Poor Laws

Question 1

Extent of involvement

Answer 1

• Required every parish to appoint overseers, raise compulsory taxes, and provide relief for the ‘deserving’ poor.
• JPs supervised implementation, ensuring that localities were now legally obliged to help their poor.
• Created the first national welfare framework enforced by law.

Question 2

Effectiveness

Answer 2

• Came during extreme hardship (1590s bad harvests, inflation, unemployment) - helped prevent rebellion or disorder.
• Made relief a legal duty, not a moral expectation, which professionalised local governance.
• Reinforced cooperation between Crown and community during economic crisis, proving highly stabilising.

Question 3

Breadth of impact

Answer 3

• National in application, but built on structures already in place (especially JP oversight).
• Relied on existing local governance to function — didn’t reinvent the system but formalised it.
• Breadth came from its universal enforcement, not from innovation.