contract in certain cases, and damages for delay or otherwise. § 637 provides against contracting out of the law. § 641 provides that wages must be paid when the thing is received, i. e., when the work is done, and until such time the article is at the risk of the workman. § 645 provides against faults of quality in the article itself and delivery to the workman, for which the employer is responsible. § 647 provides that the workman has a lien upon the thing for his work done, as in the English law; and § 648 provides, in the case of building, that the person entitled to such lien may require a mortgage upon the land. § 650 provides that where a contract has been made upon an estimate not guarantied by the contractor, and it is proved that the work can not be performed without considerably exceeding this estimate, the contractor, if the master rescinds the contract for that cause, has only the right provided in § 643 above; that is, he may require what we should call quantum meruit or quantum valebat for his work. As soon as such excess is foreseen the contractor must, however, notify the employer. For the labor of married women, see Art. B, § 9. FRANCE. The French Civil Code has the following chapter entitled " letting of work and industry." Of the §. 1779. There are three principal kinds of letting of work and industry: 1. The hiring of workmen who enter the service of a person; 2. The hiring of carriers, as well by land as by water, who undertake to carry persons or goods; 3. The hiring of contractors for a work on an estimate or by the job. 1. OF THE HIRING OF SERVANTS AND WORKMEN. § 1780 (amended by law of December 27, 1890). A person can only bind himself to give his services for a certain time or a special enterprise. The hiring of services made without a fixed duration can always cease at the wish of one of the contracting parties. Nevertheless, the cancellation of the contract at the wish of one only of the contracting parties may give rise to damages. To fix the indemnity to be granted, if there should be reason therefor, the customs, the nature of the services hired, the time elapsed, the amounts withheld, and the payments made in view of a retiring pension, and generally all the circumstances which may justify the existence and determine the extent of the damage caused, shall be taken into account. The parties can not beforehand renounce the contingent right to claim damages in consequence of the foregoing provisions. The controversies to which the application of the foregoing paragraphs may give rise when they are brought before the civil tribunals and before the courts of appeals shall be prepared for trial as urgent cases and tried forthwith. § 1781. A master shall be believed upon his affirmation As to the amount of the wages; As to the payment of the salary for the year elapsed; 1 This article was repealed by the law of August 2, 1868. S 3. OF ESTIMATES AND JOBS. § 1787. When a person has charge of carrying out a work, it can be agreed that he will only furnish his work or industry, or that he will also furnish the materials. § 1788. If, in case the workman furnishes the materials, the thing is destroyed before being delivered, in whatever manner it may be, the loss falls upon the workman, 'unless the employer has been given notice to receive the thing. § 1789. In case the workman only furnishes his work or his industry and the thing happens to be destroyed, the workman is only liable for his negligence. § 1790. If, in the case mentioned in the foregoing article, the thing happens to be destroyed, but not through any fault of the workman, before the work has been received and without the employer having been given notice to examine it, the workman can not claim any wages unless the destruction of the thing is due to the bad quality of the materials. § 1791. If the work is for several pieces or by measure, it may be examined by the parties; it is supposed to be finished for all the parts paid for if the employer pays the workman in proportion to the work done. § 1792. If the building constructed for a given price is destroyed, wholly or in part, owing to bad construction or even to some defect of the soil, the architect and the contractor are responsible for ten years. §. 1793 When an architect or a contractor has undertaken to put up a building for a contract price according to plans settled and agreed upon with the owner of the land, he can not ask for any increase in the price, either on the ground that labor and materials have gone up in value or on the ground of changes or additions made in the plans, unless these changes and additions have been authorized in writing and the price agreed upon with the owner. § 1794. An employer may of his own accord cancel a job which has been undertaken, even if the work has been already commenced, by compensating the contractor for all his expenses, his work, and all he might have earned in such enterprise. 