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UNIV. OF MISH. LAW LIBRARY.

1862.

WHITTLE

V.

charge him without twenty-eight days' notice. From
these two stipulations I think it arises by implication
that the employer will find the appellant work, and will FRANKLAND.
not discharge him from the service before a certain
time. It would be perfectly illusory to hold otherwise;
and, if this be so, there can be no objection to the con-
tract on the ground of want of mutuality.

CROMPTON J. (the only other Judge present) con

curred.

Judgment for the respondent.

1862.

REGULA GENERALIS.

HILARY TERM, 25 VICT.

REGULA GENERALIS.

Ir is ordered that, from and after the first day of Easter Term next inclusive, every special case, special verdict and bill of exceptions, set down in any of the superior Courts of common law, shall be divided into paragraphs, which as nearly as may be, shall be confined to a distinct portion of the subject, and every paragraph shall be numbered consecutively.

And that the Masters on taxation do not allow the costs of drawing and copying any special case, special verdict or bill of exceptions, not in substance in compliance with this Rule, without the special order of the Court.

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HILARY VACATION, 25 VICT.

[1859.]

ARCHER against JAMES and others.

[Friday, November 4th, 1859.]

1. The defendants, master manufacturers, employed the plaintiff, an artificer, without any agreement in writing, to make stocking heels at 1 & 2 W. 4. 7d. a dozen. The plaintiff was to find the labour, and to work on the c. 37. s. 1. defendants' premises, using their frame. The settlements were weekly. Wages. The amount due for the plaintiff's work was first ascertained; then from Deductions. the sum coming to him were deducted the following charges: (1.) Frame Set off. rent, for the use of the frame with which he worked, at 1s. 9d. per week. Appeal. (2.) Machine rent, at 4d. per week. (3.) For standing room in the de- Costs. fendants' factory, at 3d. per week. (4.) Winding the yarn, at 1d. per week. (5.) Fines for irregular attendance, at 4d a quarter of a day for time of absence. (6.) Gas for lighting the defendants' factory, at 4d. per week. (7.) Fire for heating the defendants' factory. The amount of work performed by the plaintiff during the time he was in the defendants' employ varied from time, according to the state of trade, the plaintiff being sometimes employed for a greater and sometimes for a smaller number of hours in the day; but the charges, with the exception of the fines, were fixed and uniform, and were made whatever the amount of earnings. In an action to recover wages alleged to be due, the defendants pleaded Never indebted, and a set-off, consisting of the above charges. Held, per Pollock C. B., Bramwell B. and Byles J. (affirming the judgment of the Court of Queen's Bench, which was founded upon the authority of Chawner v. Cummings, 8 Q. B. 311), Williams, Willes and Keating JJ. dissentientibus, that a contract to pay the plaintiff's wages, subject to the above deductions, was not a contract to pay part of such wages otherwise than in the current coin of the realm, within sect. 1 of the Truck Act, 1 & 2 W. 4. c. 37., and was therefore legal.

2. When the decision of the Court below is affirmed on appeal, the Judges of the Exchequer Chamber being equally divided, the successful party is not entitled to costs.

DECLARATION for money payable by the defen

dants to the plaintiff for wages due and of right payable from the defendants to the plaintiff for his work and labour as an artificer, workman, and labourer in and about the making, knitting, and preparing of woollen, worsted, yarn, and cotton manufactures, by

[1859.]

ARCHER

V.

JAMES.

him done and performed as the hired artificer, workman, labourer, and servant of the defendants; and for work and labour of the plaintiff in and about the manufacturing trades and occupations of making, knitting, and preparing of woollen, worsted, yarn, and cotton manufactures, by him done and performed for the defendants, at their request; and on an account stated.

The defendants pleaded never indebted, and payment: and also a set-off for money payable by the plaintiff to the defendants, for the plaintiff's use, by the defendants' permission, of certain frames and machines, goods and chattels, of the defendants, and standing room for the same; and for the hire of chattels and effects by the defendants let to hire to the plaintiff; and for work done by the defendants for the plaintiff, at his request; and for money paid by the defendants for the plaintiff, at his request; and for money found to be due from the plaintiff to the defendants on accounts stated between them.

Upon these pleas issue was joined.

The following is a copy of the particulars of the defendants' set-off.

£ 3. d.

"1. Frame rent, at 1s. 9d. per week. 14 10 5

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On the trial, before Williams J., at the Summer

Assizes at Nottingham, in 1859, it appeared that the
plaintiff had, from the 20th September, 1855, until the
25th April, 1857, and again from the 6th June, in the
latter year,
until the 4th June, 1859, been a framework
knitter, employed in a branch of the hosiery manu-
facture by the defendants, who carry on their business
as manufacturers of hosiery in their own premises,
namely a factory, at Nottingham. The plaintiff and
other artificers worked for the defendants, in the frames
and machines belonging to the defendants, in the fac-
tory. The plaintiff's work consisted in making heels
of stockings with material of the defendants, the plaintiff
merely finding labour; and he was paid for his work
weekly, upon the basis of 7d. per dozen heels made by
him during the week, subject to certain fixed charges
made by the defendants, which are mentioned in the parti-
culars of the set-off, and are hereafter more particularly
set out and explained. At the weekly settlements the
amount of the plaintiff's work was first ascertained, then
the amount of charges was deducted, and the balance
paid to the plaintiff in cash, to which he had never made
any objection. The following are the particulars of the
charges so deducted, and mentioned in the defendants'
set-off.

1. A frame rent, or sum of 1s. 9d. per week, for the use of the frames furnished by the defendants (in their own factory), and there employed by the plaintiff in performing his work.

2. A machine rent, or sum of 4d. per week, for the use of a machine furnished by the defendants in their own factory, by which stockings are narrowed much quicker than formerly, and there also employed by the plaintiff in performing his work.

[1859.]

ARCHER

V.

JAMES.

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