SECTION II. The Binding in cases of Parish Apprentices, up to the 1st October, 1844, in all Parishes and Townships, and thereafter in Parishes, &c., not in Unions. Who may be bound, 520. executed, 525. Allowance, in what cases, where the parish is not a party, 528. Defects in the binding, allow ance, &c., 529. Assignment, 529. Who may be bound.] By stat. 43 El. c. 2, after directing the churchwardens and overseers of every parish to raise a fund, for the purpose (amongst other things) of setting to work the children of those who shall not be thought able to keep and maintain them (s. 1), it is enacted by sect. 5, "that it shall be lawful for the said churchwardens and overseers, or the greater part of them, by the assent of any two justices of the peace, to bind any such children as aforesaid to be apprentices, where they shall see convenient, until such man child shall come to the age of [twenty-one years (a)], and such woman child to the age of one and twenty years or the time of her marriage, the same to be as effectual to all purposes, as if such child were of full age, and, by indenture of covenant, bound him or herself." It is not necessary that the child should be chargeable to the parish, or even residing within it, to authorize the overseers to put it apprentice; it is sufficient if it be the child of a person settled in the parish, who the overseers think is not able to maintain it (b). No child, however, shall be bound as a parish apprentice, until it shall have attained the age of nine years (c). By stat. 7 & 8 Vict. c. 101, s. 12, the poor law commissioners may, by order under their hands and seal, prescribe the duties of the masters to whom poor children may be apprenticed, and the terms and conditions to be inserted in the indentures by which such children may be so bound as apprentices; and every master of such apprentice who wilfully refuses or neglects to perform any of such terms or conditions so inserted in any such indenture, shall be liable, upon conviction thereof before any two justices, to forfeit any sum not exceeding twenty pounds (d). (a) 18 G. 3, c. 47. (b) R. v. St. George, Exeter, 3 Ad. & El. 373. (c) 56 G. 3, c. 139, s. 7. Order for binding them.] "Before any child be bound apprentice by the overseers of any parish, township, or place, such child shall be carried before two justices of the peace of the county, riding, division, or place, wherein such parish, township, or place shall be situate, who shall inquire into the propriety of binding such child apprentice to the person or persons to whom it shall be proposed by such overseers to bind such child; and such justices shall particularly inquire and consider whether such person or persons reside, or have his or her or their place or places of business, within a reasonable distance from the place to which such child shall belong, having regard to the means of communication between such places, or whether any circumstances shall make it fit, in the judgment of such justices, that such child should be placed apprentice at a greater distance; and if the father or mother of such child shall be living, and shall reside in or near the place to which such child shall belong, such justices shall (if they see fit) examine such father or mother or either of them, and shall particularly inquire as to the distance of the residence or place of business of the person or persons to whom it shall be proposed to place such child, and the means of communication therewith; and such justices shall also inquire into the circumstances and character of such person or persons (e). "And if such justices shall, upon such examination and inquiry, think it proper that such child should be bound apprentice to such person or persons, such justices shall make an order, declaring that such person or persons is or are fit person or persons to whom such child may be properly bound as apprentice, and shall thereupon order that the overseer or overseers of the place to which such child shall belong, shall be at liberty to bind such child apprentice accordingly; which order shall be delivered to such overseer or overseers as the warrant for binding such child apprentice as aforesaid, and such order shall be referred to, by the date thereof, and the names of the said justices, in the indenture of apprenticeship of such child" (f). It is sufficient, however, if the allowance of the justices, written on the face of the indenture, refer to the order for binding by its date, &c.; for the allowance is part of the indenture (g). The order itself being a judicial act, must show upon the face of it that the justices made it within their jurisdiction (h). "Provided always, that no such child shall be bound apprentice to any person or persons residing, or having any establishment in trade at which it is intended that such child shall be employed, out of the same county, at a greater distance (e) 56 G. 3, c. 139, s. 1. (ƒ) Id. ) R. v. Aldborough, 18 Law J. (h) R. v. St. George, Bloomsbury, 24 Law J. 49, m. than forty miles from the parish or place to which such child shall belong, unless such child shall belong to some parish or place which shall be more than forty miles from the city of London, in which case it shall be lawful for the justices, who shall authorize the apprenticing of such child, to make a special order for that purpose, in which order such justices shall distinctly specify the grounds on which they shall think fit to allow of the apprenticing of such child to a person or persons residing or having an establishment in trade, at a greatest distance than forty miles from the parish or place to which such child shall belong (h)." This distance is not to have reference to cities or boroughs which are counties of themselves, but to the county in which such city or borough is situate (i). Where the binding parish is within a city, borough, or town corporate, the indenture must be allowed by a justice of the peace of such city, &c., and a justice of the peace of the county in which the same is situate (k); and it should seem that in such a case this inquiry and order should be made by the same justices. Before the above statute, 56 G. 3, c. 139, overseers might have bound a parish apprentice to a person residing or carrying on trade at any distance out of the county (1). And the above statutes must be considered as having reference only to compulsory bindings by parish officers; but they do not at all prevent a pauper from binding himself, or his