likes and becomes discontented with his situation, he can give notice, and get work elsewhere free from the objectionable condition. Nevertheless it is well known that workmen often become so attached to the spot in which they have been accustomed to labour, that they will there tolerate arrangements which they dislike and object to. It is also well known that they will take goods from the " company's shop," and sell them again in the publichouses at a reduced price, thus losing, perhaps, a penny out of 7d. or 8d. worth of tobacco, &c., on the transaction. This is an evil and an injury to the workman. But it may be said that he has his remedy in his own hands to some extent. Yet every experienced person must see that the difficulties which lie in his way in conducting a prosecution to a successful issue are almost insurmountable. He has a powerful adversary to deal with, with command of money and legal assistance, and the contest would often be a very unequal one. He must advance money, and lose time-two things which he can seldom afford to do. Perhaps he may be a little behind-hand at the shop. This is another incident which is mischievous to the workman. It puts him in the power of the employer to some extent, and thus deprives him of that perfect freedom of action which the law desires to secure to him. But, after all, the greatest evil consists in the deliberate carrying on of a system which is prohibited and forbidden by law. It is true that truck is a "malum prohibitum," and not a "malum in se;" that is, it was made an offence by the municipal law, and not by the fundamental laws

of morality. But it must be remembered, that it was so constituted an offence and publicly forbidden, because it was proved to have led to real evils of various kinds. And even if that were not so, yet as we live in a society which is only held together by a mutual agreement to obey the municipal laws, no class can deliberately, and wilfully, and habitually ignore and set at nought those laws, or any of them, without doing mischief, morally and socially, where such acts are witnessed. It places the employer in a false position, and weakens his influence for good. In vain will he educate, or build churches, so long as he sets an open example of disobedience to or evasion of the law. If truck be made a means of oppressing the workman, it cannot be too loudly denounced. This is, perhaps, rarely the case now. But even in the absence of all oppression or fraud, how can the employer equitably and fairly charge his workman with breaches of contract, or disobedience to byelaws and special rules, or other offences of a similar private character, while he himself is setting the example of a deliberate and wilful disregard of a public law which regulates their mutual relation? It is on this ground more than any other that this practice ought to be discontinued at once.

CHAP. XIX.

COMBINATIONS, STRIKES, MOLESTATION, ETC., OF

WORKMEN.

By the statute 6 Geo. IV. c. cxxix. s. 3, it is enacted, that "if any person shall, by violence to the person or property, or by threats or intimidation, or by molesting or in any way obstructing another, force, or endeavour to force, any journeyman, manufacturer, workman, or other person hired or employed in any trade or business, to depart from his hiring, employment, or work, &c., or prevent, or endeavour to prevent, any workman, &c., not being hired or employed, from hiring himself to, or from accepting work or employment from any person or persons; or if any person shall use or employ violence to the person or property of another, or threats of intimidation, or shall molest or in any way obstruct another for the purpose of forcing or inducing such person to belong to any club or association, or to contribute to any common fund, or to pay any fine or penalty, or on account of his not belonging to any particular club or association, or not having contributed or having refused to contribute to any common fund, or to pay any fine or 1enalty, or on account of his not having complied or

refusing to comply with any rules, resolutions, &c., made to obtain an advance, or to reduce the rate of wages, or to lessen the hours of working, or to decrease or alter the quantity of work, or to regulate the mode of carrying on any manufacture, trade, or business, or the management thereof; or if any per son shall by violence to the person or property of another, or by threats or intimidation, or by molesting or in any way obstructing another, force or endeavour to force any manufacturer or person carrying on any trade or business to make any alteration in his mode of regulating, managing, or carrying on such manufacture, trade, &c., or to limit the number or description of his workmen, servants, &c.: every person so offending, or aiding, assisting, or abetting therein, being convicted thereof in manner herein-after mentioned, shall be imprisoned only, or shall and may be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for any time not exceeding three calendar months."

This statute does not extend to any meetings held either by masters or workmen for the sole purpose of consulting upon and determining the rate of wages or prices which the persons present at such meeting shall require for their work, or pay to their workmen, or the hours of working and employment, or to any agreement, verbal or written, entered into among themselves for such objects and purposes. (Sections 4 and 5.)

The Act further provides, that offenders shall be compelled to give evidence, and shall be indemnified from the consequences. It also contains provisions for summoning offenders before one or more justices

of the peace, and for issuing warrants for their apprehension when they do not appear upon summons, and for regulating the entire proceedings before the justices. An appeal is given to any person convicted under this Act who shall think himself aggrieved to the next quarter sessions. And no justice of the peace, being also a master in the trade in which any offence is charged to have been committed under this Act, shall act as a justice under it.

This statute will not empower workmen to meet and combine for the purpose of dictating to their masters whom they shall employ, and consequently a combination of workmen for such a purpose is indictable as a conspiracy.*

But it is clear that a mere combination, either of masters, for the purpose of lowering wages, or of workmen, for the purpose of raising them, is perfectly legal. So long as such persons limit themselves to merely combining to effect the object they have in view, they will be guilty of no offence. But if, in order to attain their object, whether of lowering or raising wages, they proceed to use violence, threats, intimidation, molestation, or obstruction, with a view to force others to adopt their views, they will be guilty of an offence against this Act of Parliament; and may also, under some circumstances, render themselves liable to an indictment for conspiracy.

It has been further enacted by the 22 Vict. c. xxxiv., "That no workman, or other person, whether actually in employment or not, shall by reason merely of

*R. Bykerdyke, 1 Mood. & Rob. 179.