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BILL

[AS AMENDED BY THE COMMITTEE]

To amend the Laws respecting the Settlement of the Poor.

Note.-The Figures in the Margin denote the Number of the Folios in the written Copy.

HEREAS many poor and industrious Persons are, when Preamble, no longer able to maintain themselves, liable to be removed from the Parishes in which they have resided, and laboured many years, to other and distant places of legal Settlement, derived from their parents, or as being the places of their births, or of their transitory residence in the early parts of their lives, and where they are forgotten and unknown; and great Sums are yearly expended in the litigation of the numerous and complicated questions of Law and of Fact, which arise in regard to such Settlements; and it is expedient that a more reasonable, simple, and uniform mode of acquiring legal Settlements by Residence should be established; TO that end,

May it please Your MAJESTY,

That it may be Enacted; And be it 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 and after the Eleventh day of October next after the passing of this Act, no Person shall acquire or become entitled to a legal Settlement in any Parish, by residing therein, in any situation, character, or capacity whatsoever, for a shorter time, or in any other manner, than as hereinafter is enacted and provided; any former Law, Statute or Provision to the contrary notwithstanding.

And be it further Enacted, That from and after the said Eleventh day of October next, every Man, and every unmarried Woman, who A shall

252.

No Settlement to be gained otherwise than as is by this Act provided.

Settlement to be gained by a residence of

Three years;

The Three years not to commence

under 16 years

of age, or before Emancipation. Residence in

Almshouses,

&c. not to confer a Settlement.

Persons claim

ing a Settle

dence, may

make Oath

thereof before Justices, who are to examine and adjudge.

shall have resided and continued in any Parish for the space of Three years, without having been absent therefrom more than Sixty entire days in any one year, and who during that time shall not have been convicted of any Felony, or imprisoned in any Gaol or House of Correction under any Conviction or Sentence of or for any Crime or Misdemeanor, and shall not have been in any manner chargeable to any Parish, shall by such Residence gain and acquire a legal Settlement in the Parish in which he or she shall have so resided.

Provided and be it further Enacted, That the term of such Residence shall not in any case commence, for the purpose of gaining a Settlement, 3 until after the party seeking or claiming a Settlement thereby shall have attained the age of Sixteen years, and shall have been separated and emancipated from his or her parents or surviving parent: Provided also, That no Person shall gain a Settlement in any Parish by his or her residence in any Hospital, or Almshouse, or any Building founded settled or applied for charitable purposes, as an object of the charitable purposes thereof; nor as a Patient in any place licensed for the reception of lunatics or insane persons; nor as a Prisoner in any gaol or prison, nor in any turnpike or toll house on any Road, Navigation or Bridge, 1 as the Collector of any tolls or duties imposed by Parliament; nor by residence under any Military Order in any Barrack or Quarter for His Majesty's Troops.

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And be it further Enacted, That it shall be lawful for every Person ment by Resi- who shall claim to have gained a Settlement in any Parish, by such Residence therein as aforesaid, and who shall continue to reside therein, without having become chargeable to the same or to any other Parish, to make oath of such Residence before Two of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace, who shall thereupon cause one or more of the Overseers of the Poor of the Parish in which such Settlement shall be claimed, to appear before them, and shall in the presence of such Overseer or Overseers, or in his or their absence, upon proof of their having been duly summoned, examine the Person making such claim, and such witness or witnesses as may be produced on the part of the Claimant, or of the Parish, touching such Residence and Settlement; and if it shall be proved to the satisfaction of such Justices that the Claimant hath been actually and bona fide resident in the Parish in which he or she shall claim to be settled for Three years, according to the true intent and meaning of this Act, it shall be lawful for such Justices, and they are hereby required to adjudge the Settlement of the Claimant to be in Justices to such Parish; and to record and certify such their Adjudication under their record and hands and seals, and to cause such Record and Certificate to be forthcertify their Adjudication. with delivered to the Person whose Settlement shall be thereby adjudged, and a duplicate or copy thereof to be delivered to the Overseers of the Poor of the Parish, or to one of them; and if the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor of the Parish in which any such Settlement shall be so adjudged to be, shall think the Parish aggrieved by any such Adjudication, it shall be lawful for them to appeal against the same to Two or more other Justices of the County, Riding or Division, in any 5 Petty

Appeal against Adju

dication to

Petty Session.

