Settlement
In 1662, another highly significant piece of legislation An Act for the better Relief of the Poor of this Kingdom (13&14 Car. II c.12) — otherwise known as the Settlement Act — was passed. In fact, the principle behind this Act was not really new and had its origins in the 1388 Statute of Cambridge. The new Settlement Act allowed for the removal from a parish, back to their place of settlement, of newcomers whom local justices deemed "likely to be chargeable" to the parish poor rates. Exemption was given if the new arrival was able to rent a property for at least £10 a year, but this was well beyond the means of an average labourer.
The 1662 Act did not specify how a person's settlement was defined — the basic principles were already long established. A child's settlement at birth was taken to be the same as that of its father. At marriage, a woman took on the same settlement as her husband. Illegitimate children were granted settlement in the place they were born — this often led parish overseers to try and get rid of an unmarried pregnant woman before the child was born, for example by her transporting to another parish just before the birth, or by paying a man from another parish to marry her.
A further Act in 1691 (3 William & Mary c.11) specified aditional ways in which settlement could be acquired. If a boy was apprenticed, which could happen from the age of seven, his parish of settlement became the place of his apprenticeship. Another means of qualifying for settlement in a new parish was by being in continuous employment for at least a year. To prevent this, hirings were often for a period of 364 days rather than a full year, or with a small amount of unpaid holidy included. Conversely, labourers might quit their jobs before a year was up in order to avoid being effectively trapped in a disagreeable parish.

Example of a settlement paper from 1747.
You can read the full text of the 1662 Settlement Act. Interestingly, the Act was the first ever to mention the term "workhouses".
In 1697, an Act For supplying some Defects in the Laws for the Relief of the Poor (8&9 Will II c.30) gave newcomers with certificates from their own parish protection until they actually became chargeable on the poor rate. A century later, in 1795, An Act to prevent the Removal of Poor Persons until they shall actually become chargeable (35 Geo. III c. 101) extended this protection to all except pregnant unmarried women. Parishes made these the least welcome because they were considered the most expensive to support.

Example of a removal notice from 1836.
.Bibliography
- Slack, Paul. The English Poor Law, 1531-1782, 1990, CUP.
- Webb, Sidney and Beatrice English Poor Law History, 1927, Longmans, Green & Co., London.
- Webb, Sidney and Beatrice English Poor Law Policy, 1910, Longmans, Green & Co., London.
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