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292
III. CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION.
During the Middle Ages the Church undertook the chief care of the
poor, fed wayfarers, and built hospices and hospitals by churches and
monasteries for the sick and decrepit; resources for this purpose were
obtained in part through tithes from farmers, and in part through gifts and
bequests bestowed by pious people on the Church. At the same time,
several provincial laws did nevertheless impress the duty of the family to
provide for poor relations, and the Church set apart a portion of the
poor-man’s-tithe for the direct use of the farmer himself, on behalf of the needy,
whether kindred or wayfarers.
At the Reformation the State confiscated both the tithes and the
foundations belonging to the Church. Many of the foundations were, however,
converted into lawful refuges for the sick and infirm.
For those who were incapable of work, but yet were able to walk about,
begging was legal, but it developed to an immense extent under mediaeval
conditions, the gift of alms conferring on the donor spiritual advantages.
The beggar had to have a certificate, provided by church authority for
a defined area, and a struggle was entered upon to repress unauthorized
begging. The struggle was, however, in vain, in spite of repeated and
increasingly severe decrees for the punishment of beggars. Efforts made
from time to time to create a poor-law were called "Beggars Ordinances".
Both by Gustavus Yasa and Gustavus II Adolphus attempts were made
to regulate the work for the poor. During the reign of the latter, a
complete system was worked out and was at length adopted by the Estates,
but the law was never advanced beyond the paper stage.
In this bill a new idea emerged with reference to the aid given to the
destitute; such support was to be regarded not only as a provision made
in pity, which had been the case up till then, but a civil duty, of which
1he proper performance could not be neglected without injury to the whole
community.
The bestowal of alms having ceased to be of importance to the donor
himself, and the Church no longer administering large gifts, support for
the distressed gradually declined, so that it finally became necessary to
make obligatory those contributions to the poor which had formerly been
declared to be voluntary and free. The first step taken in this direction
was the "Beggars Ordinance" of 1698. It. was established, in the
"Hospitals Ordinance" of 1763, that every parish should provide for its poor,
and the necessary means should be found by the inhabitants in
proportion to other rates and taxes. In the manner of giving support to the needy,
a divergence had thus sprung up: aid could be given either by the public
authorities after a regulation founded on the rating basis (A) and limited
to members öf the particular community, or by voluntary benevolence (B),
prompted and supported by kindness and pity alone ("charity"), and
therefore unrestricted by any regulations. To-day, when the difference
between them is strongly emphasized, these two provinces in the work of relief
ought, in their main outlines, to be able to be kept distinct and separate
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