Reforming the Elizabethan Poor Laws: A Historical Perspective on Welfare Systems

Abstract

Elizabethan Poor Laws. Since the Elizabethan era, it is the parishes that have been responsible for helping the poor in England, whether it is home assistance, the most common, or the management of poor people's homes, the workhouses. Although the system is not perfect, England has a reputation for helping its poor better than any other country in Europe. From 1595, the English government decided to replace the aid, formerly distributed by the lords and the monasteries, and to organize a system of public charity necessary for the good functioning of the country. The beginning of the 17th century was marked by major political and social unrest due to the wars of religion. Faced with the danger represented by bands of armed men who pillaged the countryside in order to subsist and to put part of the destitute population back to work, Elisabeth I decided to organize relief for the needy. This aid was financed by a tax, the poor rates, paid by landowners, very unfavorable to this measure, but who resigned themselves to such an expense, pledge of a certain return to security. From 1601 to 2006, British governments attempted to put inactive people back to work. In addition, it was established in the 17th century that financial aid could only be distributed in exchange for work, this principle undergoing subsequent adjustments; later, many control systems and subsidized jobs were put in place (McDonald 23). Respect for the wage-assistance differential has been a founding principle of return-to-work policies over the centuries. Despite their lack of success, most of the measures of the past were repeated in the twentieth century under the guise of novelty, with a result comparable to that of previous eras. All the laws on the poor have been accompanied by a desire to classify. This was already the case with the law of 1601, which took great care to distinguish three categories of "beneficiaries". Impotent people unable to work (handicapped, lame, blind and old people) are accommodated in hospices or orphanages(McDonald 32). The vagrants and the poor clearly identified as idle poor should be detained in reformatories or in prison. There remain the physically fit (able-bodied) poor who can be put to work in a workshop (House of Industry). But, at least at the beginning, the help is as far as possible brought at home, possibly in the form of raw materials: "flax, hemp, wool, thread, iron and other necessary articles" as specified in the law of 1601. In ancient times the poor were considered to be protected by God and the almsgiver performed a sacred duty. Almsgiving since the Elizabethan laws was centralized and organized by the state through taxes for the poor. The crown claimed responsibility for looking after the unfortunate but it...