Vagrancy is the state of homelessness, vagabondage. Formerly, in English law the term was applied to various classes of idle and disorderly persons. The principal Act in this connexion was the Vagrancy Act, 1824, extended in certain directions by Vagrancy Acts of 1838, 1873, and 1878, and further amended by the Casual Poor Act, 1882, and the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1912.
Three classes of vagrants were recognized by the law: (1) Idle and disorderly persons ; (2) rogues and vagabonds ; (3) incorrigible rogues. The sentence on conviction varied from one month for the first class, to one year's imprisonment for the third. Research Vagrancy
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