Five Hundred Years of English Poor Laws, 1349-1834: Regulating the Working and Nonworking Poor

This article will review how the working and the nonworking poor were regulated by 500 years of English poor laws. It will conclude with ideas about the principles which have since evolved to regulate the working and nonworking poor

Revolutionary Lawyering: Addressing the Root Causes of Poverty and Wealth

It is true that lawyers are rarely revolutionaries. In fact, the idea may seem like an oxymoron (like corporate ethics), but some people are, and others can be, revolutionary lawyers. Our profession is, at the core of its practice, the primary profession world-wide that protects and defends the machines, computers, profit motives and property rights so rightly condemned by Dr. King. We use our training, wealth, and position in society to facilitate commerce without conscience, to accumulate wealth without responsibility, and to serve the needs of corporations over and above the rights and needs of people. Yet still, some lawyers can be revolutionaries. Part I of this Article highlights some of the most glaring details about poverty, wealth and the working poor and provides some facts about racism, materialism and militarism, both nationally and internationally. The briefest look at who is rich and who is poor, and the reasons behind such status, demonstrates the continued accuracy of Dr. King’s prophetic description of why a radical revolution of values is needed, now even more than when he first spoke these words. Part II of this Article discusses some areas of the law that need radical change, law that needs to be torn up by its roots and replaced. Part III reflects on how lawyers who want to be revolutionaries can do so. The Article concludes with signs of hope and a charge to lawyers to consider joining the radical revolution of Dr. King

Reluctant Charity: Poor Laws in the Original Thirteen States

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 not helped, and were forced to work upon pain of whipping, imprisonment, and banishment. Poor people who worked fared little better. Many of the poor, working or not, were not allowed to vote. Maximum wages were set. Child labor was common, often away from the family. The working poor were held back by the laws of settlement, indenture, and slavery. As the United States was formed, its legal treatment of the poor remained anchored in the punitive mode of the English and colonial poor laws

Introduction to Clinical Teaching for the New Clinical law Professor: A View from the First Floor

New clinical teachers, full of enthusiasm and energy, arrive at the law school having just crossed over into the new vocation of professor from their previous work as practicing lawyers. As many as ten eager, dedicated, inexperienced law students will shortly be representing several clients each, under the close supervision of the new clinical faculty member. There is a new office, new coworkers, new cases, new students, but most new of all, a new way of operating. No longer the lone advocate, now the advocate has-become a clinical teacher, working with law students. Dedicated to education and service, the clinic teacher is ready to start. But where are the instructions on clinical teaching? Where is the clinic teacher\u27s manual

A Fair Day\u27s Pay for a Fair Day\u27s Work: Time to Raise and Index the Minimum Wage.

Millions of people are working for a living but not receiving a living wage in return for their work. The value of the minimum wage continues to erode, with the Congressional Research Service estimating the minimum wage would have to rise to $6.75 per hour in 1996 to equal the purchasing power it represented in 1978. It is not in the common interest, nor in the interest of justice, for people to work full-time, yet remain mired in poverty. Reforming the minimum wage by raising it and indexing it for inflation is a critical step toward attaining Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s goal of assisting the nation’s working poor by providing “a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.” The vast majority of workers who earn low wages are not officially counted as poor because others in their household also work, raising the household income above the official poverty level. Though there are many causes working in combination to create the working poor, low wages are certainly at the center of the phenomenon. Many of the working poor are those who work less than full-time at low wages. While the economic, political, and legal positions of supporters and opponents of a living wage have not changed much since the beginning of this century, it is important for the common interest to reargue this issue as one of fairness. It is certainly in the interest of the nation and justice itself to encourage all who can to work while raising and indexing the minimum wage to accomplish this goal. Current legislative battles over raising and indexing the minimum wage will continue until those who work for a living, earn a living for their work