521 
M A S T E R. 
To conquer; to overpower; to fubdue.—The reforma¬ 
tion of art habitual (inner is a work of time and patience ; 
evil cuftoms nuift be maj!cred and fubdued by degrees. 
Calamfs Sermons. 
Thrice blefled they that mafler fo their blood, 
To undergo fuch maiden pilgrimage. Shakcfpeare. 
To execute with (kill.—I do not take myfelf to be fo per¬ 
fect in the tranfaftions and privileges of Bohemia, as to be 
fit to handle that part ; and I will not offer at that I can¬ 
not mafler. Bacon 
MAS'TER and SER'VANT, a relation founded in 
convenience, whereby a man is directed to call in the af- 
fiftance of others, where his own (kill and labour will not 
be'fufficient to anfwer the cares incumbent upon him. 
For the feveral forts of fervants, and how that character 
is created or defiroyed, fee the articles Apprentice and 
Servant. But the relation between a mailer and a fer¬ 
vant, from the (uperiority and power which it creates on 
the one hand, and the duty, fubje&ion, and, as it were, al¬ 
legiance, on the other, is, in many inltances, applicable to 
other relations, which are in a luperior and iubordinate 
degree; fuch as lord and bailiff, principal and attorney, 
owners and matters of (hips, merchants and factors, and 
all others having authority to enforce obedience to their 
orders, from thofe whofe duty it is to obey them, and 
whofe arts, being conformable to their duty and office, 
are efteemed the afts of their principals. We (hall there¬ 
fore confider, firtt, the effefl of this relation with regard 
to the parties themfelves ; and, fecondly, its effefls with 
regard to others. 
i. The manner in which this relation affefts either the 
matter or fervant. And, firtt, by hiring and fervice for 
a-year, or apprenticediip under indentures, a perfon gains 
a Settlement in that parilh wherein he latt ferved forty days. 
A matter may by law’ correct his apprentice for negli¬ 
gence or other mifbehaviour, fo it be done with modera¬ 
tion ; though, il the matter or matter’s wife beats any 
other fervant of full age , it is good caufe of departure. 
But, if any fervant, workman, or labourer, afiauks his 
matter or dame, he (hall fuffer one year’s imprifonment, 
and other open corporal punithment, not extending to life 
or limb. 
By fervice, all fervants and labourers,except apprentices, 
become entitled to their wages ; according to agreement, 
if menial fervants; or according to the appointment of 
the fneriff orfettions, ^labourers or fervants in hufbandry ; 
for the ftatutes for regulation of wages, in (triftnefs, feem 
to extend to fuch fervants only ; and the reafon given is, 
that it is impoffible for any magittrate to he a judge of 
the employment of menial fervants, or of courfe to affefs 
their wages. But it is the practice of jultices in difputed 
cafes to affefs the wages of all fervants ; a practice which 
probably may he fupported under (tat. 20 Geo. II. c. 19. 
Where a fervant damages goods of his matter, action 
lies againlt him ; and, being employed to fell goods in his 
matter’s (hop, if the fervant carries away and converts 
them to his own ule, action of trefpafs may be brought 
by the matter againlt the fervant; for the fervant cannot 
meddle with them in any other manner than to fell them. 
5 Rep. 14. 
Servants being of the age of eighteen, and not appren¬ 
tices, going or making away with, embezzling or purloin¬ 
ing, any of their matter’s goods, delivered to them to 
keep, to the value of 40s. are guilty of felony, by ltat. 
21 Hen. VIII. c. 7. 
A fervant who receives his matter’s goods from another 
fervant to, keep tor the matter, is as much guilty as if he 
had received them iroin the matter’s own hands; beCaule 
fuch delivery is looked upon as a delivery by the matter. 
