woollen, worsted, linen, cotton, or silk. It enacted that when any manufacturer of hosiery gave out to a workman materials to be wrought, such manufacturer should at the same time deliver to such workman a printed or written ticket, signed by such manufacturer, containing the particulars of the agreement between them, as in the schedule which was annexed to the Act. The manufacturer was to keep a duplicate of the ticket till the work was completed or paid for.

The second Act, the Silk Weavers Act, 1845, applied to the weavers of silk goods, and was on similar lines, except that contracting out was allowed if " both parties shall by writing under their respective hands agree to dispense therewith."

The third group of Statutes comprise the earlier Factory Acts. In one sense these have all been repealed, in another sense their substance has been re-enacted in the Consolidating Acts, which date from 1878. The history of factory legislation deserves separate treatment, which is given in Chapter XVII., and in this place a very slight sketch must suffice.

The Health and Morals of Apprentices Act, 1802, was a well-meant but ineffective piece of legislation, applying to cotton and woollen mills and factories, in which twenty or more persons or three or more apprentices were employed. Then from 1819 to 1830 there were four Factory Acts passed applying to cotton mills only. These were consolidated in 1831, but the Consolidating Act was itself repealed in 1833 by the first general Factory Act which was entitled, "An Act to regulate the labour of children and young persons in the mills and factories of the United Kingdom." It legislated for children (9 years to 13 years) and young persons (13 years to 18 years) employed in cotton, woollen, worsted, hemp, flax, tow, linen, and silk mills driven by steam or mechanical power. Its provision of certificates from surgeons and a Government inspectorate (limited to four persons) placed factory legislation on a sound administrative basis.

In 1842 Lord Ashley's Act became law, and for the first time contained provisions relating to adult women. It prohibited underground work in mines for all females and

for boys under 10 years of age. Further substantial progress was made in 1844, as the Factory Act of that year included women with young persons, introduced the half-time system. for children between the ages of 8 and 13, and insisted on the safeguarding of certain machinery, and various provisions for securing the health of children and young persons. In 1845 the benefit of similar provisions was extended to print works in which patterns or designs were printed on material already woven. In 1847 the Ten Hours Act was passed, reducing the hours of labour in factories for women and young persons under eighteen years of age to 10 hours per day and 58 hours per week. In 1850 a further Act introduced the normal working day between 6 in the morning and 6 in the evening, or between 7 A.M. and 7 P.M. There was no departure involving fresh principles until 1864.

1850

General Conclusions. It would be hard to detect any 1k ? general principles underlying industrial law as it existed in 1860. The law as to disputes between master and workmen was based on an inferior status of the workman. The law as to combinations put master and workmen nominally on an equal basis, but in practice it allowed no effective combination to workmen.

While the Courts of Law prided themselves on the protection they gave to the workman's right of the exertion of his own personal strength and skill in the full enjoyment of his own free will, altogether unshackled by the control or dictates of his fellow-workmen,' or regarded him as a person who voluntarily undertook to run all the ordinary risks of his service, including the risk of negligence upon the part of a fellow-servant,' the Legislature assumed that he could not even secure his wages in cash without special legislation.

How far is it possible to say that legislation since 1867 has been governed by a set of consistent principles ?

In the first place, the inferior status of the workman has disappeared. This is absolutely true as regards the administration of the law, but it is also largely true of other means of settling disputes. On Boards of Conciliation, on Trade Boards, on Courts of Referees, and on other bodies

dealing with trade interests, working men and employers meet on an equality.

In the second place, there is a recognition of the economic weakness of some sections of the working classes, and an admission based on this, of the right of the State to step in and remedy the evils resulting from this inequality of economic power. The State may do this by facilitating the combination of workers or by actual protective legislation, which in suitable cases is now extended to men, as well as to women and children.

Lastly, there seems to have been an important change in the estimate of what may fairly be included under 'cost of production.' Thus a share of the burden of accidents occurring in the course of employment, of sickness suffered by work-people during the years of employment, and of distress arising in certain industries during periods of unemployment has in recent years been thrown on employers, on the general ground that the wear and tear of the human machine or tool may fairly be regarded as an element of the cost of production. The fixing of a minimum wage is based on a similar conception. An industry which does not pay its work-people a living wage is rightly called a parasitic industry, and is not bearing the whole of the cost of production.

For a most interesting examination of the principles of legislation during the last hundred years or so, reference may be made to pp. 161-172 of Professor W. J Ashley's Economic Organisation of England.

CHAPTER III

NON-PARLIAMENTARY INDUSTRIAL LEGISLATION 1

LEGISLATION is so usually associated with Parliament, and with Parliament alone, that it may not be generally realised that, taking into consideration quantity only, and disregarding importance, it is probably true to say that the larger part of existing enactments regarding labour has not been directly passed by Parliament, but is the creation of inferior bodies to whom law-making powers have been delegated.

There is good reason for this course. Industrial legislation in many instances can only hope to be successful on condition that complicated details are patiently investigated and interested persons listened to. Parliament, it is true, has some machinery for work of this kind, but on the whole is too cumbrous a body, too busy with larger issues, and too intermittent in its activities to be able to transact much business on these lines. It has of late years become more and more content to settle principles and to leave detailed decisions and the working out of extensions to other bodies, reserving to itself a varying amount of ultimate control.

The amount and directness of this control is probably the best criterion for classification. This legislation by inferior law-making bodies takes several forms :

(a) Provisional Orders.-These are orders made by a Government department and actually confirmed by Parliament, and can be used for extending or curtailing existing Acts of Parliament. They have no legal operation until so confirmed by Parliament.

1 Reprinted from the Economic Journal, Sept. 1915.

(b) Statutory Orders.-These are Orders made by a Government department,1 and have to be laid before Parliament for varying periods. They take effect without confirmation, and Parliament must actively interfere within a limited period if it wishes to disallow them. These Orders have in some cases an important scope by way of extension, curtailment, or modification of existing legislation, while in other cases they deal with points of detail omitted in the actual Act of Parliament. Sometimes a 'public inquiry' is an indispensable preliminary. The nomenclature, viz. ‘Regulations' and 'Special Orders,' adopted by different Acts is unfortunately very confusing, as Regulations under one Act may mean very much the same as Special Orders under another, and vice versa.

(c) Determinations.—This term covers the legislation of Trade Boards and Wages Boards dealing with the wages to be paid in specified trades and ancillary matters arising out of minimum wage legislation.

(d) Bye-laws.-Bye-laws are made by local authorities in exercise of permissive powers bestowed on them by Act of Parliament.

Parliament has not reserved to itself any direct powers over Determinations and Bye-laws, but in some cases a Government department has powers of delay or rejection. Further particulars, with actual examples of these modes of legislation, are as follows:

(A) LEGISLATION BY PROVISIONAL ORDER

A Provisional Order is an order made by a Government department, and has the force of law provided that it is expressly sanctioned by Parliament. These Orders are the machinery by which Section 8 of the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1906, which relates to the application of the Act to certain industrial diseases, can be applied to other diseases and other processes, and to injuries due to the nature of any employment specified in the Order not being injuries by

1 A closing order can be made under the Shops Act, 1912, by a local authority, subject to confirmation by a Government department.