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Poor Relief Act 1795

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Poor Relief Act 1795[1]
Act of Parliament
Long titleAn 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.
Citation36 Geo. 3. c. 10
Dates
Royal assent18 December 1795
Other legislation
Repealed byPoor Law Act 1927
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Poor Relief Act 1795[1] (36 Geo. 3. c. 10) was an Act of Parliament passed by the Parliament of Great Britain.

The Act enabled guardians of an incorporated district to raise and regulate the poor relief assessments in specified parishes.[2] The assessments would be made according to the price of wheat in Mark Lane, as the previous assessments (the Act claimed) "by reason of the late very great increase of the price of corn, and other necessary articles of life, [are] insufficient for the necessary relief and maintenance of the poor".[2] The Act also stipulated that "the sums to be assessed in any parish shall never exceed in any one year the amount of double the sum at present raised".[2]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b The citation of this Act by this short title was authorised by the Short Titles Act 1896, section 1 and the first schedule. Due to the repeal of those provisions it is now authorised by section 19(2) of the Interpretation Act 1978.
  2. ^ a b c George Nicholls, A History of the English Poor Law in Connection with the State of the Country and the Condition of the People, Volume II: A.D. 1714 to 1853 (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1898), p. 115.