The Scottish Poor Law and the Poor Law (Amendment) Act, 1834
| Author | W. L. Burn |
| Date | 01 October 1932 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1932.tb01860.x |
| Published date | 01 October 1932 |
The
Scottish
Poor
Law
and
the
Poor
Law
(Amendment)
Act,
1834
By
W.
L.
BURN,
B,A.
ROM
one end to the other
is
England
at
this
moment ringing
“
F
with bitter and incessant complaints that her capital
is
con-
sumed, the earnings of her industrious citizens wrested from their
hands to pamper indolence and profligacy
. .
.
.
and that
a
hundred
additional evils are daily occurring and increasing under the
iniquitous system
of
the Poor Laws
.
.
. .
It
is
the boast
of
every
Scotsman who knows and values the institutions
of
his
country that
the Scottish system
of
Poor Laws
is
the most benevolent in principle,
the simplest in practice, and the least burdensome to the people that
could possibly have been devised.”
This
opinion1
of
the respective
merits of the English and Scottish
Poor
Laws emanated from
a
country which had no Poor Law at all, and may be considered to
have, at least, the virtue of impartiality.
It
was, in fact, contended
that the constitution and administration
of
the Poor Laws in Scotland
not only were vastly less expensive than the English system,2 but
were far more inclined to foster independence among the poor, and
generosity among their wealthier neighbours.
It
is
interesting, then,
to inquire why
a
system apparently
so
cheap and
so
efficient
as
that
of Scotland was
so
little considered as
a
basis for
their
plans by the
reformers of the English Poor Laws.
The
oId
Scottish
system
is
not
so
well known
as
to make
a
short
description
of
it
unnecessary in this paper. The chief difficulty
is
encountered,
at
once, in discovering who was entitled
to
Poor Relief.
For
the greater part
of
the 16th Century English and Scottish legisla-
tion on
this
subject ran on lines almost exactly parallel. But the Act
of
1579 (rz
Jac.
VI,
c.
74,
although in parts almost literally copied
from
14
Eliz., c.
5,
contained no such provision as the English Act
for furnishing work to able-bodied paupers. From this point the
two
systems diverged. By the Act
of
1579
relief was withheld in
Scotland from
‘‘
idle and lazy vagabonds,” including
‘‘
all common
labourers, being personnes abile
in
body.”3 In
this
fashion the
law
1
Dublin
Univ.
Rev..
May,
1834.
2
The Westminster Revrew for 1841
(Vol.
36)
calculated
that
during
the years
1835-37
Poor
Relief
in
Scotland equaUe&a charge
of
IS.
z&i.
per head of the population,
and
in
England
6s.
row.
s
This,
of
course,
was
not
a
new departure. It
was
only
a reiteration
of
the old
law.
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