Five Principles of Poor Laws
|
| 1) |
Local government responsibility for the poor. |
| 2) |
Local government responsibility for apprenticing children. Courts could place a child with a local family so he or she could learn a craft. |
| 3) |
A distinction is made between the able-bodied unemployed and those deemed to be employable. |
| 4) |
The construction of hospitals and almshouses for the poor to be done locally using local or parish funds (no national government responsibility at this time). |
| 5) |
Impoverished parents and children are responsible for each other. |
