and therefore do endeavour to settle themselves in those 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; for remedy whereof it is thereby, amongst other things, enacted, 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 the 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 the quorum, of the division where any person or persons that are likely to be chargeable to the parish shall come to inhabit, by their warrant, to remove and convey such person or persons to such parish where he or they were last legally settled, either as a native householder, 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: And whereas many industrious poor persons, chargeable to the parish, township, or place where they live, merely from want of work there, would in any other place, where sufficient employment is to be had, maintain themselves and families without being burthensome to any parish, township, or place; and such poor persons are for the most part compelled to live in their own parishes, townships, or places, and are not permitted to inhabit elsewhere, under pretence that they are likely to become chargeable to the parish, township, or place, into which they go for the purpose of getting employment, although the labour of such poor persons might in many instances, be very beneficial to such parish, township, or place: And whereas the remedy intended to be applied thereto, by the granting of certificates, in pursuance of the act passed in the eighth and ninth years of the reign of King William the Third, intituled, An Act for supplying some defects in the laws for the relief of the poor of this kingdom, hath been found very ineffectual, and it is necessary that other provisions should be made relating thereto;" Be it therefore enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That, from any after the so much of passing of this act, so much of the said in part recited act of recited acts the thirteenth and fourteenth years of King Charles the Second, justices to as enables the justices to remove any person or persons that remove perare likely to be chargeable to the parish, township, or place, be chargeable sons likely to into which they shall come to inhabit, shall be and the same is to parishes, hereby repealed; and, that from thenceforth no poor person repealed; and

N5

as enables

no persons to

be removed

able.

shall be removed, by virtue of any order of removal, from the till they be parish or place where such poor person shall be inhabiting, to come charge- the place of his or her last legal settlement, until such person shall have become actually chargeable to the parish, township, or place, in which such person shall then inhabit, in which case two justices of the peace are hereby empowered to remove the person or persons, in the same manner and subject to the same appeal, and with the same powers, as might have been done before the passing of this act with respect to persons likely to become chargeable.

Justices may

removal of sick person. See 49 G. 3.

c. 124.

"II. And whereas poor persons are often removed or passuspend the sed to the place of their settlement during the time of their sickness, to the great danger of their lives;" for remedy whereof, be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That in case any poor person shall from henceforth be brought before any justice or justices of the peace, for the purpose of being removed from the place where he or she is inhabiting or sojourning, by virtue of any order of removal, or of being passed by virtue of any vagrant pass, and it shall appear to the said justice or justices that such poor person is unable to travel, by reason of sickness or other infirmity, or that it would be dangerous for him or her so to do, the justice or justices making such order of removal, or granting such vagrant pass, are hereby required and authorized to suspend the execution of the same until they are satisfied that it may safely be executed, without danger to any person who is the subject thereof; which suspension of, and subsequent permission to execute the same, shall be respectively indorsed on the said order of removal or vagrant pass, and signed by such justice or justices: And no act done by any such poor person continuing to reside in any parish, township, or place, under the suspension of any such order shall be effectual, either in the whole or in part, for the purpose of giving him or her a settlement in the same; and the charges proved upon oath to have been incurred by such suspension of any order of resuch suspen- moval may, by the said justices, be directed to be paid by the churchwardens and overseers of the parish or place to which officers of the such poor person is ordered to be removed, in case any reparish to which they moval shall take place, or in case of the death of such poor are ordered to person before the execution of such order; and if the churchbe removed, wardens or overseers of the parish, township, or place, to which the order of removal shall be made, or any or either of them, shall, upon the removal or death of such poor person ordered to be removed, refuse or neglect to pay the said charges within three days after demand thereof, and shall not within the same time give notice of appeal as is hereinafter mentioned, it shall and may be lawful for one justice of the peace, by warrant under his hand and seal, to cause the

Charges incurred by

sion to be

paid by the

which may

be levied with costs.

money mentioned in such order to be levied by distress and sale of the goods and chattels of the person or persons so refusing or neglecting payment of the same, and also such costs attending the same, not exceeding forty shillings, as such justice shall direct; and if the parish, township, or place, to which the removal of such poor person is made or was ordered to be made, before the death of such person as aforesaid, be without the jurisdiction of the justice of the peace issuing the warrant, then such warrant shall be transmitted to any justice of the peace having jurisdiction within such parish, township, or place as aforesaid, who, upon receipt thereof, is hereby authorized and required to indorse the same for execution: Provided nevertheles, that if the sum so If costs exordered to be paid on account of such costs and charges ex- ceed 201. ap ceed the sum of twenty pounds, the party or parties aggrieved made to the peal may be by such order may appeal to the next general quarter sessions quarter sesagainst the same, as they may do against an order for the sions. removal of poor persons by any law now in being; and if the court of quarter sessions shall be of opinion that the sum so awarded be more than of right ought to have been directed to be paid, such court may and is hereby directed to strike out the sum contained in the said order, and insert the sum which in the judgment of such court ought to be paid; and in every such case the said court of quarter sessions shall direct that the said order so amended shall be carried into execution by the said justices by whom the order was originally made, or either of them, or in case of the death of either of them, by such other justice or justices as the said court shall direct: Provided, that nothing in this act contained shall extend to This act not alter or abridge the power of justices of the peace to pass or to alter the punish vagrants in the manner and under the circumstances tices to pass power of jusset forth in an act, passed in the seventeenth year of the reign or punish vaof His late Majesty, King George the Second, intituled, An grants by 17 Geo. 2. c. 5. Act to amend and make more effectual the laws relating to rogues, except as to vagabonds, and other idle and disorderly persons, and to houses of suspension. correction (except so far as regards the power of suspending the vagrant pass, in the manner and for the causes before mentioned).

