Each provincial district (landgericht) must have an institution of its own.
All the inhabitants of such district are obliged, according to their means, to contribute to that purpose; each person is, besides, bound to continue to support those poor relations whom the laws direct him to maintain.
The claims for relief are to be fixed according to the laws of their district (heimath gesetz.) Sometimes, in cases of great necessity, relief is allowed to strangers who do not belong to the parish.
The overseers consist (unless it is otherwise determined) of the directors, of the police, commissaries, and magistrates.
In cases where medical aid is necessary, they are to be attended by physicians, who are appointed by the state.
In towns and larger market towns, besides the above-named overseers, a council is to be formed, consisting of the clergyman and the mayor and persons deputed by the magistrates and all classes of the people, in proportion to the number of inhabitants of each place.
In smaller market-towns the clergyman and deputies from the peasants form this council.
When several villages join together to form one of these institutions, a general committee is to be formed.
The members of the council for the institutions for the poor are to be elected in the same way as the magistrates and mayors (burgermeister).
When several parishes are joined together, a deputy is to be chosen from each, and again, several are elected from among these, who are to take immediate charge of the affairs. Each deputy is chosen for three years, and is obliged to perform his duties without remuneration; no inhabitant is allowed to refuse to perform his functions the first time he is elected; extraordinary merits in the service of the poor are to be publicly distinguished.