Long before the emergence of the welfare state concept, individual country governments were either not concerning themselves with the poor or were leaving those affairs to the church and other members of society. Yet in the late 16th century, Britain began enacting and codifying laws that would be updated and revisited several times for the next 300 years (up until the end of World War 2). These would become known as the “Poor Laws”, government actions meant to alleviate poverty and end the plights of poor people in England and Wales. The earliest Poor Laws came in Medieval times, with Edward III enacting them on June 18th 1349. The first ones came in response to the Black Death, then ravaging its way through Europe. With workers dying all around them, the British employers needed to find people willing to work on the fields and produce goods. As manual labour became more precious, wages for workers rose significantly, causing many goods to skyrocket in cost. The first laws mandated that any workers fit to serve were to be in the employ of a landowner and that wages would return to pre-plague levels immediately, regardless of how many workers remained (harsh, I know).