The origin and operating of compulsory workslwps are connected with thorough economic and social changes and with new views upan the question of the poor in the time of humanism. First such workshops in European space can be traced in the 16th century, and in the Habsburg monarchy in the second hall ol the 17th century. A bridewell was lounded in Ljubljana in 1754 and a new independent campulsory workshop in 1847. Provisions and decrees on its operation and the house regulatians were presenting the principal guidelines of its functioning; thus they are in the contribution presented in detail. A significant change in operating of the compulsory workshop followed in the years 1873 and 1885, when within its frame bridewells were being founded; those later became independent; and after World War 1 when the compulsory workshop was cancelled.