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"The notice may be served by delivering the same to or at the residence or place of business of the person on whom it is to be served.

"The notice may also be served by post by a registered letter addressed to the person on whom it is to be served at his last known place of residence or place of business; and if served by post, shall be deemed to have been served at the time when a letter containing the same would be delivered in the ordinary course of post; and in proving service of such notice it shall be sufficient to prove that the notice was properly addressed and registered.

"Where the employer is a body of persons corporate or unincorporate, the notice shall be served by delivering the same at, or by sending it by post in a registered letter addressed to the office, or if there be more than one office, any one of the offices of such body.

"A notice under this section shall not be deemed invalid by reason of any defect or inaccuracy therein, unless the judge who tries the action arising from the injury mentioned in the notice shall be of opinion that the defendant in the action is prejudiced in his defence by such defect or inaccuracy, and that the defect or inaccuracy was for the purpose of misleading."

Cases under Sections IV. and VII.-In Moyle v. Jenkins (8 Q. B. D. 116), plaintiff, while in the employ of defendant, was injured by an explosion of dynamite shattering his arm. The defendant came at once and saw the plaintiff, who told him of the accident. Plaintiff went into a hospital, and fifteen days after the accident a letter written by the matron of the hospital was sent to the defendant, saying: "I beg to inform you that

it was found necessary to amputate the right arm of Alfred Moyle to-day, and he is getting on as well as can be expected." The Court held that by sect. VII. a written notice was necessary; that the verbal notice given by plaintiff to defendant was not sufficient, and that the above letter was not such a notice as was contemplated by sect. VII.

The next case, Keen v. The Millwall Dock Company (8 Q. B. D. 482), went to the Court of Appeal.. The facts were these. The plaintiff, on the day he had been injured, made a verbal report of such injury to his employer's inspector, who took down the details in writing and sent them to the employer's superintendent, and afterwards the workman's solicitor wrote to the employer as follows: "I am instructed by George Keen, of 136, Rhodeswell Road, Limehouse, to apply to you for compensation for injuries received at your dock, particulars of which have already been communicated to your superintendent." It was held that this letter did not refer to any other writing, and was not a notice in compliance with the Act.

In the course of his judgment, Lord Justice Brett made the following important observations on the requisites of a notice: "However, the notice under this Act is not to be deemed invalid by reason of any defect or inaccuracy, unless the judge who tries the action is of opinion that the defendant is prejudiced by it, and that the defect or inaccuracy was for the purpose of misleading. It seems therefore, to me, that a notice might be available even if it should be defective in any of the matters required to be stated; as, for instance, if it did not in terms name the day when the injury was

sustained, but showed it by reference, as also if it did not describe the cause of the injury with sufficient particularity, but still did not describe it so as to mislead. I agree that, as a general rule, the notice must be given in one notice, but I am not prepared to say that it would be fatal if it were contained in more than one notice. Suppose, for example, a person in his letter written on one day should describe the injury he had sustained, but should leave out his address, and he should the next day send a letter stating that in the letter I wrote yesterday, I omitted to give you my address, and I now give it. If both these letters were written in time and both served upon the employer, I am not prepared to say that the last might not be taken to incorporate the first, and therefore, though not an accurate, but an informal notice, it might be considered a notice within the meaning of the statute."

In Clarkson v. Musgrave (9 Q. B. D. 386), the plaintiff's notice stated that Jane Clarkson "was injured in consequence of your negligence in leaving a certain hoist in your warehouse unprotected, whereby the said Jane Clarkson had her foot caught in the casement of the said hoist, and her foot and leg were severely injured, and the said Jane Clarkson will claim compensation for such injuries." At the trial in the County Court the jury found that the accident occurred through the negligence of a superintendent in the warehouse, in allowing the plaintiff, a young girl, to go in the hoist alone. It was contended that the notice was bad, inasmuch as it alleged, as the negligence, the leaving the hoist unprotected, whereas the jury had found it was the allowing the plaintiff to go in the

hoist alone. This objection was overruled and the notice held good.

Field, J., said: "The statute was meant for the use of unlearned persons. Sect. VII. only requires that the notice of action shall state in ordinary language the cause of the injury. It is not necessary to state the cause of action but only that which will enable the employer to have substantial notice of what has occurred, so that he may make proper inquiries, and may come to trial prepared to meet the plaintiff's case."

The case of Stone v. Hyde (9 Q. B. D. 76) is another case which shows that the judges incline to a most liberal construction of the Act in favour of the workmen with regard to technical objections to notice under sects. IV. and VII.

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In that case the notice was a letter from the plaintiff's solicitor, which gave only the date of the injury, and stated that the plaintiff was and had for some time past been under treatment at a hospital injury to his leg." The County Court Judge before whom the action was brought held that this was not sufficient notice, and that it was a defect or inaccuracy which would prejudice the defendant, and accordingly non-suited the plaintiff.

The Queen's Bench Division reversed the decision. Mr. Justice Matthew said: "Now, when we consider that the object of the legislature in passing this Act was to confer a benefit upon the working classes, I think it would be unreasonable and unjust and contrary to the spirit and intention of the Act, to require these notices to be framed with all the particularity of a Statement of Claim." As the County Court Judge had not set

out the facts upon which he came to the conclusion that the defect was one which would prejudice the defendant, the Court held there was no evidence of this also, and granted a new trial.

Sect. VIII.-Definition.

For the purposes of this Act, unless the context otherwise requires

The expression "person who has superintendence entrusted to him means a person whose sole or principal duty is that of superintendence, and who is not ordinarily engaged in manual labour:

The expression "employer" includes a body of persons corporate or unincorporate:

The expression "workman" means a railway servant and any person to whom the Employers and Workmen Act, 1875, applies.

Note. As to what is a person who has superintendence entrusted to him, see Shaffers v. The General Steam Navigation Co., cited ante, p. 268.

Sect. 10 of the Employers and Workmen Act, 1875, thus defines a workman:

"The expression workman does not include a domestic or menial servant, but save as aforesaid means any person who, being a labourer, servant in husbandry, journeyman, artificer, handicraftsman, miner or otherwise engaged in manual labour, whether under the age of twenty-one or above that age, has entered into or works under a contract with an employer, whether the contract be made before or after the passing of this Act, be expressed, implied, oral, or in writing, and be a contract of service or a contract personally to execute any work or labour.”

Sect. IX.-(Act to commence 1st January, 1881.)

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