Poor Act 1562

Poor Act 1562
Act of Parliament
	Parliament of England
Long title	An Act for the relief of the poor.
Citation	5 Eliz. 1. c. 3
Dates
Royal assent	10 April 1563
Other legislation
Repealed by	Vagabonds Act 1572
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Poor Act 1562 or Act for the Relief of the Poor^[1] was a law passed in England under Elizabeth I (5 Eliz. 1. c. 3). It is a part of the Tudor Poor Laws.

It extended the Poor Act 1555. It further provided that those who refused, after exhortation by the bishop, to contribute to poor relief could be bound over by a justice of the peace and assessed fines.^[2]

Text of the act

A reviver of the statute of 22 H. 8. c. 12. and 3 & 4 Ed. 6. c. 16. touching relieving poor and impotent persons, and punishment of vagabonds. The poor and impotent persons of every parish shall be relieved of that which every person will of their charity give weekly; and the same relief shall be gathered in every parish by collectors assigned, and weekly distributed to the poor for none of them shall openly go or sit begging. And if any parishioner shall obstinately refuse to pay reasonably towards the relief of the said poor, or shall discourage others; then the justices of peace at the quarter-sessions may tax him to a reasonable weekly sum; which if he refuse, to pay they may commit him to prison. And if any parish have in it more impotent poor persons than they are able to relieve, then the juftices of the peace of the county may licence so many of them as they shall think good, to beg in one or more hundreds of the same county. And if any poor beg in any other place than he is licensed, he shall be punished as a vagabond according to the stat of 22 H. 8. To endure to the end of the first session of the next parliament.

References

^ Schoolfield, Brenda Thompson (2006). "For the Better Relief of the Poor of this Parish": Public Poor Relief in Eighteenth Century Charles Town, South Carolina. ProQuest. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-542-86524-4.
^ Slack, Paul. The English Poor Law 1531-1782. p. 60.

[Schoolfield-1] Schoolfield, Brenda Thompson (2006). "For the Better Relief of the Poor of this Parish": Public Poor Relief in Eighteenth Century Charles Town, South Carolina. ProQuest. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-542-86524-4.

[2] Slack, Paul. The English Poor Law 1531-1782. p. 60.

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v t e Poor laws of the British Isles
Poor laws by territory	England and Wales Scotland Ireland Isle of Man	Nantwich workhouse
Old Poor Law	Vagabonds and Beggars Act 1494 Tudor poor laws Poor Relief Act 1597 Poor Relief Act 1601 Poor Relief Act 1662 Relief of the Poor Act 1696 Poor Relief Act 1722 Relief of the Poor Act 1782 House of correction Overseer of the poor Poor rate Poor relief Buttock mail
Relief systems	Outdoor relief Speenhamland Labour Rate Roundsman Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor
New Poor Law	Royal commission (1832) Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 Poor Law (Scotland) Act 1845 Less eligibility Workhouse Workhouse test Board of guardians Outdoor Labour Test Order Outdoor Relief Prohibitory Order Poor law unions Opposition Book of Murder Scottish poorhouse
Changes after 1834	Poor Law Commission Poor Law Board Local Government Board Andover workhouse scandal Huddersfield workhouse scandal Union Chargeability Act
Decline and abolition	Liberal welfare reforms Royal Commission (1905–09) Majority Report Minority Report Interwar poverty National Assistance Act 1948
Other	Christmas Day in the Workhouse Historiography of the Poor Laws Timeline of the English Poor Law system Poor Relief Act List of poor law unions in England List of poor law unions in Wales List of Irish poor law unions