shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Is this contrary to the federal statutes or Constitution? 14. Is there in your state a statute similar to the one in the principal case? If so, how has it been applied by the courts? B. STATUTORY REGULATION OF FREEDOM OF CONTRACT 10The liberty of contract and the right of property are not absolute and universal. It is within the undoubted power of government to restrain some individuals from all contracts, as well as all individuals from some contracts. These rights, like all others, must be exercised in subordination to law. The liberty of contract cannot be exercised contrary to established public policy, and the public policy of the state must be deemed to be authoritatively declared by its own courts, and as so declared it cannot be contravened by the contracts of parties. The State has the undoubted right to impose restraints demanded by public interest, or by the safety and welfare of the State. QUESTIONS 1. Give examples of laws which restrain (a) some individuals from all contracts, (b) all individuals from some contracts. 2. Why should it be public policy to treat labor contracts differently from other contracts? C. FORMATION OF THE CONTRACT [Provided the purpose of the contract be lawful and the terms not prohibited, there are no special requirements as to the form of contracts of employment, except that imposed by section 4 of the Statute of Frauds, requiring that all contracts not to be performed within a year shall be in writing. But the state may make such requirements, as indicated by the following statutes.] I. APPRENTICE INDENTURES A WISCONSIN APPRENTICESHIP LAW11 1. The term "apprentice" shall mean any minor, 16 years of age or 10 Swiggert, J., in Moyers v. City of Memphis, 135 Tenn. 263, 291. 11 Laws of Wisconsin, 1923, section 106.01. over, who shall enter into any contract of service, express or implied, whereby he is to receive from or through his employer, in consideration for his services in whole or in part, instruction in any trade, craft, or business. 2. Every contract or agreement entered into by an apprentice with his employer shall be known as an indenture; such indenture shall be in writing and shall be executed in triplicate, one copy of which shall be delivered to the apprentice, one to be retained by the employer, and one to be filed with the Industrial Commission of Wisconsin at Madi son. 3. Any minor 16 years of age or over may, by the execution of an indenture, bind himself as hereinafter provided for a term of service not less than one year. 4. Every indenture shall be signed: (1) By the minor. (2) By the father; and if the father be dead or legally incapable of giving consent or has abandoned his family, then (3) By the mother; and if both the father and mother be dead or legally incapable of giving consent, then (4) By the guardian of the minor, if any. (5) If there be no parent or guardian with authority to sign, then by two justices of the peace of the county of the residence of the minor, or by a member of the Industrial Commission of Wisconsin or a deputy thereof. (6) By the employer. 5. Every indenture shall contain: (1) The names of the parties. (2) The date of the birth of the minor. (3) A statement of the trade, craft, or business which the minor is to be taught, and the time at which the apprenticeship shall begin and end. (4) An agreement stating the number of hours to be spent in work and the number of hours to be spent in instruction. During the first two years of his apprenticeship, his period of instruction shall be not less than four hours per week or the equivalent. If the apprenticeship is for a longer period than two years, the total hours of instruction shall be not less than 400 hours. The total number of hours of instruction and service shall not exceed 55 per week. (5) An agreement as to the processes, methods, or plans to be taught, and the approximate time to be spent at each process, method, or plan. (6) A statement of the compensation to be paid the apprentice. (7) An agreement that a certificate shall be given the apprentice at the conclusion of his indenture, stating the terms of his indenture. 6. The employer shall pay for the time the apprentice is receiving instruction at the same rate per hour as for services. Attendance at school shall be certified by the teacher in charge and failure to attend school shall subject the apprentice to a penalty of loss of compensation for three hours for every hour such apprentice shall be absent without good cause. 7. [Provides for overtime work for apprentices over 18 years old.] 8. If either party to an indenture shall fail to perform any of the stipulations thereof, he shall forfeit not less than $1 nor more than $100, such forfeiture to be collected on complaint of the Industrial Commission of Wisconsin and paid into the State treasury. Any indenture may be annulled by the Industrial Commission of Wisconsin upon application of either party and good cause shown. 9. [Places the administration of the act in the hands of the Industrial Commission of Wisconsin.] 