fale; and where no diftrefs can be found, the confinement takes place as respectively above mentioned a. $5. 39840 Geo. III, c. 106. -COMBINATION. Proof. nefs. THE proof is by confeffion of party, or oath of one credible witnefs. Offenders are indemnified on giving evidence against others. This proof and conviction may take place Oath of parin the offender's abfence, if he cannot be apprehended. On t complaint or oath, any one juftice may grant warrant for One witciting him at a certain day and place, before any two jul tices. In cafe of his not then appearing, and of oath being made to the fervice of the fummons, at least twenty hours. before the diet of appearance, perfonally, or at his ufual place of abode, these justices fhall iffue their warrant for apprehending him; or, without iffuing any previous summons, they may at once grant warrant for apprehending him; and, if the offender appear, or if oath be made of his abfconding, they may proceed in the cause. They may commit witnesses for refufing to appear, or give evidence. Convictions and commitments are drawn up in the form of a schedule, they must be tranfmitted to the next quarter feffion to be filed. APPEAL is competent to the next quarter feffion, on find- Appeal. ing fecurity, the offender in 10l. and two fureties in 51. each, Quarter that he fhall be forthcoming to abide judgment. The judg- feffions ment of the quarter feffions is final. final. $5. 39 & 40 c. 106. If the conviction be affirmed, the appellant, if he does not Geo. III, pay the forfeiture or penalty, and cofts, or, if the judgment. contained a warrant of imprisonment, fhall be immediately committed to gaol, or house of correction, agreeably to the Immediate judgment, without bail, and alfo till payment of the cofts. COMBIN ATION. commit ment when? § 6. C. 151. CLAUSES 18-22, inclufive, are exprefsly limited to England. The other enactments, being worded generally, muft extend over all the island. Yet the phrafeology is entirely English. Neither the word Scotland, nor any technical term of our law, occurs from beginning to end of the statute. Some of its regulations, therefore, cannot be carried into effect in this country d. Profecutions must be brought within three calendar months after the offence has been committed. VI. As already obferved, that part of the 39 and 40 Geo. 43 Geo. III, III, c. 106, which regarded the fettlement of difputes be-COTTON tween masters and fervants by arbitration, was confined to England. The statute, therefore, 43 Geo. III, c. 151, was WEAVERS. b Touching the fettling of difputes between masters and worknien by arbitration. c Claufes 6 and 7. For example, money fubfcribed for purposes prohibited by the ftatute is made recoverable by actions before the courts at Westminster; to which, however, perfons refident in Scotland are not amenable. In Scotland, therefore, such sums cannot be recovered under the ftatute at all. The little attention to the peculiarities of our law, that appears in the "hrafeology of this, and indeed most of the other British enactments, touching difpu. between masters and workmen, is not perhaps very much to be regretted. In England, thofe ftatutes certainly may be expedient and neceflary; but Scottish magiftrates have jurifdiction to reftrain the fame offences, at common law. Complaints, therefore, in fuch cafes, are generally laid on the common law as well as on the ftatutes; and are followed out in virtue of the former, as their English, phraseology seldom makes it possible to execute the latter. The oath of one witnefs, and the party's confeffion, are indeed new means of proof. But whether we derive any benefit from fuch innovations, oppofite to the principles of our common law, has been doubted. $ 6. c. 151 framed for the purpose of fettling, with us, in the fame expeditious manner, difputes between masters and weavers in the cot- 43 Geo. III, ton manufacture, and perfons engaged in ornamenting cotton -COTTON goods by the needle. As this ftatute is framed for this country alone, it is inferted in the Appendix 1. Here, therefore, a very general analyfis will fuffice. WEAVERS, IN cafe of any application to any one juftice, touching any difpute between a master and those employed by him in the cotton manufacture, he is directed to fummon the defender on a certain day, not exceeding two days, exclufive of Sunday; and, in case of his not appearing, or not fettling the difpute, the juftice is then to nominate referees, one a master or foreman, the other a workman. Both parties have two peremptory challenges. The form of the nomination is con tained in fection firft. The periods within which the complaint must be made b, places of meeting, penalty on