Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/201

* MASTER AND SERVANT. 173 MASTER IN CHANCERY. piuiiiisi's from llie master tliut siicli defects will be speedily remedied. If, while euntinuing to work for a reasonably short time in reliance upon such a promise, he be injured because of such defect, without any negligence on liis part, he can still recover from the master compensa- tion for the resulting damages. But when he allows an xuircasonably long time to elap.se after- receiving such promise, during whieli he con- tinues to labor with the defective appliances, he cannot recover for injuries resulting from the unremedied defects after such a lapse of time, unless a statute gives him a right of recovery. If the master willfully injure the servant, or by his personal neglect or wrongful act cause him injury in other ways than through defective machinery, place of labor, or implements of toil, he is liable to such servant in damages. In entering upon his emplo.yment the servant also voluntarily takes the risk of injury which may result from the negligence or wrongful acts of his fe'dow servants (q.v.), except in cases coming within the provisions of modern statutes relating to employers' liability (q.v.). Although it is customai'y for the master to give a testimonial of character to an honest ser- vant at the termination of his employment, he is not legally bound to do this, in the absence of a contract or a well-defined usage therefor. (2) Their Rights Against Third Parties AND Liabilities to Tiiem. The master is en- titled to the services of his servant, in accord- ance with the contract of hiring. He may, there- fore, justify an assault necessarily made in de- fense of his servant and may have an action for damages against any one who wrongfully beats or injures the servant so that his services are lost or impaired. So if any one entice away the servant and thereby cause loss to the master, the latter may recover in an action the damages tor the injury thus sustained. If a female servant be seduced, her master may sue for consequent loss of services. For his acts of negligence or positive wrong which result in injury to others, a servant is, of course, personally liable. But since he is so often pecuniarily irresponsible, the question most frequently litigated is that of the extent of his master's liability for such acts. The general statement of the rule is that the master is liable for the wrongful acts or torts of his servant which are within the scope of his employment and which cause injury to third persons. Even though the act of the servant be a willful wrong, yet when it is done in connection with the mas- ter's business or in furtheranee thereof, it may make the latter liable for injur^^ thereby occa- sioned to third parties. But when the servant leaves and loses sight of his master's business, and wantonly does a wrongfil act, he alone is liable for consequent injur.v to otlicrs. 'hen a servant creates a nuisance upon his master's premises, whereby injury is caused to adjoining property, and when a servant prevents his mas- ter from performing a contract by which the lat- ter is bound, the master is liable, even though the act of the servant were willful and malicious. So a carrier of passengers is bound to protect them from injury resulting from the violence or in- sults of his own servants, and Avill be liable if while passengers the.v be thus injured. In some eases it is difficult to determine who is the responsible master for a particular ser- vant. For example, A is injured by the mis- conduct of a. servant who is selected and paid by B, but who at the time of doing the injury is engaged about the business of C. Is B or answerable for his misconduct? According to the weight of authority, the answer depends upon who had the riglit to control the servant while doing the act complained of. If C had that right, he is the master who is responsible to A; otherwise B is answerable. Many important statutory changes in the law of master and servant have been made in recent years. Some of these are referred to in the arti- cles on Combination; Conspiracy; Employers' Liability ; Fellow Servants ; Labor Legisla- tion; and Strikes and Lockouts. Others have for their objects the prevention of the employ- ment of young children in certain lines of work; .securing the payment of wages in money; limit- ing the hours of labor which masters nia,v require of their servants; and the like. Consult: Holmes, The Common Law (Boston, 1881) ; Kent, Commen- taries on American Law (Boston, 1890) ; Pollock and Maitland, History of English Law (Boston, 1899) ; Harvard Law Reiyiew, vol. vii., pp. 315, 383, 441 (Cambridge, 1894) ; Iluffcut, Agency, Including the Laic of Master and Hcrvant (Bos- ton, 1901) ; Reinhard, Ar/cncy, Including Master and Servant (Indianapolis. I'MYl) ; Dressier, Em- ployers' Liahility (Saint Paul, I90"2) ; Smith, A Treatise on the Law of Master and Servant (Lon- don, 1902). MASTER-AT-ARMS. A petty officer in the navy who forms one of the police of a ship. In the United States Navy there are four grades of masters-at-arms — chief master-at-arms, and mas- ters-at-arms of the first, second, and third class. Large ships have one chief and several of the lower ratings. In small ships a first or second class master-at-arms is the chief of the ship's police. MASTER BUIXDER, The. A drama by Ibsen (1893). The original title is Master- Builder Solness, who makes his way up from poverty. But the price of his success is the ruin of others and dreary disappointment for him- self, culminating in his fall from a tower of his own building. MASTER HUMPHREY'S CLOCK. Tales by Cliarles Dickens which ap|ieaved in a weekl.v of this name in 1840 and 1841. "Old Curiosity Shop" and "Barnaby Eudge," purporting to have been narrated by Master Humphrey, were the stories. The title was finally drop))ed and the two novels were published separatel.y. MASTER IN CHANCERY. An officer of a chancery or equity court, appointed to assist the chancellor or judge. His duties, in general, are not prescribed by statute. It is a common practice to refer causes to a master for hearing, particularly causes involving intricate accounts and requiring computations. A master is often appointed to examine witnesses, to take depositions, to inquire into and report the facts of a ease to a chancellor or judge of the court, to make settlements under deeds, to discharge special acts imder the direc- tion and in behalf of the court, etc. Masters in chancery were formerly clerks in ehaneery. twelve in number, with the master of the rolls at their head. They were at first called prcceptores, and were not called masters till the time of Edward