person to

III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, No That no person coming into any parish, township, or place, gain a settleshall, from and after the passing of this act, be enabled to ment by deligain any settlement therein by delivery and publication of lication of a any notice in writing.

very and pub

written no.

tice;

IV. Provided always, and be it further enacted by the au- nor by paythority aforesaid, That, from and after the passing of this act, ing taxes for no person or persons whatsoever, who shall come into any less than 101. yearly value.

a tenement of

Rogues, &c. to be considered as

and may be removed.

parish, township, or place, shall gain a settlement in such parish, township, or place, by being charged with, and paying his, her, or their share, towards the public taxes or levies of the said parish, township, or place, for or on account or in respect of any tenement or tenements, not being of the yearly value of ten pounds.

V. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That every person who shall have been convicted of larceny, or any other chargeable, felony, or who by the laws now in being shall be deemed a rogue, vagabond, idle, or disorderly person, or who shall appear to any two or more justices of the peace of the division wherein such person shall reside, upon the oath of one or more credible witness or witnesses to be a person of evil fame, or a reputed thief, such person not being able to give a satisfactory account of himself or herself, or of his or her way of living, shall be considered as a person actually chargeable within the true intent and meaning of this act, to the parish in which such person shall reside, and shall be liable to be removed to the parish of his or her last legal settlement by the order of the said justices of the peace whereof one to be of the quorum of the division where any such person shall residé.

Unmarried women with child to be deemed chargeable.

Bastards to

the mothers'

parishes.

VI. Provided also, and be it hereby enacted by the authority aforesaid, That every unmarried woman with child shall be deemed and taken to be a person actually chargeable, within the true intent and meaning of this act, to the parish, township, or place, in which she shall inhabit, and may be removed as such to the place of her last legal settlement; and in case be deemed of any order of removal obtained for such purpose shall be suspended for any of the reasons before mentioned, and during such suspension the said woman shall be delivered of any child, which by the laws of this kingdom shall be a bastard, every such bastard child shall be deemed and taken to be settled in the same parish, township, or place in which was the legal settlement of the mother at the time of her delivery: Former acts Provided nevertheless, that all act or acts heretofore made touching bas- touching bastard children, or concerning the mothers or reputed fathers of such children, shall be, and remain in full force and effect after the passing of this act, as well in cases where by this act the place of settlement of such bastard children is directed to be the same as that of the mothers of such children, as in cases where the place of settlement of such bastard children remains the same as it did before the passing of this act.

tards, &c. to remain in force.

[36 Geo. 3. c. 10.]

An Act for the better Relief of the Poor within the several Hundreds, Towns, and Districts, in that Part of Great Britain called England, incorporated by divers Acts of Parliament for the Purpose of the better Maintenance and Employment of the Poor; and for enlarging the Powers of the Guardians of the Poor within the said several Hundreds, Towns, and Districts, as to the Assessments to be made upon the several Parishes, Hamlets, and Places, within their respective Hundreds, Towns, and Districts, for the Support and Maintenance of the Poor. [18th December 1795.]

"Whereas several acts of parliament have of late years been made and passed, for the better relief and employment of the poor in particular incorporated hundreds, towns, and districts, within that part of Great Britain called England: And whereas certain persons, described and appointed by the said several acts, are thereby empowered to assess the several parishes, hamlets, and places, chargeable to the poor's rate within the said several hundreds, towns, or districts respectively, in such sums of money as they shall think necessary for defraying the expences of supporting and maintaining the poor within their respective hundreds, towns, and districts, and for other the purposes of the said acts; but such sums of money, for which such assessments are to be made, are by the said several acts of parliament limited so as that they may not exceed a certain sum in any one year, which sum was calculated upon an average of the amount of the poor's rates in each parish respectively, for a certain number of years previous to the passing of the respective incorporating acts: And whereas, by reason of the late very great increase of the price of corn, and other necessary articles of life, the amount of the rates and assesments, so limited by the said several acts of parliament, are become insufficient for the necessary relief and maintenance of the poor, who have also of late greatly increased in number: And whereas in many incorporated hundreds, towns, and districts, the expence of maintaining the poor, since the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and ninetyfive, has exceeded the whole amount of the rates which could be raised in the present year within those hundreds, towns, and districts, under their respective incorporating acts: whereby considerable debts have on that account been incurred by the guardians of the poor of those hundreds, towns, and districts: And it is therefore become necessary and expedient