parents from binding him, apprentice in the ordinary way, and without any such order, &c. (m). See the form of the order in this case, ante, Vol. 1, p. 84. The indenture.] In this case, the indenture is between the churchwardens and overseers or the major part of them, of the one part, and the master, of the other part; the child is no party to the indenture (n); nor is it necessary that the father or other friend of the apprentice should be a party. And it has even been holden, that the indenture will be valid, and the child obtain a settlement by a service and inhabitancy under it, although it have not been executed by the master (o). As to its execution by the parish officers, in ordinary cases, it must be executed by the major part of the churchwardens and overseers (p), considered together as one body: as for instance, if there be two churchwardens and two overseers, it must be executed by two overseers and one churchwarden, or two churchwardens and one overseer. Or if by custom there be but one churchwarden in a parish, an indenture executed by him and the overseers, or the majority of them, will be good (r); and the like, as to indentures executed before the 28th May, 1821, where one churchwarden or chapelwarden alone may have been appointed, although formerly two were usually ap pointed for the same place (s). So, indentures executed by persons appointed and acting in the double capacity of churchwardens and overseers (which is often the case in small parishes), are as valid as if they were executed by persons severally appointed to, and executing these offices (t); although formerly holden otherwise (u). Where a parish is divided into several townships or hamlets, &c., each maintaining its own poor separately, if there be no churchwardens or chapelwardens appointed for such a township or hamlet, and the churchwardens of the parish do not act as such, an indenture executed by the overseers only, or the majority of them, is deemed valid (w). But if a churchwarden or chapelwarden have been appointed for a township, hamlet, or chapelry, he is to be deemed one of the body, by the majority of whom the indenture must be executed (x); and an execution by such churchwardens or chapelwardens, shall be deemed as valid as if it were by the churchwardens of the parish in which such township, hamlet, or chapelry is situate (y). So, if the churchwardens of the parish act as churchwardens or chapelwardens of a township, hamlet, or chapelry, within it, maintaining its own poor, although sworn in only as churchwardens of the parish, and not as churchwardens or chapelwardens of the township, &c.—an indenture executed by them [and the overseers of the township, hamlet, or chapelry], or the majority of them, shall be deemed as good and valid as if they had been sworn in as churchwardens or chapelwardens of such township, hamlet, or chapelry (z). By stat. 3 & 4 W. 4, c. 63, s. 2, reciting that by several Acts of parliament the directors, guardians, and other officers of incorporated hundreds, parishes, and other districts, are authorized to bind poor children apprentices, and that they had bound out children by indentures, to which such directors, &c. were the binding parties, by their description of directors, &c. and had executed the same by affixing thereto their corporate seal, and reciting also that some doubts had been entertained of the validity of the indentures so executed; it was declared (r) R. v. Earl Shilton, 1 B. & A. 275. (8) 1 & 2 G. 4, c. 32, s. 1. (t) 51 G. 3, c. 80, s. 1. R. v. St. Margaret's, Leicester, 2 B. & A. 200. (u) R. v. All Saints, Derby, 13 East, 143. (w) R. v. Nantwich, 16 East, 228. (x) See R. v. Hinkley, 12 East, 361. (y) 54 G. 3, c. 107, s. 2. R. v. Stainforth, 17 Law J. 25, m. (z) 54 G. 3, c. 107, s. 1. and enacted that all such indentures already so executed, or thereafter to be so executed, should be deemed good and valid (a). By the poor law amendment Act (4 & 5 W. 4, c. 76, s. 15), the commissioners are authorized to make rules, orders, and regulations for "apprenticing the children of poor persons:" and by sect. 61, the justices who allow the indenture, shall previously ascertain whether such rules, &c. have been complied with, and shall certify the same at the foot of the indenture; and the indenture shall not be valid until this is done. Rules have since been issued upon the subject, and are noticed, post, p. 533, &c.; but they are directed to unions only, not to parishes, and seem to have reference only to apprenticeships in unions. The indenture of a parish apprentice, differs a little in form from an indenture of apprenticeship in ordinary cases. In the first place, the parish officers, and not the child, are the binding parties, as has been already mentioned; the indenture recites that the binding is by and with the consent of the justices whose names are thereunto subscribed, and by virtue and in pursuance of an order of justices, taking care to set out the date of the order, otherwise the indenture will be void (b). Also annexed to the master's covenant for maintenance, there shall be a proviso to this or the like effect: "provided always, that the said last-mentioned covenant on the part of the said F. M. (the master), his executors and administrators, to be done and performed, shall continue and be in force for no longer time than for three calendar months next after the death of the said F. M. in case he the said F. M. shall happen to die during the continuance of such apprenticeship, according to the provisions of an Act passed in the thirty-second year of the reign of King George the Third, intituled, 'An Act for the further regulation of parish apprentices;'' or if such proviso be omitted, still the covenant shall not be deemed to be binding for a longer time than three calendar months after the death (c). Blank forms of these indentures may be had of the publishers of this work. As to the period for which the children may be bound: a male child shall be bound "for no longer term than till such child shall come to the age of twenty-one years (d) ;" and a female child, till she come "to the age of one and twenty years, or the time of her marriage (e)." They may, however, be bound for a less time (ƒ). And even if they be bound for (a) See R. v. Lutterworth, 8 B. & C. 487. Stat. 20 G. 3, c. 36, s. 1. (b) 56 G. 3, c. 139, ss. 1, 5. v. Barbergh, 2 B. & C. 222. R. (c) 32 G. 3, c. 57, s. 1, and sch. A. (d) 18 G. 3, c. 47. (f) R. v. Chalbury, 1 Bott, 645, 610. |