J. 벤덤과 영국 1834년 신빈민법

This paper intends to examine Bentham’s Poor Plan that influenced the New Poor Law. While experiencing the poverty crisis in 1795, Bentham criticized outdoor relief and tried to propose an alternative solution to poverty. He criticized the abolitionist claims and argued for the usefulness of the poor law from a utilitarian standpoint. He believed that, as the abolition would undermine the security of property, the poor law must be maintained. Bentham’s proposals on the usefulness of the poor law played a decisive role in shifting the consensus away from the abolition of the law and instead towards the revision of the Poor Law of 1834. Bentham also criticized the outdoor relief, a paternalistic method, from a utilitarian standpoint. He pointed out that such indiscriminate provision of outdoor relief negatively impacts labourers motivation to work and instead encourages indolence. Therefore, he proposed an alternative to eliminate evils of outdoor relief through establishing principles of relief and legislation. He meticulously distinguished poverty from indigence through applying the logic of natural law, which provided a justification to eschew social responsibility for labourers in poverty. As a result, The New Poor Law could be enacted that denied provision of relief for labourers in poverty all the while maintaining the existing the Poor Law. Although Bentham advocated ‘the poor relief through legislation’, but he criticized labourers’ customary right to relief, as he viewed this as something that could be overcome through adherence to “the principle of less-eligibility.” He argued that the ultimate source of public funds is from independent labourers, and that, for these labourers’ property rights to be ensured, provision should be limited. For Bentham, the Poor Law could only exist when it did not undermine the guaranteed property rights.