We have seen, in the Elizabethan organisation of Norwich, how much the justices and municipal officers could do when they were at their best, but preambles, proclamations, and letters of the Privy Council combine to tell us that continuous vigour and energy were exceptional. Still the important point is that this local government existed, and under pressure could become effective. It was because the organisation was there that the letters of the Privy Council were so important; if the justices had been powerless officials, Privy Council letters would have been useless. It is because the justices had the power and could be effective, that it is necessary for us to see how far the Privy Council measures stirred them into action.
The Chancellor's charge in 1608 to the justices and judges throws some light on the social position and importance of the justices, and also shows that the Government thought it very necessary that their work should be well done. The Chancellor complained that the justices who did the work could have no place on the bench, and could hardly get into the court "for the number of newe and younge knightes, that come in there braueryes and stande there lyke an Idoll to be gazed vpon and doe nothinge, ys so greate and pressinge for place countenaunce and estimacyon." These young justices are reminded that "they are not Justices for their countenaunce onelye." They and the other justices are exhorted to "remember there oathes and dutyes that they are for the Justice, peace and gouernemente of the cuntrye." They were especially commanded to prevent vagrants from wandering; to see that the proclamation and letters "for corne busynes" were enforced, and that "ye poore be prouyded for wthin there paryshes." They were also told that it was their duty to prevent all riotous assemblies at the beginning, and that if there were disturbances they would be held responsible[376]. This speech shows us that the Government thought the peace of the country depended mainly upon the vigilance of the justices, and that the office of justice of the peace was much coveted because of the influence and respect it gave its possessor.
Powers of the justices under the Statutes.
Under the provisions of the poor laws the justices had some duties for the performance of which they were directly responsible, and others in which they had to supervise the overseers and the constables. They were directly responsible for the relief of maimed soldiers, for the maintenance of Houses of Correction and for contributions to prisoners and to such county hospitals as were in existence. They were further the authorities who made the special assessments in time of plague and levied the rates in aid of poorer parishes. To them were also referred questions of settlement and other matters which concerned several parishes. Moreover, although the overseers were primarily responsible for setting the able-bodied poor to work, the justices sometimes levied county rates for this purpose, and occasionally ordered that particular people should be relieved from county funds.
But the hardest part of their duty in this matter consisted in the proper supervision of the overseers. The names of the poor of each parish had to be presented to them, and the assessments sanctioned by them; it was their duty to examine the overseers' accounts and to see that the pauper children were bound apprentices. Moreover, they had to punish negligent officials, to coerce unwilling contributors, and to listen to the appeals of aggrieved persons, whether they were injured ratepayers or unrelieved poor.
2. Work of justices in first putting the law in execution.
(a) In the West Riding in 1598.
The orders of the West Riding Sessions Rolls during 1598[377] give us some idea of the difficulties of the justices in putting the system into execution. The statute of 1597-8 was apparently the first regulation of the kind generally administered in the West Riding, but efforts were made to enforce this as soon as it came into operation[378]. In June 1598 elaborate orders were drawn up for the division of Knaresborough, which show us that the new methods met with considerable opposition. The churchwardens and overseers presented the names of the poor, but they said that all the parishes objected to pay money. The inhabitants preferred to give "releefe" to beggars, and some, they said, could help in this way who could not afford to pay rates. The justices allowed the parishioners to have their own way to some extent. They stipulated, however, that the poor should ask relief of their fellow parishioners only, and that those who were able to work should be set to work. Moreover, the occupiers who lived out of the parish and the inhabitants who refused to give sufficiently were to be assessed[379]. It was not only in Knaresborough that poor rates were unpopular. Seven inhabitants of Tickhill refused to give the sum assessed on them[380], while in Bentley and [Arkesey] an assessment was duly made, but the money was not paid until the goods of many of the inhabitants had been distrained[381].
This enforcement of local responsibility at first increased rather than lessened the hardships endured by many of the poor. We are told that "divers personnes are nowe sent forth of all partes of this realme to the places of their births; wherof some of those personnes so sent have bene inhabitinge and dwellinge in those places and townes from whence they are sent by the space of twentie yeares, some more, some lesse."
This was done by the parochial officials in order that their own parish might not be forced to support these poor people. They endeavoured to shift the burden to the parish where the people were born, or to get them sent as rogues to the House of Correction, where they would be supported by the county. The justices of the West Riding tried to prevent this unjust practice. No poor of the Knaresborough division were to be sent to the place of their birth without special order from some neighbouring justice of the peace. Moreover, the testimonials of the poor passing through the division were to be examined, and when the bearers were found to have lived more than three years in the parish from which they were sent they were to return again. "For," say the justices, "such kynde of personnes ... are not rooges nor wanderinge beggers within the meanyng of the statute, but ought to be releived as the poore of the parishe wher they so inhabited and wher they wrought when they were able to worke[382]."