Utopia: provide a living instead of hanging

In "Utopia", Thomas More has a traveler criticize the gallows for thieves in England: it would be far better to provide everyone with a means of living, so that no one would be driven by necessity to steal. It is the first seed of the idea of a minimum income, still tied to compulsory work.

Source: Thomas More, Utopia (Project Gutenberg), BIEN, history of basic income