HUNTSMAN A SERVANT. 201 



liini to a Ycrdicfc on the third plea (which stated a discharge by the 

 defendaut, for disobedience of orders, in not working during liarvcst 

 till eight o'clock at night), supposing the alleged misconduct of the 

 plaintiff to be established ; and also to entitle him to a verdict on 

 the plea of non assumpsit to the indehitahis count, on tlie like su})p()- 

 sition, because in that case he was never indebted to the plaintiff 

 at all" (11 Q. B. 742). 



By sec. 3 of the statute, the magistrates have no jurisdiction to dis- 

 charge, unless it shall appear to them that the servant " shall not have 

 fulfilled such contract, or hath been guilty of any other misconduct 

 or misdemeanour." Thcg may issue tvarrants to apprehend servants in 

 husbandry, &c., not entering into service according to their contract, 

 or absenting themselves from it, on complaint by oath, and commit 

 them to the House of Correction for three months' hard labour, or in 

 lieu thereof abate the whole or part of the wages, or discharge the 

 servant. And it was decided by the Court of Queen's Bench, and 

 subsequently by the Court of Exchequer (Potlucic C.B. diss, and 

 Martin B. dut?.), that where a party is convicted by a justice of the 

 peace, under this section, for absenting himself from his master's 

 service, the contract is not dissolved ; and if, after the expiration of 

 that term, he refuses to return to the service, he may be brought up 

 before the justices and convicted a second time (Ex jjarte W. BaJcer). 

 So, by sec. 5, they may order payment of wages due to servants within 

 such time as they may think fit, on complaint made pursuant to 20 

 Geo. 11. c. 19, and 31 Geo. II. c. 11, which apply to servants in hus- 

 bandry hired for less than a year. 



A conviction under the Masters' and Servants' Act, 4 Geo. IV. c. 34, s. 3, 

 must state on the face of it an offence within the act, and the facts alleged 

 must not be consistent with the innocence of the person charged, other- 

 wise the conviction cannot be supported. And this is so, even since 

 the passing of Jervis's Act, 11 & 12 Vict. c. 43, which gives in sec. 17 a 

 general form of conviction applicable to all cases {Ex parte Gessivood). 



A huntsman, though hired at yearly wages with the right to receive 

 certain perquisites, is a menial servant, and subject to dismissal at a 

 month's notice, NicoU v. Greaves, 33 L. J. N. S. C. P. 259. 



A u'cirrant of commitment issued under 4 Geo. IV. c. 34, s. 3, was held 

 to be bad by Wightman J., for not stating that the contract was in 

 writing, or that the servant had entered into the service {In re J. Askew) 

 on the authority of Lindsay v. Leigh, which was decided in the Ex- 

 chequer Chamber, and where the warrant was under the same section, 

 and almost in the same words as in this case. iVo right of appecil to the 

 Quarter Sessions exists against an order of justices made under sec. 5 of 



