APPRENTICESHIP. 



Lord Mansfield, in his arguments on the 

 case, Rennard and Chase, brewers. 1 

 Bur. Rep. p. 2, says, " It hath been well 

 observed that this act (viz. 5 Eliz. chap. 

 4.) is, 



1. A penal law. 



2. It is a restraint on natural right. 



3. It is contrary to the general right 

 given by the common law of this kingdom. 



4. The policy upon which this act was 

 made is from experience become doubt- 

 ful. Bad and unskilful workmen are rare- 

 Jy prosecuted. This act was made early 

 in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when the 

 great number of manufacturers, who took 

 refuge in England after the duke of Alva's 

 prosecution, had brought trade and com- 

 merce with them, and enlarged our no- 

 tions. The restraint introduced by this 

 Jaw was thought unfavourable ; and the 

 judges, by a liberal interpretation, have 

 extended "the qualification for exercising 

 the trad*- much beyond the letter of it, 

 and confinedthe penalty and prohibition to 

 cases precisely within the express letter." 

 Kunvs Justice, vol. i. Art. Apprentices. 



3d Modern Reports, p. 317- Judge Dol- 

 ben, in delivering his opinion, said, that 

 " Mo encouragement was ever given to 

 prosecutions upon the statute 5 Eli2. and 

 that it would be for the common good, if 

 it were repealed ; for no greater punish- 

 ment can lie to the seller, than to expose 

 to sale goods ill-wrought, for by such 

 means he will never sell more." 



2 Salk. 613. The Queen v. Maddox. 

 It was held by the court, " that upon in- 

 dictments upon the statute of 5 Eliz. the 

 following of a trade for seven years to be 

 sufficient without any holding ; this being 

 a hard law." And so held in Lord Ray- 

 mond, 738. 



Burn's Justice. " So detrimental was 

 this statute thought, that by 15 Car. II. all 

 persons spinning, or making cloth of hemp 

 or flax, or nets for fishing, or storin, or 

 cordage, might exercise those trades with- 

 out sen-ing apprenticeships. And so little 

 did the legislature, at subsequent periods, 

 think that any benefit was to be derived 

 from the statute of 5 Eliz. or that manu- 

 factures were made better, or improved 

 by this restraint; and the minds of men 

 being more liberal, that trade should, as 

 much as possible, be flung open; it is 

 enacted by 6 and 7 William III. that any 

 apprentice discovering two pel-sons guilty 

 of coining, so as they are convicted, shall 

 be deemed a freeman, and may exercise 

 his trade as if he had served out his time." 



And, in ord-r still stronger to shew how 

 Jittle the legislature esteemed the seven 

 years binding ameliorated manufactures, 



it is enacted, by 3 George IIT. cap. 8, that 

 "All officers, marines, and soldiers, who 

 have been employed in his majesty's 

 service, and not deserted, may exercise 

 such trades as they are apt for, in any 

 town or place." 



So dangerous and fatal has been the evil 

 of combinations and conspiracies among 

 journeymen, that in particular instances, 

 as in trades where many hands are re- 

 quired and very little skill, as dyeing, and 

 such like, the legislature have made ex- 

 press laws to give relief to masters. See 

 17 Geo. III. cap. 33. ; which enables dyers, 

 in Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, and Kent, to 

 employ journeymen who have not served 

 apprenticeships. And to such a pitch has 

 this mischief in the West Riding of York- 

 shire increased, by the conspiracies facili- 

 tated by the act of 5 Eliz. that it goes to 

 the total annihilation of our staple manu- 

 factures, and every other trade which 

 hopes for success, not only by the home, 

 but from foreign consumption. See the 

 report from the committee of the House 

 of Commons, on the woollen trade and 

 manufacture of these kingdoms, made in 

 the last session of parliament, 4th July, 

 1806. 



After stating the above, let us quote the 

 words of the immortal Lord Chief Justice 

 Coke on this point. "That, at the com- 

 mon law, no man could be prohibited 

 from working in any lawful trade : for the 

 law abhors idleness, the mother of all evil 

 Otium omnium -vitiorum matei and espe- 

 cially in young men, who ought in their 

 youth (which is their seed time) to learn 

 lawful sciences and trades, which are pro- 

 fitable to the commonwealth, whereof 

 they might reap the benefit in their old 

 age : for ' idle in youth, poor in age'." 



And therefore the common law abhors 

 all monopolies, which prohibit any from 

 working in any lawful trade. And that 

 appears in 2 Hen. V. 5 b. A dyer was 

 bound not to use the dyer's craft for two 

 years : and there Judge Hall held, "that 

 the bond was against the common law : 

 and by G d, if the plaintiff' was here, he 

 should go to prison till he paid a fine to 

 the king." And vide 7 Edw. III. 65 b. 

 " And, if he who takes upon himself to 

 work is unskilful, his ignorance is a suffi- 

 cient punishment to him, for impetitia est 

 maxima mecanicorum peenn ; et quilibet tjtix 

 rit in qualibet arte peritos : which is, 'that 

 want of skill is the greatest punishment of 

 mechanics ; for every body will employ 

 those that are the best skilled in their bu- 

 siness.' And if any one takes upon him- 

 self to work, and spoils it, an action on the 

 case lies against him." 



