A legislative history of vagrancy in England and Barbados

• Author: C.G. Hall
• Position: Of the Faculty of Law, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados
• Pages: 314-367

A LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF VAGRANCY

IN

ENGLAND AND BARBADOS

by

C.G. HALL*

If Luke's account of the Sermon on the Mount provided for the

beatification of indigent souls1 and the life of our Lord in holy

poverty down

the

Christian centuries posed a model for those such as

Francis Bernadone, who embraced that life as a joyful mendicant, it

was Paul who, in 2 Thessalonians, pointed the dangers and the

antidote.2 In inveighing against the disorderly who refuse to labour,

he signalled not merely a work ethic for good Christians but also a

spiritual justification, in mediaeval times, for the criminality of

idleness. Though conventional accounts regard vagrancy legislation

in England as originating in the Statutes of Labourers of 1349 and

1350,3 in fact earlier legislation of Edward

1,

designed to protect the

resources of the great religious houses, created a climate in which

itinerant begging, if not suppressed, was at least discouraged. Thus,

in

1274,4 it was provided:

"Because that abbies and houses of religion have been

overcharged and sore grieved, by the resort of great men and

others, so that their goods have not been sufficient for

Of the Faculty of Law , University of the West Indies, Cave Hill

Campus, Barbados

1 Gospel of

Luke,

6:20.

2 3:6-15.

3 23 Edw. III;

25

Edw.

III,

st 1.

4 3 Edw. I, c.l.

themselves, whereby they have been greatly hindered and

impoverished, that they cannot maintain themselves, nor such

charity as they have been accustomed to do; it is provided, that

none shall come to eat or lodge in any house of

religion,

or any

Other's foundation than of his own, at the costs of the house,

unless he be required by the governor of the house before his

coming hither."

The enactment thus gave practical expression to Paul's rigorous

precept "that any would not work, neither should he eat".5 The

movement had begun which characterised poverty not as a holy ideal

but as a condition which resulted in social disorder, grave nuisance,

dangerous crime and which, therefore, was to be accounted the

mother of all vice.

The vagrancy legislation itself emerged as a consequence of vast

changes in social structure. The Black Death of 1348-49 is said to

have decimated half the population, with the consequence that

labourers could demand what wages they pleased in an economy

geared to the

supply of cheap labour. Prior to the plague, landowners

were

already beset with

burdens

as

a

consequence of

the

crusades and

wars against France and Scotland. To raise money for these, serfs

were sold their freedom and the new 'free', with those who simply

decamped, drifted to the larger towns where standards of living were

higher. Free

men who

held by villein tenure in the villages were also

susceptible to this influence. As a consequence, landowners were

increasingly dependent upon 'free' labourers. With the plague, that

dependence was exacerbated and the living standards of the serf fell

as hard-pressed landowners sought to pay their

way.

To better their

lot,

serfs fled to the town and the lure of the weaving industry. Thus

5

2

Thessalonians 3:10.

emerged the problem of the pauper, the man who could not or would

not maintain himself by his work. The pattern of the destitute had

begun to change. The poor could no longer be characterised as

pilgrims, the aged and infirm. In the towns there were hordes of

destitute workers. Peasants, formerly tied to the manorial system,

became rootless and unemployed. Ex-soldiers wandered freely,

Traditional methods of relieving the poor - the Church, local charity

and membership of a guild - were now scarcely adequate.

Such was the background to the Statutes of Labourers of 1349

and 1350. Broadly, the

Acts

had three distinguishing features. Those

who fell within the Statutes and who were able to work should do so

at reasonable rates, viz. at pre-plague levels. Secondly, the able-

bodied who refused to work committed a criminal offence. Thirdly,

only the impotent poor could solicit alms. Thus, in 1349 it was

provided;

"That every man and woman of what condition he be, free or

bond, able in body, and within the age of threescore years... if he

in convenient service (his estate considered) be required to serve,

he shall be bounden to serve him which so shall him require ...

and if any refuse, he shall on conviction by two true men, ... be

committed to gaol till he find surety to serve. And if any

workman or servant, of what estate or condition he be, retained

in any man's service, do depart from the said service without

reasonable cause or licence, before the term agreed on, he shall

have pain of imprisonment."

The Act of

1350

fixed wages. A carpenter should have 3d

a

day;

a master free mason 4d

from

Easter to Michaelmas and from then

on

less in the discretion of the justices. It was further stipulated that

"none shall go out of the town where he dwelleth in winter, to serve