1795. A contract for the letting of work expires by the death of the workman, the architect, or the contractor. § 1796. But the owner is bound to pay to their successor the amount of the work done and of the materials prepared, in proportion to the price set down in the contract, but only if the work and the materials can be of use to him. § 1797. A contractor is answerable for the acts of the persons whom he employs. § 1798. Masons, carpenters, and other workmen who have been employed in the construction of a building or other works undertaken upon a contract only have an action against the person for whom the work has been done to the extent of what such person owes the contractor at the time the action is commenced. § 1799. Masons, carpenters, locksmiths, and other workmen who make contracts by the job for their own account are subject to the rules contained in the present section; they become contractors for the kind of work they undertake. Austria. In Austria (not including Hungary) the general code of 1859 relates to all classes of industrial work carried on in establishments, but not to casual day labor, household industry, agriculture, forestry, mining, and railway transportation. All industrial establishments coming under the code are divided into three classes-the handicraft trades, licensed trades, and free industries; the first being those in which a considerable degree of manual skill is required. The order of the minister of commerce, issued September 15, 1883, specifies 47 skilled trades as handicraft trades. Licensed trades are those industries in which the public good requires regulation, but this class is much more comprehensive than is usual in other countries. The remaining unregulated trades compose the class of free industries, and further distinction is made between the large industrial establishments (Fabriken) and shops (Kleingewerbe). Only those establishments where over 20 persons are regularly employed are considered as factories, although other features are taken into consideration, such as the use of machinery, etc. In Austria, subject to the provision of law regulating labor, the parties may make any contract they choose. The class of industrial employees is, however, subject to the same restrictions, and this class is defined to include all working people regularly employed in industrial establishments, all journeymen, helpers, assistants in mercantile establishments, waiters, coachmen, drivers in wagon transportation work, factory workers, apprentices, etc.-but not persons employed in higher branches of work usually receiving annual or monthly salaries, such as superintendents, experts, bookkeepers, clerks, draftsmen, and the like. Austria.-In Austria (see also for other continental countries below) there is a system requiring all workingmen to be provided with a personal identification book or pass book. No employer can employ a workingman without such a book in due form, which must contain the name and address of the owner, date and place of birth, religion, conjugal condition, and occupation. For young persons it must also give the name and residence of the parent or guardian or other legal representative. The time of entering and leaving each employment must be duly entered, and the pass book must be presented to the employer upon application for work. If employment is given, the employer takes the pass book and retains it until the employee leaves. (See also chap. 10, sec. 1.) SEC. 4. GENERAL FORM OF THE CONTRACT TO LABOR. Norway. The law of June 27, 1892, forms an industrial code applying to factory or shop labor-i. e., to all industrial establishments which employ at the same time and in a regular manner a greater or less number of employees, all trades of an industrial nature, mines, shops for the treatment of metals or minerals, foundries, etc. (See Chap. IV, § 1.) The use of the written contract in labor engagements is far more usual in continental countries than with us, and it is important to remember this. In the United States, either in the case of private employment or in work in large factories, it is the exception where the agreement of employment or personal service is reduced to written terms. The contrary is the case in Europe. As a consequence, perhaps, and even independent of the constitutional condition, it is far more usual to enforce labor contracts in continental countries than it is with us. Compare Art. E, sec. 1. In France slavery is prohibited by a law which forbids a person from engaging his services for life. The law of July 2, 1890, abolished the obligation previously imposed upon all workingmen to be provided with pass books. In Belgium the civil code (art. 1780) provides that the services of a person shall be engaged only for a certain time or a determined work. Russia. In Russia the theory appears to be that all contracts for personal service must be put in writing and they may be made before a notary. Any agreement restricting the right of either party to appeal to the courts is null and void. The civil code prohibits contracts of a duration of more than 5 years. The industrial code applies specially to factory and workshop employees, and distinguishes 3 kinds of contracts: (1) Those of a determined duration; (2) those of an undetermined duration; (3) contracts in the nature of piecework. The duration of contracts of the first kind can not exceed 5 years, and the contract is usually 1 year, except in the case of persons working half the year in factories and half the year in agricultural pursuits, in which case the term is 6 months. The term contracts of undetermined duration" includes contracts by the month, week, etc. In Russia each employee