The several judicious measures which were enacted at this period for the relief and employment of the deserving poor, and the punish ment of idle and profligate beggars and vagrants, effectually checked for a time the evil, which had only increased in magnitude under the previous inefficient and inconsistent laws. Sir Edward Coke, whose testimony as a contemporary is valuable, says, that " upon the making of the statute of 39 Elizabeth, and a good space after, whilst justices of peace and other officers were diligent and industrious there was not a rogue to be seen in any part of England ; but when justices and other officers became tepidi or trcpidi, rogues, &c. swarmed again." (2 Inst.' 729.) This disposition ou the part of magistrates to neglect or relax the laws relating to vagrants is noticed in a proclamation made soon after the accession of James I., in September, 1603, which, after re citing the stat. 39 Eliz. c. 4, and that great benefit had at first ensued from its due execution, but that, by the remissness, negligence, and connivancy of justices, vagrants again swarmed and abounded every where more frequently than in times past, calls upon all justices of peace, mayors, and other officers whatsoever, to see that the said "profitable and necessary law" should be carefully, duly, and exactly executed (Rymer's Feed.,' vol. xvi., p. 554). The continued unwil lingness of magistrates to enforce the statute of Elizabeth, notwith standing the above proclamation, occasioned the passing of the gat. 7 Jac. I .c. 5, which compelled the justices of every county under heavy penalties to erect proper houses of correction for setting rogues, vagabonds, and other idle and wandering persons to work, and also required them to meet twice a year or oftener, if occasion required, for the better execution of the law. The justices were also directed to cause a general privy search to be made before each of their meetings for finding out and apprehending vagrants, who were then to be brought before them for punishment ; and all constables and tything men were required to make a return on oath to the justices of the number of vagrants apprehended by them. By this statute it was also enacted that persons running away and leaving their families upon the parish should " be deemed and taken to be incorrigible rogues, and endure the pain of incorrigible rogues." This phrase was, therefore, at that time become familiar, though it does not occur in any earlier statute. In all probability, however, it denoted the class of persons mentioned in the stat. 39 Eliz. c. 4, who are there called " dangerous rogues, or rogues not likely to be reformed," and who were liable to be committed to jail until the sessions, and then banished.
The laws relating to vagrants continued substantially upon the foot ing of the statutes of 39 Eliz. and 7 Jac. I. for more than a century, until, in 1744, they were reconsidered and remodelled by the stat. 17 Geo. IL, c. 5. This was the first legislative measure which distributed vagrants into the:three classes of idle and disorderly persons, rogues and vagabonds, and incorrigible rogues. Although this statute is now wholly repealed, it continued in force nearly a century ; and as its provisions, as well as those of two supplemental statutes on the same are material with respect to the general history of the laws respecting vagrants, it may be desirable briefly to state them. It may
be remarked that the several offences comprised in these classes still bore the character of wandering, in conformity with the object of all previous enactments upon this subject.
By the stat. 17 Glee. II., c. 5, and the supplemental statutes passed previously to the new Vagrant Act, 5 Geo. IV., c. 83, idle and dis orderly persons were defined to be-1. Those who threatened to run away and leave their families upon the parish. 2. Those who returned to a parish from which they had been removed as paupers. 3. Those who refused to work for usual wages. 4. Those who neglected work or spent their earnings improperly, so that their families became charge able to the parish (stat. 32 Geo. III., c. 45, s. 8). And all such persons might be summarily convicted by a magistrate, and committed to hard labour in the house of correction for a month.
Rogues and vagabonds were defined to bc-1. Those who went about as gatherers of alms under pretence of loss by fire or other casualty, or as collectors for prisons or hospitals. 2. Fencers and bear-wards. 3. Common players of interludes, and all actors for hire not authorised by law [THEATRE]. 4. Minstrels and jugglers. 5. Those who pre tended to be gipsies, or to have skill in physiognomy, palmistry, or like crafty science, or to tell fortunes, or who used any subtle craft to deceive people, or played at unlawful games. 6. Those who ran away and left their families chargeable to the parish. 7. Petty chapmeli and pedlars wandering abroad without licence. 8. Those who wan dered abroad and lodged in alehouses, barns, outhouses, or in the open air, not giving a good account of themselves. 9. Those who wandered abroad and begged, pretending to be soldiers or sailors, or pretending to go to work in harvest. 10. All wandering beggars. 11. Those who should be apprehended having upon them any picklock key, crow, jack, bit, or other implement with intent to break into houses, ; or any pistol, banger, cutlass, bludgeon, or other offensive weapon, with intent feloniously to assault any person. 12. Those who should be found in any dwelling-house, warehouse, coach-house, stable, or out house, or any inclosed yard or garden, or area belonging to any house with intent to steal. The two classes last enumerated were added by the kat. 23 Geo. Ill., c. 88.
Incorrigible rogues were defined by the stat. 17 Geo. II., c. 5, to be 1. End-gatherers offending against the stat. 13 Geo. I., c. 23, for the regulation of the woollen manufacture. 2. Those who being appre hended as rogues and vagabonds escape from those who apprehend them, or refuse to go before a magistrate, or to be examined on oath, or to be conveyed by a pose, and those who knowingly give a false account of themselves. 3. Those who escape from the house of cor rection before the expiration of their term of imprisonment as rogues and vagabonds. :4. Those who after punishment as rogues and vagabonds again commit offences in the same class.
Rogues and vagabonds and incorrigible rogues were, by the stat. 17 Geo, II., c. 5, to be committed by magistrates to the house of correction until the next quarter-sessions, when the justices were empowered to order rogues and vagabonds to he further confined in the house of correction for any time not exceeding six months ; and incorrigible rogues for any time not less than six months, nor more than two years. and to be whipped.