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Act of Parliament
Parliament of England
Citation	12 Ric. 2. c. 7
Dates
Royal assent	17 October 1388
Commencement	9 September 1388
Repealed	10 August 1872
Other legislation
Repealed by	Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1872
Status: Repealed

The Statute of Cambridge 1388 (12 Ric. 2. c. 7) was a piece of English legislation that placed restrictions on the movements of labourers and beggars. It prohibited any labourer from leaving the hundred, rape, wapentake, city, or borough where he was living, without a testimonial, showing reasonable cause for his departure, to be issued under the authority of the justices of the peace. Any labourer found wandering without such letter, was to be put in the stocks until he found surety to return to the town from which he came. Impotent persons were to remain in the towns in which they were living at the time of the Act; or, if the inhabitants were unable or unwilling to support them, they were to withdraw to other towns within the hundred, rape, or wapentake, or to the towns where they were born.

It is often regarded as the first poor law, for within its many restrictions each county "hundred" was made responsible for relieving its own "impotent poor" who, because of age or infirmity, were incapable of work. However, lack of enforcement limited its effect.

See also

• Internal passport

Notes

1. "Timeline - Poor Laws, Workhouses, and Social Support". Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
2. Senior, Nassau. "Poor Law Commissioners' Report of 1834". Online Library of Liberty.
3. Workhouses.org Old Poor Law

v t e Poor laws of the British Isles
Poor laws by territory	England and Wales Scotland Ireland Isle of Man	Nantwich workhouse
Old Poor Law	Vagabonds and Beggars Act 1494 Tudor poor laws Poor Relief Act 1597 Poor Relief Act 1601 Poor Relief Act 1662 Relief of the Poor Act 1696 Poor Relief Act 1722 Relief of the Poor Act 1782 House of correction Overseer of the poor Poor rate Poor relief Buttock mail
Relief systems	Outdoor relief Speenhamland Labour Rate Roundsman Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor
New Poor Law	Royal commission (1832) Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 Poor Law (Scotland) Act 1845 Less eligibility Workhouse Workhouse test Board of guardians Outdoor Labour Test Order Outdoor Relief Prohibitory Order Poor law unions Opposition Book of Murder Scottish poorhouse
Changes after 1834	Poor Law Commission Poor Law Board Local Government Board Andover workhouse scandal Huddersfield workhouse scandal Union Chargeability Act
Decline and abolition	Liberal welfare reforms Royal Commission (1905–09) Majority Report Minority Report Interwar poverty National Assistance Act 1948
Other	Christmas Day in the Workhouse Historiography of the Poor Laws Timeline of the English poor law system Poor Relief Act List of poor law unions in England List of poor law unions in Wales List of Irish poor law unions

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