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§. 10.
Three Justices
Certificate. |
Laborers.
The Certificate which is to be made to the Head-officer
of any City or
Town Corporate, where a Child is to be bound Apprentice, (scil.
That
the Father of such a Child may dispend Forty shillings per annum)
must be
under the Hands and Seals of three Justices of the Peace of the Shire,
where the Land lieth. |
Chap. 58.
5 Eliz. 4. |
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The Reason of this Law seemeth to be, for that such
as be to be bound
Apprentices in Corporate Towns, &c. if their Parents be of a competent
livelihood, then their Masters shall not only be the better secured, &c.
But
such Apprentices also in likelihood, shall have the better means to set
up
their Trades after their time expired. And concerning such, whose
Parents
have not Forty shillings per annum, they are fitter to be bound
Apprentices
to Husbandry, &c. in the County. |
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But concerning this Certificate, it seemeth not
much in use at this day;
neither is this Certificate so of the substance of the matter, or so material,
that for want thereof the Indentures for the binding of such an APprentice
shall be void, (for the Justices of Peace cannot be compelled to certifie,)
&c. but if the Parents have Forty shillings per annum, it sufficeth:
And so
were the opinions of Sir Humphrey Winch and Sir William Jones
in the
Court of Common Pleas, Termino Pascli. 21 Jac. Regis.
But Sir Henry Hobart
Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, did not then deliver
his opinion
therein directly; yet he seemed to me to hold, That the Parents of such
an
Apprentice ought to have Forty shillings per annum, and also ought
to procure
such a Certificate from the Justices of Peace. |
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Here I think it not amiss to set down certain Cases,
some of them being
by way of Exposition of this Statute 5 Eliz. cap. 4. And other
some at the
Common Law, or grounded upon former Statutes; yet such as may give
light and help to our Justices of Peace in this business. |
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§. 11.
Trades,
what lawful. |
First, By the Common-Law, no man may be prohibited
to work in any
lawful Trade, for the Law abhorreth idleness, as the mother of all evil. |
Co. 11. 53 |
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A Man cannot be restrained to use the Trade of making
Dice, Cards,
Bowls, or the like, (except it be by Parliament) for all Trades, which
do
avoid idleness, and exercise Men in labor for the maintenance of them and
their Families, and for to increase their substances, and to serve the
King,
when need shall be, are profitable for the Commonwealth; and therefore
the restaining of them is against the Law, &c. Co. 12.
86. |
Co. 11. 86. |
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So necessary are Trades to a Kingdom, That if
a Man be bound not to
use a Trade that he hath been brought up in generally, that Bond is void:
But a Man may bind himself not to use a Trade in a particular Town or
Parish. |
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Also by the Common Law no Man is prohibited to use
divers Mysteries
or Trades at his pleasure: And although this was prohibited by the
Statute
of 37 Ed. 3. cap. 6. yet presently at the next Parliament
(that restraint of
Free trade being found prejudicial to the Commonwealth) it was Enacted
again, That all persons should be as free as they were at any time before
the said Statute, Co. 11. 54. See the Statute of 38 Ed.
3. cap. 2. |
Co. 11. 51. |
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For that without an Act of Parliament, no Man may
be restrained in
any manner, either to work in any lawful Trade, or to use divers Mysteries
or Trades; therefore Ordinances made to restrain any person therein are
against the Law: And yet Ordinances made for the good Order and Government
of Tradesmen, &c. are good. Co. ibid. |
Ibid. |
Apprentice
five years. |
None shall use any Art, Mystery, Craft, Trade, or
Occupation, except
he hath been brought up therein seven years as Apprentice, 5 Eliz.
5. By
15 Car. 2. cap. 15. " Hempdressers, and making Cloth
of Hemps, and Nets.
' And Tapistry is excepted. |
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