300 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



ing the alteration fairly, it is ne- 

 cessary to direct the attention of 

 the House to the sort of questions 

 which arise out of each of liie 

 heads of settlement proposed to be 

 abrogated. 



In the case, for instance, of a 

 settlement being supposed to be 

 acquired by renting a tenement of 

 the annual value uf lOl. the ques- 

 tion in dispute generally respects 

 the value. If it may be really not 

 far from that sum, and the family 

 of the pauper be numerous, the 

 interests of the contendi ng parishes, 

 supported by the conflicting opi- 

 nion of their rcsjiective surveyors, 

 leads to the utmost expense and 

 extremity of litigation. 



But this question of fact has not 

 been the only subject of dispute. 

 The kind of tenement, and the 

 nature of the teriure, will be found, 

 by a reference to the reports of 

 the King's Bencli, to have given 

 rise to the most difficult and nu- 

 merous questions; the same re- 

 ference will afford a still greater 

 variety of intricate questions, and 

 of conflicting decisions, respecting 

 hiring and service ; as to who may 

 be hired as servants ; what the 

 contract of hiring, whether gene- 

 ral, special, customary, retro- 

 spective, conditional, personal j 

 hiring' service in different places, 

 with different masters ; of mat riage 

 during the service ; and absence 

 from service. 



The settlement by serving an 

 apprenticeship has also its various 

 decisioni!, arising out of the nature 

 of the binding, tiie time of the 

 service, the jilace of the service, 

 the discharging the indentures, 

 and the service with <lifferent mas- 

 ters, the execution of indentures, 

 and stamps. The last head of 



settlement by estate, it is obvious, 

 besides the question of value, 

 which, in case of purchase, must 

 amount bon^ fide to 301. involves 

 necessarily some of the most intri- 

 cate questions respecting real pro 

 perty and testamentary bequests 

 and devises. The committee are 

 persuaded they need do no more 

 than refer to these several heads 

 of litigation to shew its extent ; 

 and that minor alterations in any 

 of these, while each head of set- 

 tlement is retained, would only 

 lead to new questions. It has, for 

 instance, been suggested, that the 

 rent of the tenement should be 

 substituted for its value ; but the 

 question would then be shifted, 

 and every agreement for a rent a 

 little above or a little below 10/. 

 would be impugned as collusive. 

 Raising the sum from lO/. to 20L 

 hiis been also suggested, and would 

 have its advantages by diminishing 

 litigation ; but it would at the 

 same time increase the difficulty 

 of changing a settlement, and, 

 consequently, of permitting skill 

 and labour to find its best market. 

 It has been proposed also to the 

 committee from various quarters, 

 that under the head of hiiing and 

 service, a contract of hiring should 

 be dispensed with, and service for 

 a year confer a settlement. But 

 your committee fear, that the same 

 means which are now successfully 

 adopted to prevent a settlement 

 from being obtained under this 

 head, would in that case operate 

 moie prejudicially to the labouier, 

 by preventing his remaining a 

 year In one place ; at present he 

 can do so, under successive hir- 

 ings, for a siiorter period. Jf these 

 apprehensions are well founded, 

 the change w.juld be most preju- 

 dicial 



