together with the reasonable charges of taking and keeping such distress, shall be sooner paid; and you are hereby also commanded to certify to me what you shall do by virtue of this my warrant. Given under my hand and seal at

I

day of

the

Form of the Constable's return to the warrant of distress.

justice of the peace

do not know of nor can find any goods and chattels of distress and sale whereof I may levy the sum of

by pursuant

day of

in the year of our Lord

Given under my hand, this

of our Lord

day of

the year

to his warrant for that purpose, dated the

Form of Commitment thereupon to the House of Correction.

[Here name) To the constable of

and also to the keeper

pursuant to an Act passed in the twenty-fourth year of the reign of Her present Majesty, intituled "An Act" [state the title of this Act], became liable to pay to and also the sum of

for costs, time, and expenses, making together the sum of and having refused or neglected to pay the same for the space of two days and upwards subsequent to the making of such award, my warrant was, according to the provisions of the said Act, duly made and issued for the levying the said sum of by distress and sale of the goods and chattels of the said

day of that he hath made diligent search for but doth not know of nor can find any goods and chattels of the said by distress and sale whereof the said sum of

pursuant to my said warrant: These are therefore to command you, the said constable of to apprehend the said and convey him to the said house of correction at aforesaid, and deliver him there to the keeper of the said house of correction; and these are also to command you, the keeper of the said house of correction, to receive him the said into the said house of correction,

and there keep him, without bail or mainprise, for the space of months, unless the said sum of

so ordered to be paid as afore

said shall be sooner satisfied, with all reasonable expenses.

Given under my hand and seal at

Form of Commitment where the Warrant of Distress is withheld.

[Here name To the constable of

the County.]

WHEREAS

and also to the keeper of the

on the

pursuant to an Act passed in the twenty-fourth year of the reign of Her present Majesty, intituled "An Act" [state the title of this Act], became liable to pay to the sum of and also the sum of

for costs, time, and expenses, making together the sum of which he has refused or neglected to pay for the space of two days and upwards subsequent to the making of such award: And whereas it appears to me that the recovery of such sum and warrant of distress and sale of the goods and chattels of the said will be attended with

consequences ruinous or in an especial manner injurious to the defaulter [and his family, if any], and I therefore have determined to withhold such warrant, and to commit the said to prison, pursuant to the said Act: These are therefore to command you, the said constable of , to apprehend the said and convey him to the house of correction at aforesaid, and to deliver him there to the keeper of the said house of correction; and these are also to command you, the keeper of the said house of correction, to receive him the said into the said house of correction, and there keep him, without bail or mainprise, for the space of the said sum of sooner satisfied, with all reasonable expenses. Given under my hand and seal at day of

months, unless

so ordered to be paid as aforesaid shall be

the

35 & 36 VICT. c. 46 (1872).

An Act to make Further Provision for Arbitration between Masters and

Workmen.

WHEREAS by the Act of the fifth year of George the Fourth, chapter ninety-six, intituled "An Act to consolidate and amend the laws relative to the arbitration of disputes between masters and workmen," hereinafter referred to as the "principal Act," provision is made for the arbitration in a mode therein prescribed of certain disputes between masters and workmen :

And whereas it is expedient to make further provision for arbitration between masters and workmen :

Be it enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. The following provisions shall have effect with reference to agreements under this Act:

(1.) An agreement under this Act shall either designate some board, council, persons or person as arbitrators or arbitrator, or define the time and manner of appointment of arbitrators or of an arbitrator; and shall designate, by name, or by description of office or otherwise, some person to be, or some person or persons (other than the arbitrators or arbitrator) to appoint an umpire in case of disagreement between arbitrators:

(2.) A master and a workman shall become mutually bound by an agreement under this Act (hereinafter referred to as "the agreement") upon the master or his agent giving to the workman and the workman accepting a printed copy of the agreement:

Provided that a workman may, within forty-eight hours after the delivery to him of the agreement, give notice to the master or his agent that he will not be bound by the agreement, and thereupon the agreement shall be of no effect as between such workmen and the master:

