cap. 107) was passed in reference to the same subject, another blot in the law having been found; for it appears that "divers parishes contain within themselves several townships, hamlets, or chapelries, each separately maintaining its own poor," and having its own churchwardens and overseers; and that, instead of being signed by the churchwardens and overseers of the parish, the indentures of apprenticeship and certificates of settlement have been signed by such overseers and church or chapel wardens, all of which, when so signed, it is now declared are and hereafter shall be deemed good and effectual. Seven years after this, still another Act was passed (1 & 2 George IV. cap. 32), "For declaring valid certain Indentures of Apprenticeship and Certificates of Settlement," there being, it is said, " in divers parishes, townships, hamlets, and chapelries, only one church or chapel warden, and divers indentures and certificates having been signed by such single church or chapel warden, and much litigation having arisen between parishes owing to the discovery of such defect." Wherefore it is enacted, that all indentures and certificates of settlement so signed shall be deemed valid. These Acts afford proof of the antagonism which had now grown up between parishes, through the operations of the settlement law. The apprenticing of poor children under Elizabeth's Act appears to have worked beneficially, and with little friction, for a long series of years, and even the certificates of settlement under 8 & 9 William III. cap. 30,1 seem for a time to have been attended with less difficulty and inconvenience than might have been expected; but as the amount of the rates increased, and the pressure of the settled poor was more felt, each parish endeavoured to relieve its own burthen by casting as much of the pressure as possible upon others. Hence continual 1 Ante, vol. i. pp. 340-42. litigation arose, each parish having its own attorney, for either attack or defence, whether, as in the above cases, on account of some defect or loophole in the law, or of some neglect or omission on the part of an adverse parish. Everything was deemed fair, in resisting or enforcing a claim of settlement a question on which the most astute counsel and attorneys exercised their wit and exhausted their learning, much, no doubt, to the advancement of their own professional reputation; but this was often attended with serious cost to the parish, and served to augment the pressure of the poor rates. The series of amendments exhibited in the above Acts is rather remarkable, and may serve to illustrate the difficulties of legislation, and the care and extent of information sometimes required, in order that an Act of Parliament may comprehend all the cases to which it is meant to apply. First it was found that the signature of the same person as a churchwarden and as an overseer did not satisfy the requirements of the law, and this defect was cured by 51 George III. cap. 80. Then it was discovered that the signatures of the church or chapel wardens, and the overseers of townships and hamlets maintaining their own poor, were not legally binding in questions of settlement, and this blot was cured by 54 George III. cap. 107. A few years afterwards it came to be known that in divers parishes, etc., there was only one church or chapel warden to sign the indentures and certificates, instead of two, and this difficulty was surmounted by passing 1 & 2 George IV. cap. 32. But these difficulties and successive amendments, as well as the litigation to which they gave rise at the time, and the large expenditure on law proceedings which they helped to perpetuate, were all traceable to the antagonism arising out of the Law of Settlement. Great inconvenience is said to have arisen, from the 54 Geo. III. 1814. time of appointing overseers of the poor being regucap. 91. lated by the movable feast of Easter, as is directed Election of by 43 Elizabeth; and 54 George III. cap. 91, thereOverseers. fore directs that such appointments shall be made on 1814. 54 Geo. III. the 25th of March in every year, or within fourteen days thereafter. This change would doubtless conduce to the convenience of all parties, and it may well excite surprise that any action or event should be still left to depend upon the fluctuating occurrence of a movable feast, instead of being fixed at a time certain and definite. That we should in the present day recognise such movable periods at all is indeed a matter of wonder, but to make other things dependent upon them is still more so. A few days after the above, 54 George III. cap. cap. 96. 96, was passed to amend 5 Elizabeth, cap. 4,1 On exercis- respecting artificers, labourers, etc. After reciting the ing trades. provision in Elizabeth's Act restricting the exercise of 1814. 54 Geo. III. 