Tramp

One who roams about from place to place, begging or living without labor or visible means of support; a vagrant. Many of the states have adopted suitable legislation upon the subject, corresponding to the English vagrant acts. The object of these statutes is accomplished by arresting offenders and setting them to work on municipal improvements, or hiring them out to private employers, for a limited time, for which they receive food, lodging, and reasonable wages. In some states the punishment is by imprisonment. It is doubtful if mere vagrancy was indictable at common law; 1 Bish. Cr. L. § 515. Where there is no statutory definition of vagrancy, it will depend upon the commonlaw meaning; In re Jordan, 90 Mich. 3, 50 N. W. 1087.

See Vagrant.