Everything combines to mark the reign of Elizabeth as an epoch in the history of England. [Sidenote: _Economic policy._] The foundations of modern society were laid. We seem to come into the range of modern, as distinct from mediaeval ideas and habits. The principal points in which modern society differs from mediaeval are distinctly visible. The problem of poor relief in particular becomes acutely appreciated. The rise of capital is seen both in the modification of the Usury laws, spoken of above, and in the enhancing of rents: prices hitherto dependent on custom and regulation must now be decided by competition. Not less remarkable is the permanence which attended Elizabeth's legislation. Her economic settlement remained practically unchanged until the development of machinery altered those social conditions for which it had been adapted. [Sidenote: _The Statute 5 Eliz. a turning-point in Gild history._] She made trade regulation national instead of local. The Act of 5 Elizabeth, c. 14, is a turning-point in the history of the Gilds. By it the whole system of Gilds was re-modelled. Their experience was by no means thrown away[130]. The information they had been accumulating was now appropriated by the state, which took over many of the functions they had hitherto performed. [Sidenote: _Many of the functions of the Gilds taken over by the state._] What had long been common law now became statute law. The old minimum of seven years' apprenticeship was still enjoined as a necessary preliminary to the exercise of any craft. Such apprentices when bound must be of an age less than twenty-one years, and could only be bound to householders in corporate or market towns. The proportion of journeymen to apprentices was regulated: there were to be three apprentices to one journeyman. The workman was protected from wilful dismissal. The hours of labour were defined, and Justices of the Peace or the town magistrates were to assess wages yearly at the Easter Sessions. All disputes between masters and servants were to be settled by the same authorities. The statute incorporated everything that was worth taking in the ordinances of the Gilds and applied it nationally to the regulation of the country's trade. [Sidenote: _Trade-regulation becomes national instead of local._] [Sidenote: _This allows development of new centres_] The results of such a revolution in industrial regulation were great both on trade in general and on the Gilds. There was no longer any excuse for attempting to retard the development of the new centres which were springing up. The action of the government in the matter of the Welsh woollen trade to which reference will presently be made shows how its policy was tending more and more towards allowing industry to take its own course, instead of attempting to restrict it to one market. [Sidenote: _and encourages native workmen._]