'any art, mystery, or manual occupation" to persons who "shall have been brought up therein seven years at the least as an apprentice," all such restrictions are repealed; but there is a proviso specially exempting "the ancient customs, usages, privileges, or franchises of the city of London" from the operation of the Act. Again, at the end of a few days, the short but cap. 170. important statute of 54 George III. cap. 170, was enacted, under the title of " An Act to Repeal certain Provisions in Local Acts for the Maintenance and Regulation of the Poor, and to make other Provisions in relation thereto." It recites, "that divers Acts have lately passed containing enactments relative to the maintenance and regulation of the poor, varying the general law with respect of particular districts, parishes, townships, or hamlets; and it is expedient that some of such enactments should be repealed, and others made general." To which end, all enactments made since the 1 Vol. i. p. 153. amending settlement. accession of George the First (August 1, 1714), by which any alteration is made in respect of gaining or not gaining a settlement, are repealed; and it is directed Further that every person shall be deemed to have acquired a the law of settlement by any of the ways or means he, she, or they would or might have so done, in case such enactment had not been made. It is further directed that children born in prisons, or in lying-in hospitals, or in workhouses, shall follow the settlement of their mothers, and are not to be taken as being settled in the parishes in which these institutions may respectively be situated; and it is moreover ordered that prisoners for debt, and gate and toll-keepers, and persons maintained in any charitable institution, shall not thereby gain a settle ment. punish ment workhouses pro The 7th section of the Act directs that no master, governor, or other person intrusted with the superintendence of any house for the reception of poor persons, nor the churchwarden, overseer, or other persons appointed under the authority of any Act for the control or management of the poor, shall "punish with any Corporal corporal punishment whatsoever any adult person under en in his, her, or their care, for any offence or misbehaviour whatsoever, nor confine any such person whatsoever for hibited. any offence or misbehaviour longer than twenty-four hours, or such further space of time as may be necessary in order to have such person before a justice of peace." It may readily be supposed that a provision of this kind was necessary, now that the houses of industry and workhouses established under 9 George I. cap. 7,1 or under Gilbert's 2 and local Acts, had become numerous, and were without any adequate supervision. Under such circumstances, undue severity was very likely to be used by the persons in charge of these establishments; and by prohibiting corporal punishment altogether, and limiting confinement to twenty-four hours, 1 Ante, p 12. 2 Ante, p. 83. 1 a protection was afforded to the inmates, which we can hardly doubt was necessary. The Act further provides, that overseers of the poor may sue on securities given for indemnifying parishes for the maintenance of bastard children, and that any action so commenced is not to be affected by a change of the overseers, pending the same. The inhabitants of a parish are likewise declared to be competent witnesses in any matter relating to its rates or boundaries, or to the settlement or removal of paupers, or the chargeability of bastards, or the appointment of officers, or the allowance of accounts. Paupers ordered to be removed may be conveyed by any "proper person or persons" employed for that purpose; and the delivery of the pauper by such persons "shall be as good, valid, and effectual as if the same was done by any churchwarden or overseer." Justices assembled in to excuse petty sessions are likewise, on the application of any poor person to be discharged from the rate, and on proof of his or her inability to pay the same, empowered, with the consent of the churchwardens and overseers, to strike the name out of the rate, and order that such person shall be excused. And it is further enacted, that the goods and chattels of persons neglecting or refusing to pay the poor-rate, shall be liable to be distrained for the same in any other district, if sufficient be not found within the district in which the charge arose.1 Justices empowered payment of rate. The provisions of this Act are all clear and practical, and show that its framers were conversant with the subject in all its details. The Act originated in the necessity for some remedy of the confusion which had arisen from conflicting enactments in the divers statutes lately passed, varying the general law with respect to 1 An instance of the way in which this power of excusal came to be abused will be seen in the case of Southwell, post, p. 233. The indulgence, in fact amounted to another form of relief. |