This research aims to answer three main questions. First of all, we want to examine how contemporaries and the legislator felt on the matter. This concerns the view of policy makers and the consequences thereof on the judicial and institutional levels. In a second line of research we focus on practice. Who was being arrested and why? After all we do know that not all vagrants or beggars ended up in an institution. The sentencing – or lack thereof – left room for interpretation. Also, which elements played a part in determining whether someone was locked up in an institution for beggars or in a refuge home? Despite the Lejeune Act of 1891 it was not always obvious to the authorities where to put a certain individual. A third line of research corresponds with what is called 'history from below'. Here the focus is placed on the experiences and strategies of the target groups themselves.