3 Injl. 105. 1 Hawk. P. C. c. 33. § 13. 
By the common law it was not larceny in any fervant 
to run away with the goods committed him to keep, but 
only a breach ot civil trutt. But, if the fervant had not 
the noffeflion, but only the care and overlight of the goods, 
Vol.XIV. No. 992. 
as the butler of the plate, the fhepherd of the (beep, and 
the like, the embezzling of them was felony, even at the 
common law. 1 Hal. P. C. 506. And it feems, that now 
the judges, in every cafe, determine that the property of 
the matter, delivered by him into the cuttody of the fer¬ 
vant, (till remains in the poffeffion of the matter; and, if 
it is embezzled by the fervant, or converted to his ufe, he 
is guilty of felony. And, when fervants are convitted of 
robbing their matters, as the (ecurity of families fo much 
depends on their honetty, and as the violation of the con¬ 
fidence repofed in them is a high aggravation of the crime, 
they are always punifhed with the utmoll rigour which 
the law admits. 4 Comm, c 17. 
2. We now come to confider how (Hangers may be af- 
fefted by this relation of matter and fervant ; or, how a 
matter may behave towards others on behalf of his fer¬ 
vant, and what a fervant may do on behalf of his matter. 
And, firtt, the matter may maintain , that is, abet and 
afiift, his fervant in any action at law againlt a lrranger; 
whereas, in general, it isan offence againlt public juftice to 
encourage fuits and animofities, by helping to bear the 
expenfe of them, and is called in law maintenance. A 
matter may alfo bring an action againlt any man for beat¬ 
ing, confining, or difabling, his fervant; but in fuch cafe 
he mult affign, as a fpecial reafon for fo doing, his own da¬ 
mage by the lofs of his fervice ; and this lof’s mult be proved 
upon the trial. 9 Rep 113. This aftion by a matter for 
affaulr, &c. on his lervant, and confequent lofs of fervice, t 
has been contrived, by a fpecies of fiction, to be extended 
to a parent, to enable him to recover a pecuniary compen- 
fation for the feduftion of his daughter. 3 Comm. 142. n. 
A matter likewife may jultify au affault in defence of his 
fervant, and a fervant in defence ot his matter; the matte/, 
hecaufe he has an intereft in his fervant, not to be deprived 
of his fervice; the fervant, becaufe it is part of his duty, 
for which he receives his wages, to ttand by and defend 
his matter. 
Alfo if any perfon do hire or retain my fervant, being 
in my fervice, for hich the fervant departeth from me 
and goeth to ferve the other, I may have an action for 
damages againlt both the new matter and the fervant, or 
either of them ; but, if the new matter did not know that 
he is my fervant, no aftion lies, unlefs he afterwards re- 
fufe to re ft ore him upon information and demand. The 
reafon and foundation upon which all this doftrine is 
buiit, feem to be the property that every man has in the 
fervice of his domeltics ; acquired by the contract of hi¬ 
ring, and purchafed by giving them wages. 
As for thofe things which a fervant may do on behalf 
of his matter, they feem all to proceed upon this principle, 
that the matter is anfwerable for the aft of his fervant, if 
done by his command, either exprefsly given or implied : 
Nam quifacit per aliu/n, facit per fe. Therefore, if the fer¬ 
vant commit a trefpafs by the command or encouragement 
of his matter, the matter (hall be guilty of it; not that the 
fervant isexcufed, for he is only to obey his matter in mat¬ 
ters that are honeft and lawful. II an innkeeper’s fervants 
rob his guelts, the matter is bound to reftitution ; for, as 
there is a confidence repofed in him, that he will take 
care to provide honett fervants, his negligence is a kind 
o'f implied confent to the robbery ; Nam qui non prokibet, 
cum prohibere pgffit, jubet. So likewife, if the drawer at a 
tavern fells a man had wine,.whereby his health isinjured, 
he may bring an aflion againlt the matter; for, although 
the matter did not exprefsly order the lervant to fell it to 
that perfon in particular, yet his permitting, him to draw 
and fell it at all is implied a general command. 
I11 the lame manner, whatever a fervant is permitted to 
do in the ufual courfe of his bufinefs, is equivalent to a 
general command. If I pay money to a banker’s fervant, 
the banker is anfwerable tor it; bur, if I pay it to a clergy¬ 
man’s ora phyfician’s fervant, whofe ufual bufinefs it is 
not to receive money for his matter, and he embezzles it, I 
mutt pay it over again. If a fteward lets a leafe of a farm 
without the owner’s knowledge, the owner mult ttand to 
6 R the 