must be supplied with a pass book, and the form approved by the Government, within 7 days after he begins work. The book is furnished gratuitously, and must contain the owner's full name, the length of service agreed upon, amount of wages, the conditions of payment of wages, the sum, if any, to be paid by the employee for lodging, baths, or other conveniences, and any other conditions of the labor contract that the contracting parties desire to have inserted, the amount of wages earned and fines imposed, with the reasons therefor, and, finally, an extract from the shop and factory regulations, showing the rights, duties, and responsibilities of the employees. Ontario. No voluntary contract of service is binding for more than 9 years. All agreements or bargains, verbal or written, between employers and employees are binding on each party, but a verbal agreement can not be made for more than 1 year. (R. S., chap. 187, Masters and servants.) The act further provides that "any agreement or bargain entered into by any employee whereby it is agreed that this act shall not apply or that the remedies applied shall not be available for any persons entering into such an agreement, is null and void and of no effect as against any such employee." It would seem as if this should be the case without special enactment. SEC. 5. TERMINATION OF CONTRACT. Great Britain.-The employers and workmen act (38 & 39 Vict., C. 90) provides that, in case of a child, young person, or woman, subject to the provisions of the factory acts (1833 to 1874), (a) any forfeiture on the ground of absence or leaving work shall not be deducted from or set off against a claim for wages or other sum due for work done before such absence or leaving work, except to the amount of the damage, if any, which the employer may have sustained by reason of such absence or leaving work. Germany.-In Germany the labor contract between employees and employers may, unless otherwise agreed upon, be dissolved at any time by either party upon 14 days' notice. If a different term of notice is agreed upon it must be the same for both parties, and agreements contrary to this provision are void. But an employee may be dismissed without notice if at the time of making the contract he deceived his employer by presenting a false pass book or certificate, or if he was at that time under contract to work for another person; (2) if he is guilty of theft, fraud, or other bad conduct; (3) if he leaves his work or otherwise persistently refuses to fulfill his contract; (4) if, in spite of warnings, he is reckless in the handling of fire or light; (5) if he is guilty of acts of violence or insult toward his employer or his family; (6) if he intentionally commits an injury to the detriment of his employer or a fellow-worker; (7) if he incites or seeks to incite members of the employer's family or other employees to commit illegal or immoral acts; (8) if he is unable to continue his work or is afflicted with a repulsive disease. In the first 7 cases action must be taken by the employer within a week from the time he becomes aware of the facts. The employee on his part can leave without giving notice (1) if unable to perform his duties; (2) when the employer or his representative is guilty of violence or other serious misconduct toward him or his family; (3) when the employer or his agent or any member of their families attempts to incite the employee or members of his family to commit illegal or immoral acts, etc.; (4) when his wages are not paid, or sufficient work not furnished, if on the piece system; (5) when his continuance at work exposes his life or health to danger which was not apparent when the contract was made. In the second case he must take action within a week after becoming aware of the circumstances. By the law of 1891 a contract may also be severed without notice by either party for important reasons, such as deaths, serious illness in the family, or marriage of female employees. When a contract is prematurely broken the injured person is entitled to damages, and under the law of 1891 the employee has a summary remedy to recover an indemnity up to the amount of his ordinary wages for 6 days. For factory employees see § 4 above. Austria. In Austria, before the expiration of an expressed or implied period of employment an employee may be summarily discharged without notice in the following cases: (1) For having presented a false or counterfeited pass book or certificate, or withheld the fact that he was under employment elsewhere; (2) for incompetency; (3) drunkenness after repeated warnings; (4) theft, embezzlement, or other criminal conduct; (5) for disclosing business or trade secrets, or for carrying on another business of the same trade without the employer's consent; (6) for leaving his work without permission or refusing to perform work assigned to him, gross neglect, or attempts to induce his fellow workmen, or members of the household to disobedience, or to immoral or illegal acts; (7) for gross insult, bodily injury, or threats against his employer or a member of his household, or his fellow employees, or for carelessness in handling fire and light; (8) for disease or for disablement for a longer period than 4 weeks; (9) for imprisonment for more than 4 days. The employee on his part |