adapts all practical ideas to its own social wants and institutions. Accordingly, in the beginning of February, 1867, a bill was introduced into the House of Peers by Lord St. Leonards, intituled "An Act to Establish Equitable Councils of Conciliation to adjust differences between Masters and Workmen.” In the allabsorbing topic of parliamentary reform, the introduction of this bill did not attract that degree of attention which its importance deserved. It is confessedly based upon the principle of the Courts of Prud'hommes in France; and should it, after being improved by the suggestions of practical experience, take root as one of the institutions of this country, it will be of immense advantage to the working classes, as well as to their employers. The legal relations between masters and workmen have, by the passing of that Act (e), entered upon a new phase-one, it is to be hoped, which will be more in harmony with the progress of society than was the condition of the law during the last half century. No work has yet appeared which professes to be devoted to the exclusive treatment of industrial legislation, as affected by the laws both of England and Scotland, with the view of bringing the involved and scattered enactments embraced in it into something like a compact and systematic form, to answer the requirements of the lawyer, without being too technical for the purposes of unprofessional men. It is proposed to supply this desideratum in the present treatise. The difficulty of traversing a field so extensive as that which it is necessary to examine, so as to avoid unnecessary details, and at the same time to unfold what it is really essential to know, will only be apparent to him who has gone over the numerous Acts which require more or less to be noticed. After giving the matter careful consideration, it has been deemed best, in order to obtain a clear view of the whole course of civil and criminal industrial legislation, to seek some stand-point situated as near as possible to the centre of the cycle comprehending the legislation from the union of the two countries to the present time. Searching for such a "coigne of vantage," the eye naturally rests upon the Arbitration Act of 1824 (f)as being, both with regard to the period of time and the nature of the Act itself, a suitable point from which to take a comprehensive survey of the subject. The principle of conciliation in reference to disputes between employers and employed being an innovation upon our ancient (e) 30 and 31 Vict. c. 105. (f) 5 Geo. IV. c 96. practice, and clearly an offset from a French stem, affords a convenient basis for prosecuting an inquiry rendered necessary by the inauguration in our own country of a new system modelled upon an institution which has long been a favourite of the law of France. It is therefore proposed to treat the subject in the following order : I. To explain the constitution and powers of the Courts of Prud'hommes in France, which have the cognizance of disputes and differences between masters and workmen in that country, as well as to show the kindred functions and jurisdiction of the Juges de Paix, or Justices of the Peace. II. To explain the nature, constitution, and functions of the Courts of Justices of the Peace in England and Scotland, and their jurisdiction and powers in questions between employers and employed. III. To show the state of the British statutory law, civil and criminal, affecting masters, workmen, servants, and apprentices, prior to 1824. IV. To show the progress of industrial legislation, civil and criminal, affecting the same parties since 1824, and up to the passing of the "Master and Servant Act, 1867." V. To notice the practical working of Courts of Arbitration and Conciliation, and the best mode of establishing and conducting such courts either, 1st, extrajudicially; 2nd, under the Arbitration Act of 1824; or, 3rd, under the Councils of Conciliation Act, 1867. It is apprehended that this mode of treatment is comprehensive enough to include all that it is really necessary to exhibit; and that for a book which is intended to be useful, not merely to the professional but to the non-professional man, the arrangement is sufficiently systematic to insure clearness both of connection and elucidation, besides giving the power of contrasting the old system of procedure with that new and, it is to be hoped, better method which seems destined to replace it. PART I. COURTS OF PRUD'HOMMES, AND OF JUGES DE PAIX, OR JUSTICES CHAPTER I. I. CONSTITUTION AND POWERS OF THE COURTS OF PRUD'HOMMES IN FRANCE. Prud'hommes THE term Prud'homme is derived from the Latin words prudens Courts of and homo, signifying a prudent man. The court seems to have in France. been created so far back as the year 1285, in the reign of Philip le Bel (a). It was constituted by a resolution of the city of Paris in the following terms:-"That twenty-four Prud'hommes of the city of Paris shall be elected to sit in the