The law replaced the 1642 års tiggareordning which had previously regulated the public poor relief system.
At the time the 1847 reform was enacted, care for the poor was largely organized in the traditional rotegång system, administered by the church.
The 1847 regulation established a public board of directors for poor relief in each parish.
The pauper's hosts had the legal right to demand household work of their tenant benefactors, a practice that had been customary in the rotegång system.
The new law had the effect that children were often placed in foster homes with the parishioners who had made the lowest 'bid' for a stipend.