gained in the parish in which the servant sleeps the last forty days of his service (g).

For what time.] The time a servant must reside in a parish or township, in order to gain a settlement in it, must, we have seen (h), be forty days. And therefore, where a man hired generally with an innkeeper, as a post-boy, and served him, and resided eleven months in the parish of St. Mary: having married, however, he went to lodge in the parish of St. Giles, and continued to reside there seven months, serving his master all the while in St. Mary's: the court held that his settlement was in St. Mary's, not in St. Giles's; during the first year, he had resided but one month in St. Giles's, and before the commencement of the second year he was married, and therefore incapable of gaining any settlement by hiring and service (i). So, if a man be hired for a year, but do not reside forty days, either consecutively or at different times within the year, in any one parish,-as for instance, if he be hired to serve, and serve on board a ship trading to different places, and do not sleep at any place of rest within England or Wales, either on board the ship or on shore, during forty days in the course of the year, in the same parish,-he gains no settlement by his hiring and service (k).

And it is immaterial whether the forty days be consecutive, or at different periods throughout the year. And therefore where a yearly servant served his master alternately on two farms in different parishes, residing three or four days or a week on one, and then the like time upon the other, but not forty days consecutively at either; the last night he slept at the farm in Lanstephen, and went in the morning to the other farm for the purpose of driving some cattle to a fair, and then his service terminated: the court held that he gained his settlement at Lanstephen (1). So, where a man hired for a year to a blacksmith, who had a house and shop in Hulland, and another in Bradley; the man served and resided four or five days in each week at Hulland, and the rest of the time (including Saturday and Sunday) at Bradley, and the last two nights of the service he slept at Bradley: the court held that he gained his settlement at Bradley (m).

Where there are connected services under continuous hirings (n), it is not necessary that the whole of the forty days' residence should be under the yearly hiring: but some

part of them must be under that hiring, and the whole forty days must be within the compass of a year. Therefore, where a man hired for a year, and served, and then remained in the service, without any fresh hiring, for six months, when he and his master parted by mutual consent: under the first year he served and resided upwards of five months in St. Peter's parish, in the second year he served and resided for more than forty days in the parish of Findon, and afterwards a month in St. Peter's: the court held that he gained his settlement in St. Peter's; it was not necessary that the whole of the forty days' residence should be under the last year's hiring; if there be forty days' residence in the parish within the compass of a year, though under different hirings, it is sufficient (o). So, where the pauper was hired eight days after Old Michaelmas, to serve until Old Michaelmas following, and served; and was then hired for a year, and served only ten days; the sessions held that he gained no settlement, as there was not a residence for forty days under the yearly hiring: but the court held that he did gain a settlement, and quashed the order of sessions (p). So, where it appeared that the pauper, on the 17th April, 1825, hired for a year to one Rositor, a farmer in Child Okeford, for five guineas the year, and served under that agreement until the 11th April following; he then made a fresh agreement with his master as an out-door servant at 5s. a week, and served under that agreement two months; for sixteen days after the first hiring, he resided at Child Okeford, and then went with his master to Marnhull, and resided there until the 6th April following, when he came back to Child Okeford, where he resided during the remainder of his service under the old, and also for the two months under the new hiring; it was objected, that as he had not resided in Child Okeford forty days under the yearly hiring, he gained no settlement there: but the court held that it was not necessary that the whole of the forty days' residence should be under the yearly hiring; where services are united, if any part of the residence be under the yearly hiring, it is sufficient, provided the whole forty days are within the space of the year (q).

On the other hand, where there is no part of the forty days' residence under the yearly hiring, no settlement will be gained by it. Therefore, where a man was hired for a year from Old Michaelmas, and served it in Brigstock; he was then hired until New Michaelmas following, and served and resided six months in Brigstock, and the remainder in Sudborough: the court held that he gained no settlement in Sudborough, not being a yearly servant at the time he served there (r). And

(0) R. v. Findon, 4 B. & C. 91. (p) R. v. Adson, 5 T. R. 98. (q) R. v. Child Okeford, 3 B. & Ad. 809.

(r) R. v. Apethorpe, 2 B. & C. 892.

lastly, the whole forty days must be within the compass of a year. Therefore, where a man hired for a year, and served; he then hired for a year, and served six months of it; the last night of the service he slept at Basingstoke, and had slept there, during the year and half, more than forty nights in the whole, but not continuously, nor within the first year, nor within the subsequent half year, nor within the compass of a year during the service: the court held that there must be a forty days' residence within the compass of a year, and as that was not the case in this instance, the servant gained no settlement in Basingstoke (8).

Exceptions by statute.] By stat. 54 G. 3, c. 170, s. 4, no person shall be deemed to gain a settlement by reason of any residence within a parish, &c., whilst he or she shall be detained or confined as a prisoner within such parish, &c., on any civil process, or for any contempt whatsoever.

By stat. 54 G. 3, c. 170, s. 6, no person shall gain a settlement in any parish, &c., by reason of any residence in any house or other dwelling place provided for the residence of such person by any charitable institution, whilst such person shall be supported and maintained at the expense of such charitable institution as an object of such charity.

