Poor Relief Act 1662
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1662 c. 12 |
(14 Cha. 2) C A P. XII.
'W H E R E A S the Necessity, Number, and continual Increase of the Poor, not only within the Cities ofLondon and Westminster , with the Liberties of each of them, but also through the whole Kingdom of and Dominion ofWales , is very great and exceeding burthensome, being occasioned by reason of some Defects in the Law concerning the settling of the Poor, and for want of a due Provision of the Regulations of Relief and Employment in such Parishes or Places where they are legally settled, which doth enforce many to turn incorrigible Rogues, and others to perish for Want, together with the Neglect of the faithful Execution of such Laws and Statutes as have formerly been made for the apprehending of Rogues and Vagabonds, and for the Good of the Poor:' (2)For Remedy whereof, and for the preventing the perishing of any of the Poor, whether young or old, for want of such Supplies as are necessary, may it please your most Excellent Majesty, that it may be enacted; (3) And be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That whereas by reason of some Defects in the Law, poor People are not restrained from going from one Parish to another, and therefore do endeavour to settle themselves in thole Parishes where there is the best Stock, the largest Commons or Wastes to build Cottages, and the most Woods for them to burn and destroy, and when they have consumed it, then to another Parish, and at last become Rogues and Vagabonds, to the great Discouragement of Parishes to provide Stocks, where it is liable to be devoured by Strangers; (4)Be it therefore enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful, upon Complaint made by the Churchwardens or Overseers of the Poor of any Parish, to any Justice of Peace, within forty Days after any such Person or Persons coming so to settle as aforesaid, in any Tenement under the yearly Value of ten Pounds, for any two Justices of the Peace, whereof one to be of theQuorum , of the Division where any Person or Persons that are likely to be chargeable to the Parish shall come to inhabit, by their Warrantto remove and convey such Person or Persons to such Parish where he or they were last legally settled, either as a Native, Housholder, Sojourner, Apprentice or Servant, for the Space of forty Days at the least, unless he or they give sufficient Security for the Discharge of the said Parish, to be allowed by the said Justices.
II Persons grieved may appeal to the Quarter-Sessions.
II. Provided always, That all such Persons who think themselves aggrieved by any such Judgment of the said two Justices, may appeal to the Justices of the Peace of the said County at their next Quarter-Sessions, who are hereby required to do them Justice according to the Merits of their Cause.
III Persons going to work in Harvest.
III. Provided also, That (this Act notwithstanding) it shall and may be lawful for any Person or Persons, to go into any County, Parish or Place, to work in Time of Harvest, or at any Time to work at any other Work, so that he or they carry with him or them a Certificate from the Minister of the Parish and one of the Churchwardens and one of the Overseers for the Poor for the said Year, that he or they have a Dwelling-house or Place in which he or they inhabit, and hath lest Wise and Children, or some of them there, (or otherwise as the Condition of the Persons shall require) and is declared an Inhabitant of Inhabitants there; (2) And in such Case, if the Person or Persons shall not return to the Place aforesaid, when his or their Work is finished, or shall fall Sick or Impotent whilst he or they are in the said Work, it shall not be accounted a Settlement in the Cases abovesaid, but that it shall and may be lawful for two Justices of the Peace to convey the said Person or Persons to the Place of his or their Habitation as aforesaid, under the Pains and Penalties in this Act prescribed: (3) And if such Person or Persons shall refuse to go, or shall not remain in such Parish where they ought to be settled as aforesaid, but shall return of his own Accord to the Parish from whence he was removed, it shall and may be lawful for any Justice of the Peace of the City, County or Town Corporate where the said Offence shall be committed, to send such Person or Persons offending to the House of Correction, there to be punished as a Vagabond, or to a publick Work-house in this present Act hereafter mentioned, there to be employed in Work or Labour; (4) And if the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor of the Parish to which he or they shall be removed, refuse to receive such Person or Persons, and to provide Work for them, as other Inhabitants of the Parish, any Justice of Peace of that Division may and shall thereupon bind any such Officer or Officers in whom there shall be Default, to the Assizes or Sessions, there to be indicted for his or their Contempt in that Behalf.
IV Corporations or Work-houses in the Cities of London and Westminster, Middlesex, Surrey.
IV. And for the further Redress of the Mischiefs intended to be hereby remedied, Be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That from thenceforth there be, and shall be, one or more Corporation or Corporations, Work-house or Work-houses, within the Cities ofLondon and Westminster , and within the Boroughs, Towns and Places of the County of Middlesex and Surrey , situate, lying and being within the Parishes mentioned in the Weekly Bills of Mortality, consisting of a President, a Deputy to the President, and a Treasurer; and that the Lord Mayor of the City of London for the Time being be President of the Corporation or Corporations, Work-house or Work-houses within the said City, and the Assistants to be the Aldermen of the said City of London for the Time being, and fifty-two other Citizens to be chosen by the Common Council of the said City: (2) And that the said President and Assistants, or the major Part of them, shall and may elect a Deputy-President and Treasurer, and all other necessary Officers hereby constituted and authorized to execute the Powers and Offices by this Act appointed: (3) And that upon the Vacancy by Death or otherwise of any Assistant, the Power to elect in their Rooms be in the said Common Council; and the Election of the Deputy-President or Treasurer, and all other Officers, in the said President and major Part of the Assistants as aforesaid: (4) And that a President, a Deputy-President, a Treasurer and Assistants be nominated and appointed by the Lord Chancellor, or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England , for the Time being, out of the most fit Persons inhabiting in the City of Westminster or the Liberties thereof, for the Corporation or Corporations, Work-house or Work-houses within the same.
V President, Deputy-President, Treasurer and Assistants for Middlesex and Surrey, how to be elected.
V. And for the said Places within the Weekly Bills of Mortality in the said Counties ofMiddlesex and Surrey respectively, there shall be elected and chosen by the major Part of the Justices of the Peace for the said Counties in their respective Quarter-Sessions assembled, out of the most able and honest Inhabitants and Freeholders of every of the said Counties of Middlesex and Surrey respectively, a President, a Deputy-President, a Treasurer and Assistants for the Corporation or Corporations, Work-house or Work-houses of the Places aforesaid in Middlesex and Surrey ; and that upon the Vacancy by Death or otherwise, of any of the Presidents, Deputy-Presidents, Treasurers or Assistants in the City ofWestminster , and Places aforesaid in Middlesex and Surrey , the Power to elect others in their Rooms be in the major Part of the respective Justices of Peace, who in their General Quarter-Sessions from Time to Time shall accordingly supply such vacant Places; (2) and that at every Quarter-Sessions they shall require and take an Account in Writing of all the Receipts, Charges and Disbursements of the Officers and Treasurer of such Corporation or Corporations, Work-house or Work-houses, how and how many poor People have been...
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