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Full-Text Articles in Legal History

Virginia Law Reports And Records, 1776-1800, William Hamilton Bryson Jan 1997

Virginia Law Reports And Records, 1776-1800, William Hamilton Bryson

Law Faculty Publications

In 1607 Virginia was settled by a London-based corporation, and the English settlers brought with them the municipal law and legal institutions of England. It was specifically required by the instructions to the Virginia Company that litigation was to be settled "as near to the common laws of England and the equity thereof as may be". In 1632 when commissioners were appointed to hold the monthly courts (later renamed the county courts), their commissions required them to execute the office of justice of the peace and to act "as near as may be after the laws of the realm of …


Welfare Reform: An Historical Overview, Richard K. Caputo Jan 1997

Welfare Reform: An Historical Overview, Richard K. Caputo

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

This essay provides an historical overview of welfare reform efforts prior to enactment of The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 by the 104th Congress. The author argues that the 1996 Act reaffirmed the labor market as the major arbiter of economic well-being of American citizens. In so doing, passage of the Act signified the formal end of income maintenance for able-bodied parents and released the federal government from assuming major responsibility for reducing poverty per se.


Welfare Reform: An Historical Overview, Richard K. Caputo Jan 1997

Welfare Reform: An Historical Overview, Richard K. Caputo

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

This essay provides an historical overview of welfare reform efforts prior to enactment of The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 by the 104th Congress. The author argues that the 1996 Act reaffirmed the labor market as the major arbiter of economic well-being of American citizens. In so doing, passage of the Act signified the formal end of income maintenance for able-bodied parents and released the federal government from assuming major responsibility for reducing poverty per se.


Reluctant Charity: Poor Laws In The Original Thirteen States, William P. Quigley Jan 1997

Reluctant Charity: Poor Laws In The Original Thirteen States, William P. Quigley

University of Richmond Law Review

The poor laws of the original thirteen states can best be described as reluctant public charity. Assistance was provided to some of the poor but, when provided, was strictly rationed to those local residents considered worthy of help. Visitors, strangers and nonresident poor people were not helped and were legally run out of town. Poor relief for the locals was frequently given in ways that were demeaning and destructive to families. Poor people were always expected to work, and even poor children were taken from their families by the authorities and apprenticed to others. Poor adults that could work were …