The machinery for the execution of the law is created by means of the pressure of the Privy Council on the justices of the peace. Even in the reign of Elizabeth the Privy Council had occasionally issued orders with the object of enforcing the poor law. But from 1629 to 1640 the Privy Council under the personal government of Charles I. interfered constantly and regularly in the matter. The Council attempted to provide work for the unemployed, to procure cheap corn in years of scarcity, and to regulate wages in the supposed interests of the workmen. It also established a new organisation for the ordinary relief of the poor. In 1631 the justices still neglected to execute the laws for the poor, but the Book of Orders issued in that year ordered special meetings to be held and reports to be sent to the Privy Council. Nearly a thousand of these reports remain, and in these we are told that in many districts of the kingdom the execution of the law so improved that it became part of the practice as well as of the law of the land.
Moreover the whole of the Elizabethan Poor Law was administered: work was provided for the unemployed, as well as pensions for the impotent. In most places in south-eastern England, and in some districts of almost every county, sums were levied in order that materials and tools might be furnished to the unemployed.
Thus during the personal government of Charles I. we have not only the first thorough execution of the poor law, but a more complete organisation for the help of the weaker classes than at any other period of our history.
The system thus established was successful in meeting the temporary difficulties of the time. Some Shropshire justices worked "such effect" by the execution of the Book of Orders that "there have not any rogues or vagabonds appeared amongst us or walked abroad as wee heare of since our first meetings." There were also no complaints from the impotent poor, and the unemployed were set to work. There are similar accounts from many different parts of the country which show that the administration of the Poor Law had then much to do with making England a law-abiding and orderly community.
But the outbreak of the Civil War rendered the finding of work for the unemployed less necessary, and broke up the organisation established by the Book of Orders. There are no reports after 1640, and probably the special meetings of the justices were discontinued. The whole of the poor law was laxly administered and only in a few places did this provision for the unemployed outlast the Commonwealth. Still a part of the poor law survived and has a continuous history from the time of Henry VIII. In Scotland and France either the central government was not so vigilant, or there were no efficient local officials, and in both these countries therefore regulations for the relief of the poor were issued but were not effectually executed. The English organisation alone survived, and this probably in consequence of the enforcement of the Book of Orders under the personal government of Charles I.
During my investigations I have received valuable assistance. To the Rev. Dr Cunningham of Trinity College, Cambridge, I am especially grateful for much kindly advice and criticism. I began my researches into this subject while I was a student of the London School of Economics and desire to express my obligations to Mr Hewins, the Director of the School, who first suggested the subject to me, and also pointed out to me some of the printed sources of information. I also thank Mr Hubert Hall of the Public Record Office for the ready kindness with which he has always helped me. Mr Tigny of the Norwich muniment room, Dr Sharpe of the Guildhall Record Office, and the officials of the British Museum and Public Record Office have also courteously assisted me while I was investigating the manuscripts under their care. My thanks are also due to Mr S. H. Leonard of Lincoln's Inn, Mr J. L. Burbey of Exeter College, and Miss Maud Syson of Girton College. I desire also to express my gratitude to Mr Loch, Sec. of the C. O. S., who, on behalf of the Syndics of the University Press, made several suggestions of which I have been glad to avail myself.