Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol I).djvu/443

 Ch. 14. part of the family; concerning whom the tatutes before cited have made many very good regulations; 1. Directing that all perons who have no viible effects may be compelled to work; 2. Defining how long they mut continue at work in ummer and winter: 3. Punihing uch as leave or deert their work: 4. Empowering the jutices at eions, or the heriff of the county, to ettle their wages: and 5. Inflicting penalties on uch as either give, or exact, more wages than are o ettled.

4. is yet a fourth pecies of ervants, if they may be o called, being rather in a uperior, a miniterial, capacity; uch as tewards, factors, and bailiffs: whom however the law coniders as ervants pro tempore, with regard to uch of their acts, as affect their mater's or employer's property. Which leads me to conider,

II. manner in which this relation, of ervice, affects either the mater or ervant. And, firt, by hiring and ervice for a year, or apprenticehip under indentures, a peron gains a ettlement in that parih wherein he lat erved forty days. In the next place perons, erving as apprentices to any trade, have an excluive right to exercie that trade in any part of England. This law, with regard to the excluive part of it, has by turns been looked upon as a hard law, or as a beneficial one, according to the prevailing humour of the times: which has occaioned a great variety of reolutions in the courts of law concerning it; and attempts have been frequently made for it's repeal, though hitherto without ucces. At common law every man might ue what trade he pleaed; but this tatute retrains that liberty to uch as have erved as apprentices: the adveraries to which proviion ay, that all retrictions (which tend to introduce monopolies) are pernicious to trade; the advocates for it allege, that unkilfulnes in trades is equally detrimental to the public, as monopolies. This reaon indeed only extends to uch trades, in the exercie Rh