poor law

American  

noun

1. a law or system of laws providing for the relief or support of poor people at public expense.

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poor law British  

noun

1. English history a law providing for the relief or support of the poor from public, esp parish, funds

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Etymology

Origin of poor law

First recorded in 1745–55

Example Sentences

She was elected to the Nantwich Board of Guardians, who administered the poor law, and also travelled around the country speaking for the ILP.

From BBC • Jul. 29, 2023

Corruption, poor law enforcement and armed conflict have left West and Central Africa vulnerable to international criminals and made the region a hotbed of ivory and pangolin scale trafficking to Asia in recent years.

From Reuters • Dec. 13, 2021

By the closing decades of the 19th century, hundreds of thousands of people – a total close to the population of Liverpool – were still using the poor law every year.

From The Guardian • Sep. 21, 2017

The poor law, established in 1601, at the end of Elizabeth I’s reign, made Britain’s guarantee of help for the destitute unique among European nations.

From The Guardian • Sep. 21, 2017

The insurance companies were vexed that they had neglected their proper business, others feared that it might undermine the poor law, others again took the pessimist's favourite line that it would be inoperative.

From The Life of William Ewart Gladstone (Vol 2 of 3) by Morley, John