perfons not attending, the term within which the referees (or if they fail to do so, the juftices ) muft fettle the difpute, are all stated very diftinctly in the act. The determination of the juftice is not reviewable . The juftice may decide One the difpute on the representation of one referee ; and, if the perfons named by him do not choose to act, he may appoint named will other referees". In every case of a second nomination, the re ferees must meet within twenty-four hours; and the expence nomination. of the application must be borne by the party, the default of whofe referee made it neceffary. If fuch fecond referee does Abfence of not attend, the other may give an award, which fhall be finalk, In like manner, the referees may proceed, notwithstanding the abfence of one or both of the parties. The penalty of Witnelles. witnefies not attending "; the power of the parties to extend referee. If those not act. Second a referee. § 6. 43 Geo. III, c. 56. -COTTON the period of the award; the mode of writing the award, and the acknowledgment of the fulfilment of it, and the WEAVERS. penalty for not fulfilling it; the mode of proceeding in Award. cafes of bankruptcy ; and, in the cafe of complaints by marBankruptried women or infants f, how cofts fhall be afcertained &; cy,children, the fees or expence of the procedure ; what measure shall &c. be the rule i, are all specified in the refpective clauses. Ticket. ORNA- WITH THE Ir is farther ordered, that, with every warp given out by a manufacturer to a workman to be wove, there fhall be delivered a ticket, denoting the work to be done, adapted to each branch of the manufacture, ftating the quantity and fineness of the warp, in plain warps, whether white or coloured; and, in all cafes, the quantity and denomination of the work to be performed, and the rate and price to be performed for the fame ; and, in the cafe of new patterns, fpecifying the manner the workman is to be paid for mounting'. This ticket is evidence of all matters which it mentions". The penalty for refufing to give it is not to be under 5s. nor more than ros."; against which there is no appeal. THE fecond part of the statute relates to disputes between weavers and perfons employed by them in the ornamenting of cotton goods with the needle. The only difference is, that in this cafe, there is not, as in the former cafe, a nomination of a referee for each, viz. one a mafter, and the other a Referees. journeyman. The juftice appoints two referees, both of them manufacturers, foremen, or other perfons, as he pleases. In other matters, the procedure is precisely the fame as above. Either party may appeal to the quarter feffions, on giving immediate notice of fuch appeal, and finding fecurity, himself in 10l. and two fureties in 51. each, to profecute faid appeal P. The judgment of the feffions is final Appeal. Review. $6. and conclufive. No bill of advocation or fufpenfion fhall be competent. The ftatute does not say that a reduction is not 43 Geo. III, c. 56. competent. No mafter cotton weaver shall act as a juftice %. —COTTON Proceedings are not to be quashed for want of form. WEAVERS. Mafter cannot judge. in favour of THIS ftatute concludes with a reservation in favour of all Refervation former ftatutes, relative to the power of juftices of peace, former ftaand particularly 1 Anne, ff. 2, c. 18; 13 Geo. II, c. 8; tutes. 13 Geo. II, c. 27; and 23 Geo. II, c. 13, §9; and 17 Geo III, c. 56; which we will have occafion to notice in the next fection. § 7. BRITISH VII. THE British ftatute-book contains a multiplicity of enactments touching all the different claffes of manufacturers STATUTES, and workmen. Statutes in thefe cafes have not been framed for Scotland in particular: Yet thofe other statutes, for the reafon above mentioned, are often not intelligible in this country. Therefore they are feldom reforted to; complaints being generally laid on the common law alfo; in virtue of which our magiftrates find themselves in most cafes, competent to attain the object of thofe enactments without their aid. However, being moft of them expreffed generally, they are of course obligatory here alfo; so far, at least, as their exclufive adaptation to the peculiarities of a foreign law, happens not to make it impoffible to execute them. On this account, and as their execution is intrufted principally to justices of the peace, they cannot be omitted in a treatife on the jurisdiction of that magistracy. BESIDES their foreign phraseology, another circumstance, which difcourages our magiftrates from intermeddling with them, is their immense number, and their multiplied differences in minute particulars, which do not appear to be go & § 28. |