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well founded, the said court may proceed to fine the said master
or mistress according to the offence, a sum not exceeding ten
pounds current money for the first offence, for the second
offence any sum not exceeding twenty pounds current money ;
and the said county or criminal court may, in their discretion,
discharge any apprentice because of imposition, or of the ill
behaviour of the master or mistress, or of the hardness or un-
reasonableness of the terms of the contract, and shall provide
for the said apprentice a new master, of the same trade or occu-
pation with the first, and if the original contract was hard and
unreasonable, such new contract shall be made as the court
shall direct ; which new master shall be bound to do and per-
form the contract in the same manner that the original master
ought to have done, and shall also pay unto the original master
of said apprentice such sum of money as shall be adjudged
reasonable by any two or three persons of the same trade or
occupation, to be appointed by the court before which court the
change of the master shall be made; and the said county or
criminal court shall and may, upon the petition of the master or
mistress as aforesaid, discharge him or her from his or her con-
tract, because of an incorrigible temper, or of the ill behaviour
of the apprentice ; and in case the contract, whether defective
in form or not, hath been partly executed, the said county or
criminal court may award and compel the terms, or any part of
the terms, to be performed by the master or mistress, or by the
apprentice, as justice and equity may require ; and the master
or mistress of any apprentice may detain the said apprentice in
his or her service till such apprentice is or shall be discharged
by the court aforesaid ; and the said master or mistress may
maintain such action against strangers, as if such apprentice
had been legally bound to serve ; and if any apprentice shall
abscond or run away from his master or mistress, or in any
other way absent himself from the service of said master or
mistress, the court may, during the whole of the remainder of
the time which such apprentice hath to serve, or at any time
within three years* thereafter, award such compensation to be
made by such apprentice to his master or mistress aforesaid,
either by service or by payment of money, as justice and equity
may require, and may enforce payment of the money so award-
ed by an attachment of contempt against his person, or fieri
facias against his goods.
*By 1818, ch. 1 18, extended to five years.
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Penalty on
persona
concealing,
&c.
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SEC. 8. And be it enacted. That if any person or persons
shall conceal, harbour, or in any way promote or facilitate the
Tunning away, of apprentices, he, she or they, shall be subject
to the same fines and penalties as the harbourers of servants
uow are subject to by the laws of this state.
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