poor law

American  

noun

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

---

poor law British  

noun

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

---

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 theory was deterrence: make the poor law frightening and only the most desperate – those truly in need – would trouble the authorities and public purse.

From The Guardian • Sep. 21, 2017

He told his deluded p. 48followers that they were oppressed by the laws in general, but more particularly by the new poor law; and called upon them to place themselves under his command. 

From Gossip in the First Decade of Victoria's Reign by Ashton, John