10. The Poor Law Amendment Act [Statutes, 4 and 5 Wm. IV, 76], 1834.
An Act for the Amendment and better Administration of the Laws relating to the Poor in England and Wales.
Whereas it is expedient to alter and amend the Laws relating to the Relief of poor Persons in England and Wales: Be it therefore enacted ... that it shall be lawful for His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, by Warrant under the Royal Sign Manual, to appoint three fit persons to be Commissioners to carry this Act into execution....
XV. And be it further enacted, ... for executing the powers given to them by this Act the said Commissioners shall and are hereby authorized and required, from time to time as they shall see occasion, to make and issue all such rules, orders, and regulations for the management of the poor, for the government of workhouses and the education of the children therein, and for the management of parish poor children under the provisions of an Act made and passed in the seventh year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third, intituled An Act for the better Regulation of Parish poor Children of the several Parishes therein mentioned within the Bills of Mortality, and the superintending, inspecting, and regulating of the Houses wherein such poor children are kept and maintained, and for the apprenticing the children of poor persons, and for the guidance and control of all Guardians, Vestries, and Parish officers, so far as relates to the management or relief of the poor, and the keeping, examining, auditing, and allowing of accounts, and making and entering into contracts in all matters relating to such management or relief, or to any expenditure for the relief of the poor, and for carrying this Act into execution in all other respects, as they shall think proper; and the said Commissioners may, at their discretion, from time to time suspend, alter, or rescind such rules, orders, and regulations, or any of them: provided always that nothing in this Act contained shall be construed as enabling the said commissioners or any of them to interfere in any individual case for the purpose of ordering relief.
XXVI. And be it further enacted, that it shall be lawful for the said commissioners, by order under their hands and seal, to declare so many parishes as they may think fit to be united for the administration of the laws for the relief of the poor, and such parishes shall thereupon be deemed a Union for such purpose, ... but, notwithstanding ... each of the said parishes shall be separately chargeable with and liable to defray the expense of its own poor, whether relieved in or out of any such workhouse.
XXXVIII. And be it further enacted, that where any parishes shall be united by order or with concurrence of the said commissioners for the administration of the laws for the relief of the poor, a Board of Guardians of the poor for such Union shall be constituted and chosen, and the workhouse or workhouses of such Union shall be governed, and the relief of the poor in such Union shall be administered, by such Board of Guardians; and the said Guardians shall be elected by the ratepayers, and by such owners of property in the parishes forming such Union as shall in manner hereinafter mentioned require to have their names entered as entitled to vote as owners in the books of such parishes respectively.
11. Outdoor Relief Prohibitory Order [11th Annual Report of the Poor Law Commissioners, pp. 29-33], 1844.
Amended General Orders.—Regulating the Belief of Able-Bodied Poor Persons.
1. Every able-bodied person, male or female, requiring relief from any parish within any of the said Unions, shall be relieved wholly in the workhouse of the Union, together with such of the family of every such able-bodied person as may be resident with him or her, and they not be in employment, and together with the wife of every such able-bodied male person, if he be a married man, and if she be resident with him; save and except in the following cases:—
1st. Where such person shall require relief on account of sudden and urgent necessity.