(3.) When a master and workman are bound by the agreement they shall continue so bound during the continuance of any contract of employment and service which is in force between them at the time of making the agreement, or in contemplation of which the agreement is made, and thereafter so long as they mutually consent from time to time to continue to employ and serve without having rescinded the agreement. Moreover, the agreement may provide that any number of days' notice, not exceeding six, of an intention on the part of the master or workman to cease to employ or be employed shall be required, and in that case the parties to the agree ment shall continue bound by it respectively until the expiration of the required number of days after such notice has been given by either of the parties :

(4.) The agreement may provide that the parties to it shall, during its continuance, be bound by any rules contained in the agreement, or to be made by the arbitrators, arbitrator, or umpire as to the rate of wages to be paid, or the hours or quantities of work to be performed, or the conditions or regulations under which work is to be done, and may specify penalties to be enforced by the arbitrators, arbitrator, or umpire for the breach of any such rule :

(5.) The agreement may also provide that in case any of the following matters arise they shall be determined by the arbitrators or arbitrator, viz. :

a. Any such disagreement or dispute as is mentioned in the second section of the principal Act; or

b. Any question, case, or matter to which the provisions of the Master and Servant Act, 1867, apply;

and thereupon in case any such matter arises between the parties while they are bound by the agreement, the arbitrators, arbitrator, or umpire shall have jurisdiction for the hearing and determination thereof, and upon their or his hearing and determining the same no other proceeding shall be taken before any other court or person for the same matter; but if the disagreement or dispute is not so heard and determined within twenty-one days from the time when it arose, the jurisdiction of the arbitrators, arbitrator, or umpire shall cease, unless the parties have, since the arising of the disagreement or dispute, consented in writing that it shall be exclusively determined by the arbitrators, arbitrator, or umpire :

A disagreement or dispute shall be deemed to arise at the time of the act or omission to which it relates :

(6.) The arbitrators, arbitrator, or umpire may hear and determine any matter referred to them in such manner as they think fit, or as may be prescribed by the agreement :

(7.) The agreement, and also any rules made by the arbitrators, arbitrator, or umpire in pursuance of its provisions, shall in all proceedings as well before them as in any court be evidence of the terms of the contract of employment and service between the parties bound by the agreement :

(8.) The agreement shall be deemed to be an agreement within the meaning of the thirteenth section of the principal Act for all the purposes of that Act:

(9.) If the agreement provides for the production or examination of any books, documents, or accounts, subject or not to any conditions as to the mode of their production or examination, the arbitrators, arbitrator, or umpire may require the production or examination (subject to any such conditions) of any such books, documents, or accounts in the possession or control of any person summoned as a witness, and who is bound by the agreement, and the provisions of the principal Act, for compelling the attendance and submission of witnesses, shall apply for enforcing such production or examination.

2. This Act may be cited as "The Arbitration (Masters and Workmen) Act, 1872."

CHAPTER XIII.

TRADE UNIONS.

COMBINATIONS or conspiracies on the part of workmen to raise their wages or shorten their hours of labour have not been always permitted. Statutes prohibiting them were passed as long ago as the reign of Edward III. (1360, 34 Edward III. c. 9). The 3 Henry VI. c. 1 (1425) forbade the holding of chapters and congregations of masons. The 2 & 3 Edward VI. c. 15 (1548), enacted that if artificers or labourers do "conspire, covenant, or promise together, or make any oaths, that they shall not make or do their work but at a certain price or rate, or shall not enterprise or take upon them to finish that another hath began, or shall do but a certain work in the day, or shall not work but at certain hours and times, then every such person so conspiring, &c., being convict thereof, shall forfeit ten pounds to the King's Highness." One of the last of these statutes was the 39 & 40 Geo. III. c. 106, by which all agreements between workmen for obtaining a rise in wages were declared illegal.

Whether a combination to raise wages was also at Com'mon Law an indictable offence is not clear. As first defined in the Ordinance of Conspirators, 33 Edward I. (1305), conspiracy is, in the main, a combination for the false and malicious promotion of indictments; and it is sometimes stated that this is the proper definition of it (a). It is certain that the early reports and such works as Hale's Pleas and

(a) Savile v. Roberts, 1 Ray., p. 377.