1. Powers of the justices. 2. Work of the justices in first putting the law in execution. (_a_) In West Riding in 1598. (_b_) In North Riding from 1605 onwards. 3. Reports of the justices in response to the Book of Orders. 4. The work of the judges. (_a_) Authoritative decisions on points of law. (_b_) Administrative work as the link between the Privy Council and the justices. 5. The work of the overseers. (_a_) In 1599. (_b_) When stirred to greater activity by scarcity measures. (_c_) After the issue of the Book of Orders. The increased activity of the Privy Council, which made the poor law of the seventeenth century more effective than that of the sixteenth, depended for its success upon the activity of the local officials, particularly of the justices of the peace and the municipal authorities. We will now therefore examine the work done (1) by the justices and town rulers, (2) by the judges[375], and (3) by the overseers. [375] Although the judges were not strictly speaking local authorities so much of their work with regard to the poor law was done locally that it seems more convenient to consider them in this connection. [Sidenote: 1. Powers of the justices.] We have seen, in the Elizabethan organisation of Norwich, how much the justices and municipal officers could do when they were at their best, but preambles, proclamations, and letters of the Privy Council combine to tell us that continuous vigour and energy were exceptional. Still the important point is that this local government existed, and under pressure could become effective. It was because the organisation was there that the letters of the Privy Council were so important; if the justices had been powerless officials, Privy Council letters would have been useless. It is because the justices had the power and could be effective, that it is necessary for us to see how far the Privy Council measures stirred them into action.