Agrarian policies on pauper settlement and migration, Oxfordshire 1750-1834

Through the analysis of Oxfordshire settlement documents between 1751 and 1 834, this article explores two possible mechanisms of labour mobility contr ol. The first mechanism - parish officers' surveillance of those not in imm inent need of poor relief, on which most existing research has focused - ap pears to have operated to a certain extent. It is, however, the second mech anism - magistrates' selective policies over migrants' family status and mi gration distance - which was more effective. The comparatively shorter migr ation distances of the more employable family groups suggest that the settl ement laws were used as a means to secure labour supply primarily for their agrarian localities.