LABOUR AND WAGES. 613 



take apprentices from parents who have no land; by the 

 twenty-fourth, the apprenticeship shall be for seven full years, 

 under a penalty of 40^. a month for any time short of this 

 term ; by the twenty-fifth, woollen cloth weavers are to take 

 apprentices from those parents only who have a freehold of at 

 least 3 per annum ; by the twenty-sixth, one journeyman 

 must be hired when the master has three apprentices, and for 

 every other apprentice another journeyman, under a penalty of 

 :io ; by the twenty-eighth, persons refusing to be apprenticed 

 are to be imprisoned. 



By the thirtieth clause, the justices are directed to enquire 

 periodically into the due execution of the Act ; by the thirty- 

 first, the justices are to have $s. a day (the wages of county 

 members), to be paid out of fines and forfeitures, during such 

 time as they are enforcing the Act ; by the thirty-second, the 

 penalties are to be divided between the queen and the informer. 

 Then follow some less important particulars, the only remain- 

 ing clause of importance being the thirty-ninth, under which 

 runaways are to be imprisoned. 



By the 39 Eliz. cap. 12, the Act is extended to weavers, the 

 justices in divisions of shires are made competent to regulate 

 and assess wages in their divisions, the rates are to be pro- 

 claimed by the sheriff, and the necessity of certifying the rates 

 in Chancery is abrogated, provision being taken that they 

 should be preserved by the custos Rotnlorum in each county. 

 The Act is continued by 43 Eliz. cap. 9, and by i Jac. cap. 6. 

 It remained in force with little modification (though others, re- 

 straining workmen from combination and punishing offenders 

 with great severity, were passed from time to time) up to 1825, 

 uhm the repeal of those acts was effected, chiefly by the 

 agency of the late Mr. Joseph Hume. 



It is not quite clear whether the Act of 1562 was intended 

 to repeal 7 Hen. VIII, cap. 5, under which the City of London 

 was excepted from the various Statutes of Labourers. In one 

 particular that Act was repealed, for by it all penalties on 

 masters giving more than the statutable wages were expressly 