Civic Hall, on the requisition of the Provost and Magistrates, to advise in cases between the citizens, and who shall go with the Provost and Magistrates to the masters, the King, or elsewhere in Paris, or furth thereof, for the good of the community" (b). In 1452 a court was established at Marseilles called Prud'hommes-Pêcheurs, to judge in all disputes and differences between and among fishermen and their employers (c). The powers of this court were confirmed by Louis XI. and by subsequent French monarchs. It exists at the present day, but it is distinct from the ordinary Courts of Prud'hommes. In 1464 a court was also constituted in Lyons, to regulate the disputes of merchants frequenting the fairs of that city (d). It is uncertain from what source the French derived their notion of these courts. They undoubtedly borrowed the designation of the members from the Romans, but certainly (a) Lingée, Legislation Industrielle. Paris, 1853. (b) Manuel des Conseils des Prud'hommes. Par C. B. de Villiers. Paris, 1845. (c) Dictionnaire des Prud'hommes. Par A. Durut. Paris, 1846. (d) Mollot, La Justice Industrielle. Paris, 1847. arts despised mans. Mechanical not the idea of its constitution, for that remarkable people despised by the Ro- the merely mechanical arts, which they took no pains to cultivate themselves, although they pocketed the profits earned therefrom by their slaves. They left the most lucrative handicrafts to be carried on by strangers; and instead of framing special regulations for the benefit of trade, all disputes between foreigners and the inhabitants were determined by the prætor peregrinus, by rules of law different from those enacted for the settlement of questions among the citizens themselves (e). Corporations in France. Up to the period of the Revolution the operations of trade in France were considerably hampered by Corporations and Guilds, or Brotherhoods, by which the powers and privileges of employers were fostered to an extent which amounted to actual tyranny (f). Apprentices were considered as being the property of their masters; while the difficulties which beset them after becoming journeymen in endeavouring to procure admission to the Guilds were such, that in very many cases they were forced Abolition of to remain mere workmen for life (g). In 1791, however, all and Guilds Corporations and Guilds were abolished in France, and absolute liberty of trade and industry was conferred upon the working classes, subject to certain rules, which were administered by the prefect of police in Paris, and by the mayors of the provincial towns. It was not, however, until 1806 that Courts of Prud'hommes could be said to have been fully or efficiently constituted. In that year the Emperor Napoleon paid a visit to the city of Lyons, famous for its silk manufactures, on which occasion the municipal authorities represented to him the great advantages which had resulted from the establishment, in 1791, of a court composed of established both masters and workmen for the settlement of differences in the in Lyons, Courts of Prud'hommes 1791. various industries in the city, but whose powers had been for some years in abeyance. They urgently pressed upon the emperor the propriety of re-establishing that court. Having given the subject mature consideration, he not only consented to do so, but resolved to establish similar institutions in all the manufacturing towns of the empire. This resolution was effectually carried out by the decree of 18th March, 1806, which may be regarded as the palladium of the rights of labour in France (h). This decree (e) Mackeldey, Manuel de Droit Romain. Bruxelles, 1837. (f) Dictionnaire des Prud'hommes. (g) Lingée, Legislation Industrielle. (h) La Justice Industrielle des Prud'hommes. Par Mollot. Department was followed by those of 11th June, 1809, and 3rd August, 1810, 1st. Mechanics, machine-makers, founders, boiler- Masters. Workmen. 1 1 2 2 3rd. Philosophical instrument makers, opticians, musical instrument makers, and watch and clock makers, 4th. Workers in bronze, engravers, gilders, die-sinkers, tinsmiths, &c., Industry of metals The other industries are grouped in a similar manner. The number of councils in France in 1849 was seventy-four, and they are at present probably about the same. The reigning emperor of the French has consolidated and improved the wise provisions of his imperial uncle by the decrees of 6th June, 1848, and 1st June, 1853 (¿). Institution The object of the institution of these courts was to provide a cheap object of and speedy method of settling disputes of almost daily occurrence of Courts. between masters, workmen, and apprentices, as well as between merchant manufacturers and masters of workshops. Three things were kept in view :-First, to provide a tribunal composed of judges skilled in the matters that were to be decided; second, to insure confidence in the court on the part of the litigants by (i) Lingée, Legislation Industrielle. |