual office in the parish, being legally placed therein neither could an apprentice or servant to such certificated person gain a settlement by such their service.c Reflections on the state law. These were the general heads of the laws relating to the of the poor poor, which, by the resolutions of the courts of justice thereon within a century and a half past, branched into a great variety. And yet, notwithstanding the pains that were taken about them, they still remained very imperfect, and inadequate to the purposes they were designed for: a fate, that has generally attended most of our statute laws, where they have not the foundation of the common law to build on. When the shires, the hundreds, and the tithings, were kept in the same admirable order in which they were disposed by the great Alfred, there were no persons idle, consequently none but the impotent that needed relief: and the statute of 43 Eliz. seems entirely founded on the same principle. But when this excellent scheme was neglected and departed from, we could not but observe with concern, what miserable shifts and lame expedients were from time to time adopted, in order to patch up the flaws occasioned by this neglect. There is not a more necessary or more certain maxim in the frame and constitution of society, than that every individual a Salk. 472. b Stat. 8 & 9 Wm. III. c. 30. Stat. 12 Ann. c. 18. à Maput must contribute his share, in order to the well-being of the community: and surely they must be very deficient in sound policy, who suffer one-half of a parish to continue idle, dissolute, and unemployed; and at length are amazed to find, that the industry of the other half is not able to maintain the whole. law was This account of the old law relating to the poor, and its ill The old poor administration, and the reflections on its inconvenience and superseded. uncertainty, were those which suggested themselves to Blackstone, and form indeed the best reasons for the endeavour to effect some alteration. This was indeed long demanded and often attempted before it was completed, and although I am far from saying that the recent statute which is now the law on this subject is unobjectionable in all its parts, yet it cannot be disputed that it has, to a great extent, redressed the complaints against the former system of poor law originally made by the impartial authority of our great commentator. With this preliminary observation I shall now give a very brief account of the new poor law. poor law 4 & 5 Wm. In the first place it establishes an entirely new machinery The new for dispensing relief to the poor. This is done by means of act, a commission consisting of three commissioners, a limited iv c. 76. number of assistant commissioners, and a competent number of other officers, (ss. 1-9). The administration of relief from the passing of the act is to be subject to the control of the commissioners, (s. 15), who are to issue rules for the management of the poor, the government of workhouses, and other matters connected with this subject, which rules are to be sent to a secretary of state, and laid before parliament, (ss. 16 & 17). Workhouses are to be wholly under the control of the commissioners, (ss. 21-25,) and in order more completely to carry into effect the improvements contemplated by the act, the commissioners may declare so many parishes as they may see fit to be united for the administration of the laws for the relief of the poor, (s. 26). In these unions any two justices of the peace may direct relief to be given to any adult person who shall from age, or infirmity of body, be wholly unable to work, without requiring such person to reside in any workhouse, (s. 27), but * 4 & 5 Wm. IV. c. 76. one great principle of this act is to prevent all out-door relief, except in such cases. Where parishes are thus united, a board of guardians shall be chosen, and the workhouses of the union shall be governed, and the relief of the poor administered by such board. The guardians are to be elected by the rate-payers, (s. 38). The inefficiency of the overseers of the poor, who administered the relief under the old system, has been already pointed out; to remedy this evil, the commissioners may direct the overseers or guardians of any parish or union to appoint certain paid officers for superintending or assisting in the administration of the relief or employment of the poor, (s. 46). The main object of the law however is, to stop all relief to the able-bodied, except medical attendance, otherwise than in well-regulated workhouses; and it is accordingly enacted that the commissioners, by such rules as they may see proper, may declare to what extent the relief shall be given to the able-bodied, or their families, and in what manner such out-door relief may be afforded; and several special provisions are made in the act as to particular cases, when relief may be afforded, (ss. 5459). Perhaps, however, the most indisputable benefit arising from the act, is the sweeping away the greater part of the cumbrous and confused law of settlement, out of which we have seen so many nice distinctions arose, and which was a source of so much difficulty and distress to the pauper, and expense and vexation to the parish and the rate-payers. The only modes of acquiring a settlement by the new law are, 1. Birth. 2. Parentage. 3. Apprenticeship. 4. Marriage. 5. Occupying a tenement and paying one year's rate. 6. Possessing an estate, and residence within ten miles thereof, (ss. 64-68). All the others mentioned by Blackstone are abolished. Every bastard born after the passing of the act, shall follow the settlement of its mother until such child shall attain the age of sixteen, or shall acquire a settlement in its own right, (s. 71).a This short notice of the new poor law I have thought it proper to give, but it is to be remembered that it cannot at present be considered the permanent settlement of this important subject; a parliamentary inquiry is still pending, and a See post, chap. 16, ad fin. some modification may be expected even of the portions, of the act to which I have referred; but certainly of others to which I have not thought it necessary to allude. By an act of last session,d relief is extended to the poor in Ireland by the establishment of workhouses for that purpose. Overseers It should be observed, that although overseers are re- Duties of lieved by the new poor law act of much of their former under the labour, yet new duties are given them, as we have already seen, by the reform act.f 1 & 2 Vict. c. 56. See ante, pp. 176-179. reform act. |