General Assembly of Nova Scotia in 1777 (c. 8), following closely an old Elizabethan statute (1562, c. 4). It required that

as soon as may be, after the first day of July next, the Justices of the Peace in the several Counties in this Province, and in the Townships impower'd by Law to hold Special Sessions, shall meet together at such places where the Sessions of the Peace are usually held, and also within six Months thereafter, taking into Consideration, the circumstances of the times and prices of Provisions, Assess the Wages of all Artificers and Labourers, according to the best of their Judgement for any Labour or Work to be done, by the Day, Week, Month, or Year.

Employers who paid wages in excess of the fixed rate could, on complaint before two justices of the peace, be fined not less than five pounds and not more than fifteen pounds and workers accepting higher wages could be fined not more than forty shillings with a penalty of one month in jail if the fine were not paid. The act was to remain in force for one year and until the end of the session of the General Assembly then next following.

The combination act passed in Nova Scotia in 1816 (c. 27) was entitled "An act to prevent unlawful combinations of master tradesmen, and also of their workmen and journeymen." The five sections of the law were taken practically without change from the English general combination act of 1800 (40 Geo. III, c. 106) which forbade all combinations of journeymen. Both acts also prohibited combinations of employers, but this provision of the law was disregarded in England at least.1

According to the preamble of the Nova Scotia act, "great numbers of Master Tradesmen, Journeymen and Workmen,

1 Sidney and Beatrice Webb, The History of Trade Unionism (rev. ed., New York, 1920), p. 73.

in the Town of Halifax, and other parts of the Province, have, by unlawful Meetings and Combinations, endeavoured to regulate the rate of wages and to effectuate other illegal purposes." Accordingly the act declared illegal all agreements between journeymen, workmen or other persons for obtaining increased wages, for lessening or altering hours, for decreasing the quantity of work, for preventing any employer from engaging any one he might choose or for controlling any person in the conduct of his business. The act forbade any such combinations in future and imposed penalties on persons entering into any combinations and on persons persuading workmen not to engage with an employer or to leave his employment or to prevent the employer hiring any worker or to refuse to work with any other workman. Combinations entered into by tradesmen and manufacturers for regulating wages, hours, volume of work, and prices were also declared illegal and penalties provided for on conviction. Provision was made that nothing in this law should be construed to prevent persons combining to raise wages or prices from being indicted for conspiracy or unlawful combination. This act continued in force until 1851.

A law passed in Nova Scotia in 1864 (c. 11), “An act relating to the combination of workmen," is almost a replica of the English statute of 1825 (c. 129)—" Peel's Act," as it was called by the English manufacturers. While this law nominally restored the common law doctrine of conspiracy after the repeal of the combination act, it established the right of collective bargaining by giving exemption to persons meeting solely for the purpose of regulating wages and hours. The law in Nova Scotia provided a penalty of imprisonment, with or without hard labor, for any time not exceeding twelve months, for violence, intimidation, molestation or obstruction with a view to forcing a worker to

leave his employment, or not to accept employment, or to return work before completion; or to join any association, or contribute to any common fund, or to pay any fine for not complying with any rules made to change wage rates or hours of work or the quantity of work; or endeavoring to force any employer to alter the mode of carrying on his business or to limit the number of his apprentices.

It was stated that the act should not apply to persons meeting together only to determine the rate of wages or the price or hours which they should demand or to enter into an agreement on these matters. Accordingly, combination to agree on these matters was criminal conspiracy no longer but the coercive methods used by unions with employers and workers in order to enforce such agreements were penalized with imprisonment. The Fourth Series of the Revised Statutes of Nova Scotia (1873) listed this act as within the jurisdiction of the Parliament of Canada.

The Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada were established by the Constitutional Act of 1791 and in 1800 Upper Canada formally adopted the criminal law of England as it stood on September 17, 1792. In 1872 it was held by a Toronto judge that trade unions were still under English criminal law as adopted in 1792.1 In 1837 (c. 6) Upper Canada passed" An act to provide more effectually for punishment of certain offences." It provided that persons convicted of conspiracy might be sentenced "to such imprisonment as is now provided by law for any such offence; or if the Court which is to pass sentence on such convict shall see fit, may be sentenced to be imprisoned only, or imprisoned and kept to hard labour."

Upper and Lower Canada were united in the one province of Canada in 1840 and the first parliament of the new province passed in 1841 (c. 27) “An act for consolidating and

1 Cf. infra, p. 121.

amending the statutes in this province relative to offences against the person. Under this law any one who committed an assault in pursuance of a conspiracy to raise the rate of wages might be sentenced to imprisonment for any term not exceeding two years. The offender might also be fined and be required to find sureties for keeping the peace. The same measure provided that

any person who unlawfully and with force hinders any seaman from working at or exercising his lawful trade, business or occupation, or beats, wounds, or uses violence to him with intent to deter him from working at or exercising the same; . . . may be convicted thereof before two Justices of the Peace, and imprisoned and kept to hard labour in the Common Gaol or House of Correction for any term not exceeding three months.

At Confederation in 1867 the British North America Act assigned the criminal law to the Dominion and civil and property rights to the provinces. This made the trade unions subject to both jurisdictions. Various trade union practices governed by the provisions of the criminal law of the Dominion may be restrained under provincial law by the civil process of injunction.

In 1869 (c. 20) "An act respecting offences against the person," which the federal Parliament brought into force in the new Dominion, amended and consolidated the statute law of Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick on the subject. This measure, which drew largely from the British act relating to offences against the person (1861, c. 100), reproduced two sections of that law of interest to trade unions:

Whosoever in pursuance of any unlawful combination or conspiracy to raise the rate of wages or of any unlawful combination or conspiracy respecting any trade, business or manufacture or respecting any person concerned or employed therein,

unlawfully assaults any person or in pursuance of any such combination or conspiracy uses any violence or threat of violence to any person with a view to hinder him from working or being employed at such trade, business or manufacture1 is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be liable to be imprisoned in any jail or place of confinement other than a penitentiary for not less than two years, with or without hard labour.2

Whosoever unlawfully and with force, hinders or prevents any seaman, stevedore, ship carpenter or other person usually working at or on board any ship or vessel, from working at or exercising his lawful trade, business or occupation or beats or uses any violence to any such person with intent to hinder or prevent him from working at or exercising the same shall, on summary conviction thereof before two justices of the peace, be liable to be imprisoned and kept to hard labour in any gaol or place of confinement other than a penitentiary for any term, not exceeding three months: provided that no person for any such offence by reason of this section shall be punished for the same offence by any other law whatsoever.

At the time of the printers' strike in Toronto in 1872 Judge Robert A. Harrison, in an opinion prepared for the master printers, stated that Canadian trade unions were under the English law of 1792:

None of the English protecting statutes (5 Geo. IV, c. 95; 6 Geo. IV, c. 129; 22 Vic., c. 34) being in force, I can only come to the conclusion that combinations of workmen in Canada for the following purposes are illegal: (1) to lessen or alter the hours of labor; (2) to obtain an advance in wages; (3) to fix the rate of wages; (4) to decrease the quantity of work; (5) to induce others to separate from their service before expiration of their time; (6) to quit work before the work

1 Words in italics not in the English act.

" Practically same as Nova Scotia, 1864 (c. 9). Five years' imprisonment in Nova Scotia.

3 Cf. infra, p. 119.