English Poor Law Policy

by Sidney Webb; Beatrice Webb

(a) The Parish Oligarchy; (b) Government by Consent; (c) The Uncontrolled Parish Officers; (d) The Rule of the Boss; (e) The Turbulent Open Vestry.

An Extra-legal Democracy.

(a) The Organisation of the Public Meeting; (b) The Control over the Unpaid Officers; (c) A Salaried Staff; (d) The Parish Committee; (e) An Organised Democracy; (f) The Recalcitrant Minority.

The Strangling of the Parish.

(a) Eighteenth-Century Legislation; (b) The Sturges Bourne Acts; (c) The Sturges Bourne Select Vestries; (d) The Salaried Overseer; (e) The Referendum; (f) The Death of the Parish.

The Legality of the Close Vestry.

(a) The Close Vestry by Immemorial Custom; (b) The Close Vestry by Bishop's Faculty; (c) The Close Vestry by Church Building Act; (d) The Close Vestry by Local Act; (e) The Constitutions of Close Vestries.

Close Vestry Administration.

(a) Provincial Close Vestries; (b) Metropolitan Close Vestries; (c) Close Vestry Exclusiveness; (d) The Worst And The Best.

The Reform of the Close Vestry.