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Petty Session to be holden within Two months after such Adjudication, giving or causing Notice in writing to be given of such Appeal to the Party whose Settlement shall be in question Eight days at the least before the Petty Session to which the Appeal shall be made; and the Justices in such Petty Session, upon proof or admission of such notice, shall receive such Appeal, and examine the Parties and such witnesses as shall be produced, on oath, and shall confirm or quash the Adjudication appealed against, according to the merits of the case, and by writing under their hands and seals, to be indorsed on the original Adjudication, shall declare and certify their determination thereon; and when upon the hearing of any such Appeal in Petty Session, the Adjudication appealed against shall be confirmed, or upon proof that Notice of any such Appeal hath been given by the Churchwardens or Overseers of the Poor of any Parish, though they shall not afterwards prosecute such Appeal, the Justices who shall hear the Appeal, or who shall be present in the Petty Session to which Notice of Appeal shall have been given, shall order the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor of the appellant Parish to pay to the respondent Party such Costs and Charges as such Justices shall in their discretion think fit; and the same shall be levied and recovered, and the payment thereof enforced, in like manner as Costs awarded by Justices in their Quarter Sessions, upon the determination of Appeals against Orders of Removal may be levied and recovered, and the payment thereof be enforced.

And be it further Enacted, That every such Adjudication as aforesaid of any Settlement, against which there shall be no appeal to the Petty Session, or which shall on Appeal be there confirmed, shall be at all times thereafter prima facie Evidence of such Settlement.

Provided and be it further Enacted, That every domestic Servant who shall continue in the same service for the space of Three years, and shall during that time reside with his or her master or mistress in more than one Parish in which such master or mistress shall have a house or residence for which he or she shall be assessed to the Poors Rates, may and shall gain and acquire a legal Settlement in the Parish in which he or she shall have so resided for the last Sixty days of the term of Three years, in like manner and subject nevertheless to the like rules and 7 restrictions as if such Servant should have resided Three years in the same Parish; so as and upon condition that every Servant claiming to have gained a Settlement by residence in more than one Parish, shall within One month after the time at which he or she shall claim to have acquired the same, make oath of such residence before two of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace of the County, Riding or Division in which the Parish where the Settlement shall be claimed is situated, who shall thereupon cause one or more of the Overseers of the Poor of the Parish in which such Settlement shall be claimed, to be summoned to appear before them, and shall proceed to enquire into such Claim in like manner as is herein before provided and directed in other cases where the Party claiming a Settlement by residence shall make oath thereof, in order to the Adjudication of Justices thereon; and the Parish in which such

252.

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Service of Seamen in rated

considered as

residence in the rating Parish.

such Settlement shall be adjudged shall have the like Appeal as in other cases of the Adjudication of Settlements by virtue of this Act.

Provided also, and be it further Enacted, That every Person capable Vessels, to be of gaining a Settlement by Residence in any Parish by virtue of this Act, who shall serve on board any Ship or Vessel, in respect of which the Owners or any of them shall be rated to the Poors Rates in any Parish in England, shall, for the purpose of such Settlement, be adjudged 8 and considered to have been, during his service in such Ship or Vessel, actually resident in the Parish where the Owner or Owners of such Vessel shall be so rated for the saine.