10. [Makes it the duty of public school officers and teachers to furnish such instruction as may be required for apprentices.] B12 SEC. 4509. Every shipping-commissioner appointed under this Title shall, if applied to for the purpose of apprenticing boys to the sea service, by any master or owner of a vessel, or by any person legally qualified, give such assistance as is in his power for facilitating the making of such apprenticeships; but the shipping-commissioner shall ascertain that the boy has voluntarily consented to be bound, and that the parents or guardian of such boy have consented to such apprenticeship, and that he has attained the age of twelve years, and is of sufficient health and strength, and that the master to whom such boy is to be bound is a proper person for the purpose. Such apprenticeship shall terminate when the apprentice becomes eighteen years of age. The 12 Rev. Stat., Secs. 4509, 4510. [The text is that of the Act of June 7, 1872.] shipping-commissioner shall keep a register of all indentures of apprenticeship made before him. SEC. 4510. The master of every foreign-going vessel shall, before carrying any apprentice to sea from any place in the United States, cause such apprentice to appear before the shipping-commissioner before whom the crew is engaged, and shall produce to him the indenture by which such apprentice is bound, and the assignment or assignments thereof, if any; and the name of the apprentice, with the date of the indenture and of the assignment or assignments thereof, if any, shall be entered on the agreement; which shall be in the form as near as may be given in the table marked "A" in the schedule annexed to this Title; and no such assignment shall be made without the approval of a commissioner, of the apprentice, and of his parents or his guardian. For any violation of this section, the master shall be liable to a penalty of not more than one hundred dollars. QUESTIONS 1. Why should apprentices be indentured? 2. What are the arguments for state regulation of apprentice indentures? 2. SHIPPING ARTICLES A18 SEC. 4511. The master of every vessel bound from a port in the United States to any foreign port other than vessels engaged in trade between the United States and the British North American possessions, or the West India Islands, or the republic of Mexico, or of any vessel of the burden of seventy-five tons or upward, bound from a port on the Atlantic to a port on the Pacific, or vice versa, shall, before he proceeds on such voyage, make an agreement, in writing or in print, with every seaman whom he carries to sea as one of the crew, in the manner hereinafter mentioned; and every such agreement shall be, as near as may be, in the form given in the table marked A, in the schedule annexed to this Title, and shall be dated at the time of the first signature thereof, and shall be signed by the master before any seaman signs the same, and shall contain the following particulars: First. The nature and, as far as practicable, the duration of the in 13 Rev. Stat., Secs. 4511-19. [The text is that of the Act of June 7, 1872, as amended by the Act of March 3, 1897, and the Act of March 4, 1915.] tended voyage or engagement, and the port or country at which the voyage is to terminate. Second. The number and description of the crew, specifying their respective employments. Third. The time at which each seaman is to be on board, to begin work. Fourth. The capacity in which each seaman is to serve. Fifth. The amount of wages which each seaman is to receive. Sixth. A scale of the provisions which are to be furnished to each Seaman. Seventh. Any regulations as to conduct on board, and as to fines, short allowance of provisions, or other lawful punishments for misconduct, which may be sanctioned by Congress or authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury not contrary to or not otherwise provided for by law, which the parties agree to adopt. Eighth. Any stipulations in reference to advance and allotment of wages, or other matters not contrary to law. SEC. 4512. The following rules shall be observed with respect to agreements: First. Every agreement, except such as are otherwise specially provided for, shall be signed by each seaman in the presence of a shipping-commissioner. Second. When the crew is first engaged the agreement shall be signed in duplicate, and one part shall be retained by the shippingcommissioner, and the other part shall contain a special place or form for the description and signatures of persons engaged subsequently to the first departure of the ship, and shall be delivered to the master. Third. Every agreement entered into before a shipping-commissioner shall be acknowledged and certified under the hand and official seal of such commissioner. The certificate of acknowledgment shall be endorsed on or annexed to the agreement; and shall be in the following form: "On this......day of ........, personally appeared before me, a shipping-commissioner in and for the said county, A.B., C.D., and E.F., severally known to me to be the same persons who executed the foregoing instrument, who each for himself acknowledged to me that he had read or had heard read the same; that he was by me made ac |