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A61441 Relief of apprentices wronged by their masters how by our law it may effectually be given and obtain'd, without any special new act of Parliament for that purpose. Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. 1687 (1687) Wing S5438; ESTC R15750 10,519 17

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RELIEF OF APPRENTICES Wronged by their MASTERS HOW By our Law it may effectually be given and obtain'd without any special New Act of Parliament for that purpose With Allowance LONDON Printed by H. Clark near St. Pauls-Wharf in Thames-street 1687. TO THE Right Honourable George Lord Jeffries Baron of Wem Lord High Chancellor of England and one of His Majesties most Honourable Privy Council Sir Robert Wright Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench And the rest of the Honourable Judges May it please your Lordships THE enclosed Paper is designed to detect the True but Latent Causes and Occasions of a great Abuse very common and notorious in this City of London and of very pernicious consequence throughout the whole Kingdom to shew the Iniquity and Vnreasonableness of certain false Principles and Opinions which support it and for a check to the Abuse and Encouragement to such as need Relief to shew how by our Laws effectual Remedy may be given without any special New Act of Parliament For the Abuse is such and so common and notorious that divers Parliament-men have thought it worthy of a special Act of Parliament to restrain it But if effectual Remedy may be had without it it is presum'd that that will be more Honourable for our Laws and therefore that the tender of it to the consideration of your Lordships will be no ungrateful Service It is also hoped that the Approbation of it by your Lordships Authority will not only give Life to the Remedy herein mentioned but even of it self give great Check to such Abuses RELIEF OF APPRENTICES Wronged by their MASTERS HOW By our Law it may effectually be given and obtain'd without any special new Act of Parliament for that purpose IT is certain and generally known to most men acquainted with the Occurrences in this City of London that of those Youths who are daily put Apprentices here a very great number do miscarry and never come to exercise the Trades to which they were put And of those though many miscarry through their own fault yet that very many do miscarry either through the Carelesness and Negligence or the Harshness and unreasonable Severity or which too often happens through the ill Designs and Practices of their Masters This is so common and notorious that there is no part of the Nation which hath not many examples of such unhappy young men who might have been very useful in their Generation but by these means are driven either into ill Courses or become altogether useless to the Publick and a burden to their Relations And therefore since the best and wisest even of Heathen States have been usually very provident for the Education of their Youth it might be thought a very great defect in us if we should be destitute of sufficient Remedy for so notorious an Abuse in a matter of so great moment But I 'm of opinion that if the matter be well consider'd neither are our Legislators nor our Laws already constituted to be blam'd in this respect Not our Legislators For Abuses will like evil Weeds be alwaies growing up even in the best constituted States And it will be some time e'er they be observed And it will again after they are observ'd require some time to find out and settle a proper Remedy for them And for those Abuses whereof I speak they have not certainly been of any long time practis'd or however not so notoriously and commonly but have by degrees grown more frequent and notorious as the Rates which men have given with Apprentices have been raised which are now within these twenty years last past or little more risen to that height that may well prove a Temptation to men who are continually employ'd in Business for Gain and are not punctually and resolutely Honest And therefore it is no wonder if now more than heretofore in so great a City there be many men noted to have had many Apprentices but never any that came to any thing in their Trade and are reasonably enough suspected to make a kind of Trade of it to take great Summs of Money with Apprentices and in a year or two or some short time upon some pretence or other to turn them off with little and take others again with great Summs in their places and that divers ill arts and practices have been observ'd to have been us'd by such persons to bring their Designs about and worse to put some colour upon their dealings when they have been question'd for the same For Credit and Reputation is of so great importance to a Trader that he who makes light of the Ruin of a man is not likely to make scruple of the use of any means though never so vile and wicked to save that which is of so great concern to him But these things I am inform'd have been some years since observ'd and taken into consideration in order to the providing of a Remedy by divers worthy Members of Parliament though nothing yet by reason of various occurrences intervening hath been offer'd to the House But that which I am inform'd was thought by some the most effectual Remedy was by a short Act of Parliament to make all Bonds void which should be given for the Fidelity of Apprentices This I confess might seem an effectual means to make the Master more careful of them And it is an Argument that those Gentlemen were very sensible of the notoriousness of the Abuse who could think so severe a Remedy necessary But I cannot approve it For 1. I think it not so effectual a means for the end intended as is presumed For a Master who had a Design upon his Apprentice might notwithstanding leave him liberty enough to do those things from which he might take a pretence to turn him off and disappoint him of his Trade and yet be a sufficient Gainer out of the Money he had received 2. it is a restraint of a reasonable and necessary Security and though it might be reasonable could it be applied only to ill Men yet forasmuch as it would be equally inconvenient and grievous to the most innocent and honest Masters as to the worst of all I think it unreasonable 3. It would be apt to put honest and good Men upon almost the like Rigor and Severity for their own Security which is supposed to be practiced by ill Men for their Advantage 4. It seems to me to be attended with no less Inconvenience to the Publick than that which is designed to be remedied by it For the Consequence would be that neither would Masters know how to take Apprentices nor would others be able to get Places and Employments for their Children without great difficulty and trouble And besides all this I think it needless For I am of opinion with submission to better Judgments that in this as in divers other Cases our Laws are not so defective as some Men other wise of Wit and Parts enough but not sufficiently acquainted with them do imagine