Justices may suspend the actual Removal.;

and direct Copies of the Order, &c. to

be delivered to the Parish

in which the Settlement shall be ad

judged;

the Order may be appealed against, as if

the Pauper

AND in order to restrain the unnecessary Removal of poor Persons, before the places of their legal Settlement shall have been finally determined; BE it further Enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Justices who, on the Complaint of the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor of any Parish, shall order any poor Person or Persons to be removed to any other Parish, as the place of his her or their legal Settlement, in their discretion to suspend, by writing under their hands (to be endorsed on the Order) the Removal of the Person or Persons whose Settlement shall be thereby adjudged; and to direct that a duplicate or copy of the Order, and of the endorsement thereon, and a copy or copies of the Examination or Examinations on which the Order shall be founded, shall be delivered to one of the Overseers of the Poor of the Parish in which the Settlement shall be adjudged to be; and it shall be lawful for all Persons who shall think themselves aggrieved by any such Order, to appeal against the same to the General Quarter Sessions of the Peace, to be were removed. holden for the County, Riding or Division in which such Order shall 9 be made, next after Twenty-eight days from the delivery thereof to any of the Overseers of the Poor of the Parish in which such Settlement shall be adjudged to be (giving such Notice of Appeal as is by this Act required to be given in cases of Appeal against other Orders of Removal;) and the Justices in such Session shall receive such Appeal, and shall proceed to hear and determine the merits thereof, in like manner in all respects, and with such and the like effect, as if the Person or Persons whose Settlement shall by such Order be adjudged should have been actually removed by virtue thereof; and if Notice of such Appeal shall not be given within the time hereby for that purpose limited, or if the Appeal shall not be prosecuted with effect, or the Order appealed against shall be confirmed, such Order shall be final and conclusive, and the Person or Persons thereby ordered to be removed, shall be forthwith removed and delivered to the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Pocr of the Parish in which his her or their Settlement shall by such Order have been adjudged to be.

Parish giving Notice of Appeal, may require the actual Removal.

Provided and be it further Enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor, giving Notice of Appeal 10 against any such suspended Order, to require that the poor Person or Persons therein named shall be actually removed, and the suspension of

such

Justices may expense of

disallow the

Maintenance by the Parish

Removal;

and may order the Appellant the charges

Parish to pay

of Removal.

such Removal shall thereupon cease; and the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor of the respondent Parish shall cause such Person or Persons to be, within Three days after they shall be thereto so required, actually removed to the Place by such Order directed; provided that it shall be lawful for the Justices in Quarter Session, upon the determination of any such Appeal against the respondent Parish, to allow or to disallow, as they shall see fit, to the appellant Parish, by whom the requiring actual Removal of the poor Person or Persons in any such suspended Order named shall have been required, the expense of maintaining or relieving him her or them, from the time of the Removal to the determination of the Appeal; and it shall also be lawful for such Justices in Quarter Session, if they shall find that the Removal was unnecessary, and that the same was frivolously or vexatiously required, to order the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor of the appellant Parish to pay to 11 the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor of the respondent Parish so much as shall be by such Justices thought reasonable and just for the Charges of such Removal, to be levied and recovered in like manner as Costs and Charges in the Law, ordered by Justices in Quarter Sessions to be paid upon the determination of Appeals against Orders of Removal of poor Persons to their Settlement: Provided that nothing in this Act contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to alter or in anywise affect the manner or circumstances, in by or under which Settlements may be derived by Children from their Parents, or may be acquired by Birth or by Marriage.

And be it further Enacted, That all Clauses, Provisions and Directions in this Act contained, in relation to Parishes, shall extend and be construed to extend to all Townships, Vills and Places, having separate Overseers of the Poor; and that all Acts to be done, and all Notices to be given to or by Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor, may, in Townships, Vills and Places which have no Churchwardens, be executed and given by and to the Overseers of the Poor, as fully as if in every such Provision and Clause they were severally and respectively named and repeated.

Act not to ments derived from Parents, by Birth or

affect Settle

or acquired Marriage.

And be it further Enacted, That this Act shall extend only to that Part To where the of the United Kingdom called England.

Act is to extend.