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30 Akron L. Rev. 73 (1996-1997)
Five Hundred Years of English Poor Laws, 1349-1834: Regulating the Working and Nonworking Poor

handle is hein.journals/aklr30 and id is 83 raw text is: FIVE HUNDRED YEARS OF ENGLISH POOR LAWS, 1349-1834: REGULATING THE WORKING AND NONWORKING POOR by WILLIAM P. QUIGLEY I. INTRODUCTION Like other and more famous English institutions, the making and admin- istration of the English Poor Law was a growth, not a creation.' Certain it is, that, on the welfare of its labouring Poor, the prosperity of a country essentially depends .... Sir Frederic Eden, The State of the Poor (1797)2 The English poor laws, beginning with the Statute of Laborers of 1349- 1350 and proceeding to the reforms of 1834, regulated both the working and nonworking poor.3 From feudalism through 500 years of regulation by the poor laws work and poverty journeyed hand in hand. The legislation, and its resulting legacy of principles regulating poor people, working and nonwork- ing, is the focus of this article. * Associate Professor and Director of the Gillis Long Poverty Law Center, Loyola University School of Law. 1. E. M. LEONARD, THE EARLY HISTORY OF ENGLISH POOR RELIEF 2 (1900). 2. SIR FREDERIC EDEN, THE STATE OF THE POOR (1797) at 5. This is a three volume work but all cites in this article are to volume 1 unless otherwise noted. 3. While some overviews of English Poor Law seek to review a longer period from antiquity to 1834, the main focus of this review of the history of English Poor Law on will be restricted to the period prior to 1776, with brief mention of major developments from 1776 to 1834. T.W. FOWLE, THE POOR LAW 55 (Fred B. Rothman & Co. 1980) (1893), divides the history of poor laws in England into three time periods: first, down to the death of Elizabeth in 1603, or more strictly to the famous Act which definitely established poor relief in England in 1601; second, down to a somewhat uncertain date, for which the accession of George III in 1760 may be taken as a convenient point; and third, down to the Reforms of 1834. Major sources for research on the Poor Laws include: Ross CRANSTON, LEGAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE WELFARE STATE (1985); KARL DE SCHWEINITZ, ENGLAND'S ROAD TO SOCIAL SECURITY (1943); EDEN, supra note 2; FOWLE, supra; LEONARD, supra note 1; GEORGE NICHOLLS, A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH POOR LAW ) (Frank Cass & Co. Ltd., 1967) (1854); ROBERT C. PALMER, ENGLISH LAW IN THE AGE OF THE BLACK DEATH 1348-1381 (1993); ROBERT STEINFELD, THE INVENTION OF FREE LABOR: THE EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP IN ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LAW AND CULTURE: 1350-1870(1991); SIDNEY AND BEATRICE WEBB, ENGLISH LOCAL GOVERNMENT: ENGLISH POOR LAW HISTORY: PART 1 (1927); Jacobus tenBroek, California's Dual System of Family Law: Its Origin, Development, and Present Status, Part 1, 16 Stan. L. Rev 257, 258-291 (1964). For the ease of the reader, this author has taken the liberty of changing the spelling of words from the earlier English in one respect only: the older English frequently used the letter f where today the letter s would be used and, for purposes of this paper, that has been

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