Vol. 1: In the essays presented in this volume, Bentham lays down the theoretical principles from which he develops his proposals for reform of the English poor laws in response to the perceived crisis in poor relief in the mid-1790s. In "Essays on the Subject of the Poor Laws", Bentham seeks to justify the principles on which entitlement to relief should be grounded, while in "Pauper Systems Compared", he presents a sustained comparison between home relief and institutional relief. The polemical "Observations on the Poor Bill" is a lively critique of the Bill introduced into the House of Commons by William Pitt in 1796. The ideas advanced here by Bentham were a significant influence on Edwin Chadwick, and through his mediation, on the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834. The essays are based almost entirely on manuscript sources

Most historians portray 19th-century county asylums as the exclusive realm of the asylum doctor, but Bartlett (law, U. of Nottingham) argues that they should be thought of as an aspect of English poor law, in which the medical superintendent had remarkably little power. He examines the place of the county asylum movement in the midcentury poor law debates and its legal and administrative regimes. Taking the Leicestershire asylum as a case study, he explores the role of poor law officers in admission processes, and relations between them and the staff and inspectors.

Based entirely on research from primary sources, this book describes the development of the Scottish Poor Law as an instrument for the preservation of the old and destitute and, partially, as a protection against famine. It shows the effect of the Poor Law of the later Eighteenth Century agrarian reorganisation, the industrial revolution, Scottish urban development and the evangelical revival. This remarkably comprehensive investigation contains many revelations about the nature of Scottish social life over three centuries.* Covers the whole life of the Poor Law in Scotland* Based entirely on pioneering research of parish records and a wide range of other records* Contains numerous revelations about the nature of Scottish society over three centuries