ay be, in case it be acquired by act of law or of a third person, as
by descent, gift, devise, &c, is a sufficient settlement[y]: but if a
man acquire it by his own act, as by purchase, (in it's popular sense,
in consideration of money paid) then[z] unless the consideration
advanced, _bona fide_, be 30_l._ it is no settlement for any longer
time, than the person shall inhabit thereon. He is in no case
removeable from his own property; but he shall not, by any trifling or
fraudulent purchase of his own, acquire a permanent and lasting
settlement.

[Footnote o: 1 Lord Raym. 567.]

[Footnote p: Salk. 427.]

[Footnote q: Salk. 528. 2 Lord Raym. 1473.]

[Footnote r: Stra. 544.]

[Footnote s: Foley. 249.]

[Footnote t: Stat. 13 & 14 Car. II c. 12. 1 Jac. II. c. 17. 3 & 4 W. &
M. c. 11.]

[Footnote u: Stat. 13 & 14 Car. II. c. 12.]

[Footnote w: Stat. 3 & 4 W. & M. c. 11.]

[Footnote x: Stat. 3 & 4 W. & M. c. 11. 8 & 9 W. III. c. 10. and 31
Geo. II. c. 11.]

[Footnote y: Salk. 524.]

[Footnote z: Stat. 9 Geo. I. c. 7.]

ALL persons, not so settled, may be removed to their own parishes, on
complaint of the overseers, by two justices of the peace, if they
shall adjudge them likely to become chargeable to the parish, into
which they have intruded: unless they are in a way of getting a legal
settlement, as by having hired a house of 10_l._ _per annum_, or
living in an annual service; for then they are not removeable[a]. And
in all other cases, if the parish to which they belong, will grant
them a certificate, acknowleging them to be _their_ parishioners, they
cannot be removed merely because _likely_ to become chargeable, but
only when they become _actually_ chargeable[b]. But such certificated
persons can gain no settlement by any of the means above-mentioned;
unless by renting a tenement of 10_l._ _per annum_, or by serving an
annual office in the parish, being legally placed therein: neither can
an apprentice or servant to such certificated person gain a settlement
by such their service[c].

[Footnote a: Salk. 472.]

[Footnote b: Stat. 8 & 9 W. III. c. 30.]

[Footnote c: Stat. 12 Ann. c. 18.]

THESE are the general heads of the laws relating to the poor, which,
by the resolutions of the courts of justice thereon within a century
past, are branched into a great variety. And yet, notwithstanding the
pains that has been taken about them, they still remain very
imperfect, and inadequate to the purposes they a