OVERSEERS OF THE POOR. Unpaid par ish officers in England, whose chief duty it is to assess the poor rates and collect them. Overseers were first authorized in 1572 (14 Eliz., ch. 5), but no specific duties were assigned. In 18 Eliz. they are called "collectors and governors of the poor." In 1597 (39 Eliz., oh. 3) it was enacted that in each parish the church warden, ex-officio, and "four other substantial householders" he ap pointed overseers, to assess the poor rates and oversee their distribution. In 1601 (43 Eliz., ch. 2, the foundation of the present poor law) the number was placed at from two to four, and the time of appointment, Ea-ter. Thi- was later changed to March 25th, or within fourteen days thereafter. The duties assigned them were: (1) to raise the necessary means for poor relief by taxation of the inhabitants: (2) to undertake the entire work of relief: and (3) to carry out all other measures necessary- for executing the law.
For nearly a century after the reign of Eliza beth the overseers were the sole poor law authori ties. Gradually it was found necessary to place them under the supervision of the justices, and to compel them to snake public reports of their doings. By Gilbert'-. Act (22 George 111., ch. S3) paid guardians of the poor were created to have charge of actual relief, and only the func tion of assessing and collecting the poor rate was left to the overseers. In 1519 the Select Vestry Act (59 George III., ch. 12) authorized parishes to control the overseers by appointing select ves tries and to employ paid assistant overseers. Many parishes availed themselves of this permis sion. The Poor Law Amendment Act (4 and 5 William IV., ch. 76) made radical changes in
the poor law and in its administration, but it continued both the overseers and the guardians, subjecting the overseers to the legal and reason able orders of the guardians and of the justices. Overseers are appointed by the justices of the peace. and service is compulsory and unpaid. Certain persons. however. are exempt from ap pointment. Among them are members of Parlia ment. clergymen, barristers and solicitors, phy sicians. and officers of the army and navy. Over seers must be householders in the parish.
In discharging their function of assessment and collection of the poor rate the overseers are required each year to list the property of the parish and specify the amount due from each household. The assessment is signed by two jus tices of the peace and then collected. Rarely, save in emergency cases, do the overseers now have anything to do with the distribution of the money. Accounts are audited yearly by a paid official. the poor law auditor.
Miscellaneous duties have been imposed upon the overseers in recent years. They make lists of voters for members of Parliament and lists of persons qualified to serve as constables. They appoint persons to enforce the compulsory vac cination acts. to see to the burial of dead paupers and of bodies cast on the shore, and they carry out the nuisance removal act where there is no local board of health, etc. See PAUPERISM, sec tion on England. Consult for detailed history of overseers of the poor, Nicholls. History of the English Poor Laze (London. 1554: vol. iii. by Mackay. London and New York. 15991.