legal right of a Nottingham manufacturer to make a variety of agreed deductions. The Court, in conformity with an earlier case, decided in favour of that right. On appeal to the higher Court the Judges were equally divided in opinion (a). The Legislature last year stepped in with an Act intended to settle the question, so far as regards the hosiery trade, in which the question originated, by prohibiting the deductions. Owing to the usual absence of clearly expressed views, a question as to the effect of this offspring of the Parent Truck Act on stipulated deductions for absence, came before the Court of Queen's Bench, and in June last it was decided by the Court that if the Legislature intended by the Act of 1874 to put a stop to them, it has not done so. Thence the hasty introduction of a sort of compromising clause in the Employers and Workmen Act, 1875. Whether this grandchild of the Truck Act will escape the attacks made on its progenitors is, of course, doubtful. One thing is clear, that it has no fair chance unless the Magistrates (the first interpreters of this branch of the law) are cognisant (a) It is a notion equally popular and erroneous that the decisions of the Courts of Law involve mere technicalities. Not only for the display of careful reasoning by a mind of the highest powers, but for the information contained in it, I recommend for study the judgment of Baron Bramwell in Archer v. James. The general scope of the Truck Laws, with their advantages and disadvantages, are treated in a way that statesmen might read with advantage. of its intended sphere of operation, and to know this they must be familiar with its history. It follows from what I have said that the Statutes are accompanied by a summary of the decisions of the Courts of Law in relation to them. If this work is destined to a favourable reception I shall be inclined to attribute the success to the attempt to treat the subject in a comprehensive spirit. J. E. D. |