By stat. 52 G. 3, c. 72 (relating to the forest of Alice Holt, in the county of Southampton), it is provided by sect. 8, that no person shall, by residence in any house, lodge, or other building erected or to be erected within the said forest, or by hiring and service either for the preservation of the woods or plantations, or of the game, in the said forest, gain thereby any settlement in the parish of Binstead, in the said county, within which the said forest is situate.

By stat. 59 G. 3, c. 12, s. 11, where the workhouse of a parish is locally situate within an adjoining parish, it shall, in all questions relative to the settlement of the persons born or lodged therein, be deemed and taken to be within the parish on behalf of which the same shall be purchased or hired, and by which it shall be used as a workhouse. And by stat. 9 G. 1, c. 7, s. 4, where by agreement the poor of one parish shall be maintained in the workhouse of another, their settlement shall remain the same as it was before their removal thither. And by stat. 7 & 8 Vict. c. 101, s. 56, for the purposes of relief, settlement, removal, and burial, of the poor, the workhouse of an union shall be considered as situate in the parish to which each poor person so relieved, &c. is or has been chargeable.

(8) R. v. Denham, 1 M. & S. 221.

CHAPTER V.

Settlement by Apprenticeship.

By stat. 3 W. & M. c. 11, s. 8, "If any person shall be bound an apprentice by indenture, and inhabit in any town or parish, such binding and inhabitation shall be adjudged a good settlement."

It is necessary therefore to consider this subject under the two heads, the binding, and the inhabitation: and we shall treat of them in the following order :

SECT. 1. The binding, in ordinary cases of apprenticeship, p. 508.

2. The binding in cases of parish apprentices, p. 520.

3. The binding of parish apprentices, in parishes, &c. within unions, p. 533.

4. The binding in cases of apprenticeship to the sea service, p. 539.

5. The binding, in cases of apprenticeship to chimney sweepers, p. 541.

6. The binding, how proved, p. 544.

7. The inhabitation, p. 549.

8. Effect of the indenture being given up or cancelled, &c., p. 567.

SECTION I.

The Binding, in ordinary Cases of Apprenticeship.

Who may be bound, and to | How bound, 510.

whom, 508. For what time, 510.

Assignment, 512.
Stamp upon the indenture,

512.

Who may be bound, and to whom.] Any person capable of executing a deed may bind himself an apprentice; and although he be under age at the time, he is bound by the indenture to serve his master during the time therein specified (a), at least unless he become of age before the expiration of it, at which time it appears that he may avoid the contract, if he will (b).

(a) Stat. 5 El. c. 4, s. 43. R. v. Saltern, 1 Bott, 617. R. v. Arundel, 5 M. & S. 257.

(b) Ex p. Davis, 5 T. R. 715. See Ex p. Gill, 7 East, 376.

So, any person, capable of executing a deed, may take an apprentice; even a person under age may do so (c). But a married woman cannot take an apprentice, because her deed is altogether void, and not merely voidable (d). It is not necessary, however, to the validity of an indenture of apprenticeship, that the master should exercise any trade, art, or mystery: where a girl was bound apprentice to a common day-labourer, to learn "the art and mystery of a house-wife," the court held that the indenture was not invalid on that ground (e). Where the indenture was made in Newfoundland, both master and apprentice being English, and more than forty days' service and residence under it were in a particular parish in England: the court held that the apprentice thereby gained a settlement in that parish; and they held that it was not necessary to show, by evidence, that the indenture was in conformity with the law of Newfoundland (ƒ).

Any apprenticeship, however, effected in contravention of an Act of parliament, or by any contrivance in fraud of, or for the purposes of avoiding its express provisions, will be void altogether, and not merely voidable. And, therefore, where it was prohibited by statute to bind a child under eight years of age to a chimney-sweep, and a child of five years was notwithstanding bound: the court held the indentures void altogether, and not merely voidable (g). So, where, by stat. 10 G. 2, c. 31, s. 5, it was enacted, that no waterman or waterman's widow should take an apprentice, unless they were housekeepers, and by sect. 4, that they should not take or have more than two apprentices: and a boy being in the service of one Twiss, a waterman, and it being desirable that he should be apprenticed, Twiss who had already two apprentices, and therefore could not take him, had him bound to one Elizabeth Pierce, a waterman's widow, but who did not carry on the trade, nor was she a housekeeper; the boy, in fact, served Twiss alone under the indenture, Twiss paying Mrs. Pierce a sum quarterly for his services: the court held that the binding was clearly an evasion of the Act of parliament, and was therefore void (h). So, where, during the time that it was prohibited by the stat. 5 Eliz. c. 4, that any person should exercise a trade unless he had served an apprenticeship for seven years to it, a boy was apprenticed to a tailor, nominally for seven years, but the indenture was antedated two years, for the purpose of enabling him to exercise his trade after a service of only five years, in fraud of the statute: the court held that as this was a plain evasion of the provisions of the statute, and done for the

(c) R. v. St. Petrox, in Dartmouth, 4 T. R. 196.

(d) R. v. Guildford, 2 Chit. 284. (e) R. v. St. Margaret's, Lincoln, Burr. S. C. 728.

(f) R. v. Closworth, 6 Ad. & El. 286.

(g) R. v. Hipswell, 8 B. & C. 466. (h) R. v. Gravesend, 3 B. & "Ad.

240.