Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/639

 APPRAISEMENT APPRENTICE 603 was a conspicuous member of the conserva- tive party at the diet of Presburg in 1843-'4, and became Hungarian court chancellor in 1847. He lived in retirement during and after the revolution of 1848-'9, and accepted in 1859 a position in the wider Reichsrath of Vienna, where he furthered with great energy and ability various schemes for the restoration of the constitution of his country. In 1860 he was ma&QJudex curice, in 1861 opened as royal commissioner the diet of Pesth, and by his me- diatory position was in the following years, next to Francis Deak, the most influential person in bringing about the reconciliation between Hungary and the court of Vienna, which in 1867 culminated in the transformation of the Austrian empire on the basis of nationality and constitutionalism. A leading conservative, Count Apponyi is esteemed by all parties as a patriot and a statesman. APPRAISEMENT (Lat. appretiare, to set a price upon), a valuation of property by persons authorized to make it by the law or by stipula- tion between the parties. The three principal kinds of appraisement known to American law are : of the inventoried property of decedents and insolvents; of property taken for public use ; and of real estate seized upon execution. In some states the creditor may enforce a sale of his debtor's lands without a previous ap- praisement ; in others an appraisement is a ne- cessary prerequisite. In some states land once sold on execution is irredeemable by the debt- or ; in others he has a right to redeem it with- in a reasonable period, six months or a year, at the appraised value, with interest. There are states where the creditor has no right to sell upon execution, but may take the property of his debtor in payment so far as it goes, at two thirds of the appraised value ; in case of refusal the levy is discharged, and the creditor must pay costs. APPRENTICE (Fr. apprendre, to learn), a person bound to service for a term of years, and receiving in return for such service in- struction in his master's business. Apprentice- ship had its origin in the system of associated trades which prevailed in almost all parts of Europe in the middle ages. Those only who were free of the fraternity of a trade were al- lowed to exercise it ; and the usual, if not the indispensable, mode of acquiring this freedom was through an apprenticeship to a member of the body, for a time and under regulations varying in different towns and in different trades in the same town. In some instances the rules designed to limit the numbers of the fraternity were so strict as to prohibit the master from taking any apprentice but his own son. In France, the apprentice, after having served in that capacity from three to eight or ten years, served as a journeyman, called the compagnon of his master, a number of years more, after which he was entitled to admission as a master into the communaute or corps de marchands, if the chef-d'oeuvre which he was required to deliver to the jurande, wardens of the company, showed him to be a proficient in his art. Sons of merchants living with their fathers until they were 17 years old were en- titled to the privileges of those who had served their apprenticeship. These companies were abolished at the revolution, but the contract of apprenticeship, although no longer imperative, is still frequently entered into in France, and there are statutes regulating the rights and du- ties of the parties to it. In Germany, where the system exists to the present day, in a more or less modified and legally limited form, the term of apprenticeship, Lehrjahre, is generally about seven years, but sometimes less. The apprentice, after serving for the prescribed term, becomes a Gesell, like the French com- pagnon, and is entitled to receive from the guild a general letter of recommendation, armed with which he commences his travels. Being recognized and employed by his brethren of the same craft, he works his way from town to town, and on returning with certificates of good conduct during his Wanderjahre is en- titled to become a master. In Italy the con- tract of apprenticeship resembled that in use in England. In Scotland and Ireland the regula- tions regarding it were never rigorous, and those existing in the latter country were early superseded by English laws designed to en- courage immigration. In the 12th century guilds were formed in England, and shortly afterward, without doubt, apprenticeships came into vogue, although there is no notice of them in the statutes until the year 1388. The London apprentices, many of whom were of high birth or had wealthy masters, formed an important body and figure in history, partic- ularly during the time of the civil wars. The term of apprenticeship was fixed at seven years, which had been the ordinary period of service previously, by a statute passed in the reign of Elizabeth. The institution became so wide- spread that acts designed to limit the number of apprentices were passed, and the courts showed no favor to the laws which recognized and sup- ported the relation, but restricted their opera- tion to trades existing at the time of their pas- sage ; a doctrine which, while giving rise to some absurd anomalies, exempted most of the large manufacturing towns from the operation of the act of Elizabeth. In 1813 numerous petitions for the repeal of this statute were presented, and shortly afterward apprenticeship, as a ne- cessary means of access to a trade, was abolished. The English law on the subject has been re- vised and settled in the master and servant act of 1867 (30 and 31 Victoria, ch. 141) ; and in almost all our states the contract of ap- prenticeship is provided for by express statutes, most of them, at least in the older states, being of an early date. The statutory law of New York had been till 1871 very little changed since the original act of 1801. The contract of apprenticeship is made between the master on one side and the infant and usually his par-