l82 ENFORCEMENT OF THE STATUTES OF LABOURERS 



must be added the 6 cases involving the contract clause; 

 they include one action of false imprisonment brought by a 

 servant against a master and five actions of trespass vi et 

 armis brought by masters against other masters for taking 

 servants out of their service. It appears therefore that a 

 sixth of the cases for breach of contract are against em- 

 ployers as well as servants and that over a third in addition 

 are against employers alone; in contrast then to quarter 

 sessions, the upper courts were making a vigorous attempt 

 to compel the employing class to obey the law. Now to 

 what social and economic status do the delinquent employees 

 belong, for convenience designated by the general term of 

 "servants?" The wording of the ordinance, "reaper, 

 mower, or other workman or servant, of whatever condi- 

 tion he may be " certainly suggests manual labourers, es- 

 pecially those occupied in agriculture ; but a classification of 

 the employees ^ concerned in the 305 contract cases gives a 

 definite answer to the question. The s'x involving the con- 

 tract clause may be dismissed first : they include two vil- 

 leins, a labourer, a ploughman and carter, a housemaid, 

 and two servants.^ The 299 cases are divided as follows: 

 agricultural labourers, 116;^ household servants, 30;* 



^ In the departure cases, the employees are of course the defendants, 

 but in the retention cases they are not parties to the suit although the 

 cause of the suit. 



' See p. 176, note i. 



^It would take too much space to print all my references to the Plea 

 Rolls; I merely give a list of the occupations represented, some of 

 which appear more frequently than others. Bercarius, carectarius, car- 

 ectarius et carucarius (or order reversed), carucarius, carthwoman, in 

 officio colligendi garbas, in officio custodiendi equos, in officio ad erad- 

 icandum spinas, custos aueriorum, deye, fugator caruce, herbarius, 

 laborarius, communis laborarius, messor, mower, pastor, porcarius, 

 shepherd, tentor caruce, vaccarius. 



*Ancilla, bona ancilla, communis ancilla, cellarius, cokus, lotrix, 

 nutrex, in officio cariandi aquam, communis seruiens et ad sellas faci- 

 endas, communis seruiens, ostillarius et seruiens domi. 



