ABSTRACT
The authorities which have been consulted are, first and chiefest, the folio edition of The Statutes of the Realm, published under the authority of the Public Records Commissions of 1800 and 1806, and extending to the end of Queen Anne's reign; and thence the octavo edition of the Statutes at Large to the present time, from which such extracts as appeared necessary for an elucidation of the subject have been made from every enactment immediately connected with the Poor Law, or which seemed calculated to throw light upon, or materially affect, the condition of the people. These extracts are, for the most part, given verbatim, and in no instance is anything which would alter or weaken the sense of a passage omitted, but merely redundancies,
and words in the earlier Acts more or less obsolete, and not necessary for a clear understanding of what is meant. Nothing has in any instance been added, and the omissions are made sparingly, and solely with a view to economising space and clearing away encumbrances.
