10 janv. 1601 - The Poor Relief Act is signed into law

Description:

In 1601, England was experiencing a severe economic depression, with large scale unemployment and widespread famine. Queen Elizabeth announced that she would put laws in place designed to maintain order and help give relief to the people in need. These laws would later be called the “English Poor Laws” , "Elizabethan Poor Law" and “The Old Poor Law”. Essentially the laws were broken into three major categories of dependents ( people who depend on the government). Those people are vagrant, the unemployed, and the helpless. The laws also set forth ways and means for dealing with each category of dependents. Most importantly the laws established the parish system which was essential for giving relief to the dependents. The parish was the administrative unit to help organize the relief of the dependents. The Poor Relief law was the first set of laws in England that were passed to try and help people in need. These laws would later be the foundation of the UK’s current day social welfare programs. The laws were the first step for England to try and do generally good things for their county. This is a major progression for social equality in the UK.